Her mother was a talented artist and her dad was a creative engineer, so it wasn’t much of a surprise that Diane Kane would go on to earn degrees in art history, as well as architectural history and urban planning, with a career in the latter.
“My do-it-yourself parents built our family home in Cleveland, with the help of my aunt and uncle, who lived next door. By the time I was in high school, I had worked on three home construction sites, often working side-by-side with my grandfather, an accomplished mason, or my dad,” she says. “While at UCLA, I studied art history at the University of Edinburgh. One of my professors loved architecture and interested me in the subject. I travelled extensively throughout Europe during the year, marveling at historic cities, buildings, parks, and plazas. I was hooked!”
Over the course of her career as a city planner and as an architectural historian, she’s been recognized with dozens of awards for her unique approach to preserving historic resources, transportation solutions, and involving local communities. As an educator, she’s taught Western and American art, architectural history, and planning for more than 35 years, including her popular lecture series at UC San Diego’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Next month, she’s being honored with a lifetime achievement award in historic preservation from the Save Our Heritage Organisation at their annual People in Preservation awards on Sept. 13. (Other award winners include Howard Greenberg, Judy Swink, Mark G. Wiesner, Kerri Klein, Talmadge Historical Society, Eileen Magno, Camille Jorgensen, Molly McLain, Seonaid McArthur, and the La Jolla Historical Society).
Kane, 77, is a retired senior planner from the city of San Diego and a lifetime member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. She lives in La Jolla with her husband, John, and took some time to talk about her approach to her historic preservation work, what her travels across the country and all over the world have taught her about architecture, and her favorite form of dance.
Q: You have a significant and respected history as a retired senior planner with the city of San Diego’s planning department, and as a teacher of art, architectural history, and planning. As a city planner in historic resources, how would you describe your approach to the projects you worked on? What was important to you to prioritize when you were working on these projects?
A: I specialized in large-scale historic survey work, pioneering research in unstudied building typologies; rural, industrial, and vernacular landscapes; and use of electronic databases and GIS mapping for historic resources. At Caltrans, my work was associated with massive public projects. I excelled at discovering unrecognized gems and turning mundane projects into award winners. I also crafted effective and creative mitigation measures to protect historic fabric while enabling public works projects to proceed into construction. I really enjoyed consensus building to develop win-win solutions for preservation, people, and projects. In the public sector, it is very important to be practical-budgets matter, regulations exist, timelines must be respected. Not everything can be “saved.”
Q: The National Park Service describes historic preservation as “conversation with our past about our future” that allows us to look at history differently, ask different questions of the past, find parts of the past that we can save for the future, and both celebrate history while also confronting history that is painful or uncomfortable. Can you talk about a project you’ve worked on that stands out in your mind for the way it showed you how to understand history differently than you may have done previously?
A: The most controversial projects I worked on were the state Route 710 Freeway Gap Closure Project and the Arroyo Seco Parkway Scenic Byway Project in the same transportation corridor linking downtown Los Angeles with Pasadena. Both projects were associated with re-assessment of the post-war freeway building era. As the first freeway in the western United States, the Arroyo Seco Parkway’s design oscillated between freeway and parkway. It was experiencing traffic counts and driving speeds it was never designed to handle, resulting in a high accident rate. I successfully convinced federal, state, and local road managers to consider re-framing the road as a “historic parkway” by lowering speeds and highlighting scenery and landscaping. The SR-710 gap closure project questioned the use of freeways altogether (it has yet to be built).
Q: Have there been projects in historic preservation that you’ve worked on that required you to confront painful or uncomfortable elements of our shared history?
A: When I worked on the Uptown Survey between 2003 and 2007, it was clear that the LGBTQ community in Hillcrest had a long association with the area. wanted to have their history documented as part of that survey process. Unfortunately, the preservation methods and significance criteria at the time did not have adequate tools to address their interests. The same issue arose during historical studies for East Village in 2004, where many African-American resources were located. In both cases, these histories have been captured due to community activism, but the associated resources don’t fit well into established preservation techniques that focus on the physical environment. Due to substantial alterations over time, they no longer clearly reflect their important associated use. In the East Village area, many of the properties were already lost due to their poor condition. The Douglas Hotel was unfortunately lost before it had been surveyed; but the Lillian Place Apartments preserved the major structure associated with the original property owner and provided on-site interpretation of that property’s history. Discussions about preserving the LGBTQ-plus history in Hillcrest are still continuing. In general, preservation becomes a hot button issue when land values outweigh cultural values, especially when cultural values are unstudied or purposely kept secret.
What I love about La Jolla…
My husband and I live in an older La Jolla neighborhood in a much remodeled 100-year-old home. The streets are narrow with nail-biting curves, steep grades, and poor sight lines. Irregular lot lines and challenging topography provide for architectural variety and spectacular views—that is, when it’s not foggy! Although there are no sidewalks or road shoulders, it is a great walking neighborhood where families stay forever and their property on to successive generations. It’s close to the freeway and walkable to Mt. Soledad, La Jolla Cove, and La Jolla Shores. I am heavily involved in community life here and rarely feel a need to leave. After travelling the world, I’ve found a place to call home.
