Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

EXPLORE

Society & Culture

Health & Fitness

© 2024 PodJoint

https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts221/v4/b2/42/79/b24279d4-e5d5-7b22-6f5f-25e0d81aed98/mza_16662916239578229153.jpg/600x600bb.jpg

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

USC Master of Heritage Conservation Program

71 episodes

3 weeks ago

"A city is composed of different types of men; similar people cannot bring the city into existence." This quote from Aristotle's Politics opens Gaining a Foothold: Conserving Los Angeles' Queer Eden(dale), the master's thesis of alumnus Rafael Fontes (MHC/MUP '20). With the ongoing erasure of LGBTQ history from federal archives and programs, we're spotlighting our Season One interview with Rafael, whose thesis examined the first efforts to landmark LGBTQ historic sites in the city of Los Ange...

Show more...

All content for Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation is the property of USC Master of Heritage Conservation Program and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

"A city is composed of different types of men; similar people cannot bring the city into existence." This quote from Aristotle's Politics opens Gaining a Foothold: Conserving Los Angeles' Queer Eden(dale), the master's thesis of alumnus Rafael Fontes (MHC/MUP '20). With the ongoing erasure of LGBTQ history from federal archives and programs, we're spotlighting our Season One interview with Rafael, whose thesis examined the first efforts to landmark LGBTQ historic sites in the city of Los Ange...

Show more...

Episodes (20/71)

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

[Encore] Conserving L.A.'s Queer Eden(dale)

"A city is composed of different types of men; similar people cannot bring the city into existence." This quote from Aristotle's Politics opens Gaining a Foothold: Conserving Los Angeles' Queer Eden(dale), the master's thesis of alumnus Rafael Fontes (MHC/MUP '20). With the ongoing erasure of LGBTQ history from federal archives and programs, we're spotlighting our Season One interview with Rafael, whose thesis examined the first efforts to landmark LGBTQ historic sites in the city of Los Ange...

3 weeks ago

37 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

Save As: Fall 2025

Save As is taking a brief break, but we'll bring you some gems from the archives and launch Season 6 before the end of the year. In the meantime, check out our Instagram (@saveasnextgen) for updates and catch up on previous episodes from our first five seasons! Connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn!

1 month ago

2 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

For the Record: Reclaiming Women’s History

Of the more than 1,300 local landmarks in the City of Los Angeles, less than three percent—that’s right, three—reference the history or contributions of women. In the Season 5 finale, we hear from some of the people working to change that by amending nominations for existing landmarks (known in L.A. as Historic-Cultural Monuments, or HCMs). Students Mel James, Leslie Madrigal, and Evan McAvenia discuss their research for an advanced documentation class, in which ten students uncovered women’...

4 months ago

45 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

Using AI to Reclaim and Preserve APIA Heritage

As artificial intelligence (AI) transforms modern life, we’re understanding more about the benefits and tradeoffs of its use in generating content. New alum Paul Kim wrote his master’s thesis about how generative AI (genAI) perpetuates false narratives about Asian and Pacific Islander Americans (APIA), and how communities can use genAI to reclaim those narratives. In this episode, producer Willa Seidenberg talks with Paul about his thesis, Encoding Counter Memories: Artificial Intelligence as...

5 months ago

36 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

[Encore] Architecture + Advocacy in L.A.'s Sugar Hill

An Encore episode with a new update! A group of architecture students at the University of Southern California wants to do more than just design buildings. They want to work with communities to “un-design'' spatial injustice and leverage the power of residents in shaping their neighborhoods. In this episode, producer Willa Seidenberg talks with students Reily Gibson and Kianna Armstrong about L.A.'s Sugar Hill, an important neighborhood cut in half by construction of the I-10 Freeway. A nonpr...

6 months ago

36 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

Framing History through Photography

Photographer Sally Mann once said, “Photographs open doors to the past, but also allow a look into the future.” Photography is a key component of the historic documentation process. New graduate Sam Malnati (MHC/MUP ’25) delved into photography’s role in the field for her thesis, Contemporary Vision: Photography's Influence on Perception of Places in the Past. In this episode, producer Willa Seidenberg talks with Sam about the history of photography and its use in the Historic American ...

7 months ago

31 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

Sharing Hidden History, from Place to Policy

In this “Where Are They Now?” episode, we catch up with Elysha Paluszek (MHC ‘10), senior associate, architectural historian, and preservation planner at Architectural Resources Group. She’s been highlighting hidden history since her master’s thesis, The Los Angeles African American Heritage Area: A Proposal for Development. At ARG, she’s worked on award-winning studies revealing how policy and practice shaped the built environment in West Hollywood and Los Angeles. Elysha chats with co-host ...

8 months ago

31 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

After the Fires: What Remains

A month after the disastrous fires in the Los Angeles area, this special episode features a conversation among Save As co-hosts Trudi Sandmeier and Cindy Olnick, and producer Willa Seidenberg. Trudi reflects on the loss of her historic family home, her close-knit neighborhood, and the Will Rogers ranch, an integral part of her and her family’s lives. We discuss the city’s current state of grief and bewilderment, the understandable rush to rebuild along with the need to plan thoughtfully, and ...

8 months ago

36 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

Everyday Urbanism in L.A.’s Koreatown

In this “Where Are They Now?” episode, we catch up with alum Junyoung Myung (MHC ’15), who followed yet another of many career paths in heritage conservation: research and teaching. His exciting work blends architecture, design, heritage conservation, and technology—from teaching undergrad architects about adaptive reuse, to training AI to identify architectural styles, and much more. He’s also finishing his doctoral dissertation, which explores how generations of Korean immigrants and Korean...

