LottaLiving.com first came into creation over two decades ago in 1999. Originally designed to be a way for the Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee (modcom) to discuss current issues. It quickly mushroomed into something else. Flash forward to the year 2020. As friend Jeff Stork used to say… “The future is not what it used to be!”

After years of hoping to find a programmer interested in reviving the old BBS (bulletin board service) for LottaLiving.com, I have made the ‘final answer’ decision to put it to rest once and for all.

I personally paid for a couple of attempts to fix it over the years, but no programmer was ever able to make it happen. The original posts will live on the server indefinitely – but not accessible to the public – AND they will not be viewable even by me ever again without the support of a programmer. Because the software had not been updated in years, I regularly got messages from my ISP (internet service provider) that we had overrun the limits of the hosting plan. The site simply had to be shut down.
This is on top of the fact that mainstream corporate-funded social media took over the space of old school bulletin boards many many years ago. While I do still believe in the power of niche online communities, that kind of forum requires someone with more skills than I, and/or the money to pay for those skills.

The basic STATIC ‘lottalivin’ website will still exist indefinitely. It provides timeless examples of why preservation is important as well as guidelines on basic historic home renovation.

Happily, life moves on.

I am happy knowing that the board helped to support the preservation community, promoted some fun get-togethers, advocated and even helped to save some pretty cool buildings, and mainly, connected friends across the miles. I personally met some of the most amazing people I might never have known had the board not existed. Even though we might never meet or chat again, I feel like we are somehow forever connected and am grateful we made acquaintance.

Thank you for letting me be of service.

Sincerely,

Mary-Margaret (aka m&m or anand) Stratton

Lotta Living. Website. A community barely alive…

Welcome to the new and improved Lotta Living ‘work-in-progress’ website. Why? You may ask WHY would we wish to keep this website alive? Yes. There are MCM Facebook groups. There is Retro Renovation. There is the Recent Past Preservation Network and National Trust website AND DOCOMOMO! There is even Charles Phoenix sharing wonderful Googie fantasy pictures… And there are countless great individual preservation organizations across the country with terrific websites. But where is the online support for good-old-fashioned saving a building??? The one that connects the dots and helps us in our preservation efforts across the miles? THAT is where LottaLivin comes in.

The old Lotta Living php message board was out of date by 2007. It has slowly sadly lost its usefulness over the years as well as its relevance and readership. I have known for some time that it was time to kill the site once and for all, OR to invest some time and money into seeing if I could get it to be useful again.

THEN, last year there was a Facebook post about a MCM bank being torn down somewhere in the MidWest. The author said in so many words, “Oh well, I guess they’ll just tear it down.” By the end of the day, this post had gone so far down the page, I could not even find it again. I just remembered that person and thought about how isolated they must have felt… Loving that building. Knowing it deserved to be fought for. And NOT knowing where to turn for help. Also there was the fact that the Facebook post was so ephemeral, that maybe only a small fraction of people probably saw it on their Newsfeeds. So if there were people who could help out, good luck with them ever finding out about the building? I imagine it is torn down by now 🙁

We can rebuild it. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s best preservation website.

LottaLivin’ will be that website. Better than it was. Better, stronger, faster.

They say, “If you build it, they will come.” It’s now up to you folks. The site will need YOU. Your participation, link suggestions, event submissions, advertising and of course feedback and support on preservation issues. Wish us luck. We STILL have gotta Lotta Livin’ to do.