Q: During a lecture last year on “San Diego’s Hits and Misses Since 1980: Looking Back, Going Forward” at UC San Diego, you talked about architecture and planning in San Diego over the past 40 years. Can you tell us a bit about your perspective on what San Diego has done well and why those things have worked; and where San Diego has missed the mark and what’s been learned from those mistakes?
A: Many of the highlights I covered were the result of intense community conflict, legal disputes, and eventual compromise that led to unique and surprising solutions that have enhanced our community. Top hits included early designation of the Gaslamp Quarter that sparked downtown revitalization; the ballpark settlement agreement that gave us a unique ballpark and vibrant warehouse district; the LIND (Little Italy Neighborhood Developers) Block in Little Italy, that enabled several architects to collaborate on a project as designer/developers; and the Multiple Species Conservation Program that delineated, linked, and protects our network of native habitats. Our canyon and mesa topography provides a unique physical structure that strongly sets San Diego’s urban character. We were also nationally recognized for our City of Villages Plan in 2010, and the creation of community planning groups.
A top miss was locating the convention center along the harbor that blocked public access and views of our waterfront. The current “build anything anywhere” incentives that override thoughtful planning is a major miss, as is a failure to refresh our terrific parks. Demolishing our affordable housing supply and closing mental hospitals without replacement plans were major misses whose consequences we’re all now suffering. I fear failing to maintain and renew our ageing infrastructure will result in similar negative outcomes.
Q: Since your retirement in 2007, you’ve traveled to all 50 states in the U.S. and to more than 100 countries, leading to an interest in non-Western architecture. What were you seeing on your travels that sparked this new curiosity?
A: I am very interested in creativity and how ideas are sparked and transformed through time and space. I’ve studied history, psychology, anthropology, and brain function in pursuit of this interest, but travelling provides real world understanding unavailable through books. I am constantly amazed by how the same concepts continually appear in very different locations, yet how site-specific the solutions can be. Humans are very good at observing their world, learning from one another, and problem solving.
Q: What are some of the differences you’ve noticed between non-Western and Western architecture?
A: This question is better addressed by comparing modernized, westernized architecture versus vernacular architecture everywhere. Traditional cultures are much better at living locally and using sustainable materials with ancient building practices than are areas dependent on global supply chains, modern materials and construction methodologies. They are also attuned to climate, topography, and available materials, and display highly distinctive approaches to design that provide a deep sense of place, cultural cohesion, and continuity. Essentially, they work with nature rather than override it with technology.
Q: What are some of the lessons in our approach to architecture and preservation you would like to see us take from non-Western examples and use locally?
A: To create a sense of place, we should respect our canyon and mesa topography, local neighborhoods and small businesses, preserve older buildings that connect us with our history and culture, and an architect-as-developer approach for creative infill projects. To attain sustainability and slow climate change, we should allow historic buildings to be moved for preservation purposes, enable salvageable historic fragments to be included as part of new construction, adaptively re-use older building stock for affordable housing, require recycling of construction material (including concrete and steel), encourage/enable mud construction in building codes, and apprentice programs in native habitat management and renewal.
Q: What’s been challenging about your work in architectural history and preservation?
A: Convincing skeptics that preservation is culturally important, a significant creator of good local jobs, is environmentally sustainable, and is a significant economic multiplier for owners, neighbors, and the wider community.
Q: What’s been rewarding about it?
A: Watching people enjoy and use a well-done project, like Petco Park, that is unique, place-based, and iconic.
Q: What has this work taught you about yourself?
A: I enjoy problem-solving, can develop multiple alternatives, enjoy working in teams, am not afraid of taking calculated risks, thrive on learning, and I don’t panic in a clutch.
Q: What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
A: It is impossible to get lost because no matter where you go, that’s where you are.
Q: What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?
A: I love to tap dance.
Q: Please describe your ideal San Diego weekend.
A: I love to entertain and am a reasonably good cook. I would invite family or friends to us, enjoy leisurely breakfasts “chez nous,” then choose a walk to the village via Coast Walk Trail, stroll along La Jolla Shores beach, or hike to the top of Mt. Soledad; lunch at one of our great outdoor eating spots (George’s at the Cove, JRDN restaurant, or Piatti); and a play at a small, local theater like North Coast Rep in Solana Beach or Lamb’s Players in Coronado. A second day could in include morning hikes at Torrey Pines State Park or Mission Trail State Park; a trolley ride to Old Town, Little Italy, and/or the Gaslamp for lunch, shopping and people watching; and a homemade, group-prepared dinner with wine, great conversation, and plenty of laughter.