10 months ago

28 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

How Lesbian Bars Built Community in San Francisco’s North Beach

As a young architectural historian in San Francisco, Shayne Watson would take lunchtime walks near her office, pondering how and where the city’s lesbian history took shape. She discovered that one of the earliest lesbian bars once stood right up the street in North Beach, a neighborhood that served as the birthplace of the city’s lesbian community—though you’d never know it just by looking. After earning her USC master’s degree in 2009, Shayne decided to do something about underrecognized LG...

11 months ago

37 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

[Encore] Free to be Punjabi

October 31st marks the beginning of Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights. It's the most important holiday in India. In celebration, we are re-releasing this episode from Season 1. The allure of abundant work and fertile soil drew many to California, and in particular, the rich rural areas of the state. Punjabi workers came in small numbers to Yuba City in the early 1900s, but after Indian independence in 1947 when Punjab was split in two, that trickle became a steady stream. Now this ...

1 year ago

34 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

Death Valley Ghost Town: Conservation of the Ryan Mining District

Before Death Valley became a desert tourism mecca, it was a mining hot spot. The homelands of the Timbisha Shoshone tribe were opened to industry during the California Gold Rush. In this “Where Are They Now?” episode, producer Willa Seidenberg talks with alumna Mary Ringhoff about her thesis on the early-twentieth-century mining town of Ryan, an unusually well-preserved site just outside the boundaries of Death Valley National Park. The company town housed workers at the Pacific Coast Borax C...

1 year ago

31 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

Preserving Black Heritage in the U.S. South

One of the signs memorializing the 1955 murder of Emmett Till weighs nearly 500 pounds and is designed to absorb a rifle round. It’s the fourth version of the sign, the others having been vandalized and riddled with bullet holes. How can communities recognize and preserve vulnerable Black heritage sites without placing them more at risk? New alumna Kira Williams shares her views with co-host Cindy Olnick on a visit to L.A.’s St. Elmo Village, a historic site of art and healing. They explore t...

1 year ago

28 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

A Tale of Two Rivers: Los Angeles and San Antonio

Why do urban rivers look like they do? What makes one river key to a city’s identity and another one largely unknowable? We wrap up Season Four with a trip to the banks of the Los Angeles River, where Cindy Olnick chats with new dual-degree alum Leslie Dinkin about her award-winning master’s thesis, Heritage in Practice: A Study of Two Urban Rivers. Leslie wanted to know what happened to set the Los Angeles and San Antonio Rivers on such different courses in the development of their respect...

1 year ago

37 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

Beyond the Stage: Uncovering Drag Culture in Los Angeles

Drag performances have long been a draw for audiences in L.A., though often held “underground” because of threats of persecution. In addition to its entertainment history, drag has had a role in affirming and protecting gender identity. Architect and recent graduate Jesús (Chuy) Barba Bonilla researched this history for his master’s thesis, Drag Culture of Los Angeles: Intangible Heritage through Ephemeral Places. In this episode, Willa Seidenberg chats with Chuy about how he chose this...

1 year ago

37 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

There's an App for That: 3D Scanning with a Smartphone

Tools for documenting historic buildings evolve constantly, but professional 3D scanners remain out of reach for most of us. Alumna Ye Hong, our first dual-degree student in Heritage Conservation and Building Science, sees a path to more equitable heritage conservation in the nearly ubiquitous smartphone. For her thesis, she tested the potential and limitations of mobile apps to scan Reunion House, designed by Richard and Dion Neutra. In this episode, co-host Trudi Sandmeier discusses this ex...

1 year ago

27 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

Documenting Black Women’s History at the Wilfandel Clubhouse

Dedicated students at the University of Southern California have pulled out the laser scanners and measuring tapes to document the Wilfandel Clubhouse in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles. The Wilfandel Club, the oldest Black women’s club in Los Angeles, was founded in 1945 by Della Williams (wife of architect Paul R. Williams) and Fannie Williams as a safe place for social, civic, and community events. In this episode, producer Willa Seidenberg visits the clubhouse to see the studen...

1 year ago

28 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

The Midcentury Spa-Tels of Desert Hot Springs

New alumna (and Save As producer) Willa Seidenberg has enjoyed the mineral-water spas of Desert Hot Springs for decades. In the 1950s, the Coachella Valley town became a destination for middle- and working-class families who frequented the simple spa motels, or "spa-tels." Willa and co-host Cindy Olnick took a road trip to Desert Hot Springs to see the remaining spa-tels and talk about Willa's thesis, Spa City: The Midcentury Spa-Tels of Desert Hot Springs. You’ll hear about Willa's research ...

1 year ago

36 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

The Hidden Heritage of San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf

A San Francisco native, alumna Emi Takahara always wondered why so many locals dismiss the historic Fisherman’s Wharf as a tourist trap. Sure, it has overpriced food, but it also has a culinary history that might surprise you—as well as longtime businesses trying to weather the changing times. In this episode, Emi talks with producer Willa Seidenberg about her thesis, The Restaurant That Started It All: The Hidden Heritage of San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, how Italian immigrants shaped Fi...

1 year ago

36 minutes

Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation

Rehabbing Old Houses into Affordable Housing

Alumna Isabel Thornton grew up in the Rust Belt town of Roanoke, Virginia. After graduating from USC, she eventually returned home and took note of the city’s beautiful Victorian homes, many vacant and in a state of disrepair. Linking her experience in affordable housing with her passion for historic places inspired her to establish a nonprofit called Restoration Housing. In this episode of Save As, Isabel talks with Trudi about how her organization is successfully rehabilitating neglected ho...

1 year ago

32 minutes