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# Moving Angels Attic raises several issues
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/moving-angels-attic-raises-several-issues/
- Published: 2007-11-14T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T03:55:27.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Government & Politics, Ocean Park, #archive-import

*Angels Attic move gets a little nudge*

CITY HALL The proposal to uproot a small Victorian building housing a collection of dolls from its current digs in downtown Santa Monica to Ocean Park received a reluctant nudge from the Landmarks Commission on Monday night.

The commission supported moving Angels Attic, a two-story museum that sits noticeably out-of-place on an industrial portion of Colorado Avenue among multi-story residences and auto repair shops, to Heritage Square on Main Street, but cited concerns with the orientation of the 1894 Victorian house.

The Victorian structure was originally erected at Wilshire Boulevard and Fourth Street as a residence and was moved twice before it was relocated to 516 Colorado Ave. The building, which is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, was transformed into Angels Attic in 1984 by a group of women, seeking to open a museum in order to donate the proceeds to benefit autistic and developmentally disabled children. In 2004, Volunteers of America of Greater Los Angeles took over the operation of Angels Attic.

The Friends of the Heritage Square Committee, whose members includes the Ocean Park Restaurant Association, the California Heritage Museum and Volunteers of America, are proposing to move the structure to Heritage Square at the corner of Main Street and Ocean Park Boulevard, home to the California Heritage Museum and the Victorian restaurant.

The proposal is to place the doll museum between the California Heritage Museum and the Victorian restaurant. The element that most commissioners found troublesome was the orientation of the building, whose front would face the Victorian restaurant to the south and the rear would face the heritage museum to the north.

“Neither of the two \[existing\] structures are oriented to the street,” said commissioner Ruth Shari.“A third structure not oriented to the street is going to intensify the problem.”

“I see it as being visually disturbing and spatially uncomfortable if all three were there,” she added.

Though the commission supported moving the museum to Heritage Square and keeping it in Santa Monica, it suggests that the plans should be altered, possibly placing the building in the parking lot instead.

“I have a personal attachment to Angels Attic and its collection and I so want it to remain in Santa Monica,” said Chair Nina Fresco at the meeting. “But I can’t be comfortable with it being sideways.”

David Hibbert, the architect for the project, said the orientation is meant to preserve the feeling of Heritage Square as much as possible and felt that a vertical orientation would disrupt it.

“This preserves the site lines,” he said. There are also concerns of the museum’s impact on the Sunday Santa Monica Farmers’ Market, which is held in the parking lot at Heritage Square. The building could reduce visibility of the market from Main Street and could require relocating several of the market’s activities.

At least one resident spoke out against the relocation to the neighborhood.

Tony Haig, who lives in the Third Street Historic District, suggested the museum find another location in the city, fearing the added traffic.

“I think this will crowd out that whole complex,” he said.

The proposal to move Angels Attic came before the City Council on June 26\. Council directed the matter be presented to the Landmarks Commission because of its potential impact to the two historic buildings. The heritage museum, which was constructed in 1894, is a city landmark. The Victorian, was constructed around 1900 and is eligible for local landmark designation.

The council will make a decision on the move based on the commission’s recommendation.

Angels Attic still has a long way to go before it can even begin preparations for the move, still requiring City Council approval and a conditional use permit by the Planning Commission, Hibbert said. A cost estimate for the move is not yet available.

The decision was made to move Angels Attic because of the issues posed by its current location — the lack of parking and foot traffic.

“That was always an odd location for a museum anyway,” Hibbert said. “There is no foot traffic and most people are not even aware of the existence of Angels Attic.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 14, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/111407.pdf?ref=smdp.com)