Meeting: Historic Preservation in Holmby Hills, Westwood Village

The Holmby-Westwood Property Owners Association [HWPOA] is inviting the Westwood community to spend a few hours looking back in time at Westwood's historic character with actress Diane Keaton and Linda Dishman, executive director of the Los Angeles Conservancy.

The event is Thursday night at Westwood United Methodist Church. For more information about the event, . Free parking is available at Belmont Village Westwood, next door to the church.

Over the past few years, the Holmby Hills community has seen an increase in new residents who seek to change their properties in ways that are not "appropriate for the neighborhood's history," said Susan Reuben, vice president of HWPOA.

Thursday's event will also touch on the historic buildings in Westwood Village, which HWPOA and the Los Angeles Conservancy seek to protect and preserve. The HWPOA is working to establish a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone, in which Los Angeles city officials would establish a historic district in the neighborhood. The timing is right, now that Westwood has a Business Improvement District, Reuben said.

"We have the original stuff in Westwood and if we're going to revive Westwood, that historic character has to remain in Westwood," Reuben said. "We don't just have buildings here and there. We really have a high concentration of historic buildings. We have a wonderful little jewel here that needs to be preserved."

To learn more about Westwood's historic buildings and the effort to preserve them, RSVP to the meeting by emailing greuben@pacbell.net.

Westwood-Century City Patch will be at the meeting. Check the site in the morning for a recap of the night's events.