Daniel Van Meter on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Tower of Wooden Pallets was a structure of discarded wooden pallets built by Daniel Van Meter and designated as a Historic Cultural Monument.No. 184 – (Site of) Tower of Wooden Pallets
/ref>
/ref>Richard Simon, ''The News-Journal Accent'', Daytona Beach, Florida, May 31, 1998, 11A, "Collector finds solace in odd tower of pallets" It was known as the City of Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument number 184 and located at 15357 Magnolia Boulevard in
/ref>
/ref> This designation protected Van Meter's pile of pallets until he died or moved. Later, then-commissioner Robert W. Winter said "maybe we were drunk" when the pile was designated a monument for Van Meter's lifetime. Winter said it was the funniest thing they ever did. Van Meter lived to be 87 years old and died in 1998. Some say Van Meter's tower of wooden pallets was one of a kind and consider him an "outside artist."Tower of Wooden Pallets – Gone
/ref> In 2006 the remainder of the Tower of Pallets was bulldozed. Van Meter's heirs sold the underlying land for $4.5 million; a 98-unit multi-level apartment building was built in the tower's place.Pallet monument causes heated debate / Heirs of creator want to L.A.-area parcel to developer
/ref> Supposedly, there will be a memorial display of the Tower of Pallets in the lobby of the apartment building. Van Meter was quoted as saying when he lobbied for his tower’s landmark status:
The Tower of Wooden Pallets was a structure of discarded wooden pallets built by Daniel Van Meter and designated as a Historic Cultural Monument.No. 184 – (Site of) Tower of Wooden Pallets /ref>
/ref>Richard Simon, ''The News-Journal Accent'', Daytona Beach, Florida, May 31, 1998, 11A, "Collector finds solace in odd tower of pallets" It was known as the City of Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument number 184 and located at 15357 Magnolia Boulevard in
Sherman Oaks, California
Sherman Oaks is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California located in the San Fernando Valley, founded in 1927. The neighborhood includes a portion of the Santa Monica Mountains, which gives Sherman Oaks a lower population density than ...
.Tower of pallets no more/ref>
History
In 1951, Van Meter found thousands of discarded standard pallets from a local Schlitz Brewing Company plant. This gave him the idea of building some sort of structure from these. He gathered up five truckloads of these discarded pallets and began building a tower structure in his backyard. The bee hive cone-shaped tower of some 2000 wooden pallets had a base of and ultimately rose to over twenty feet in height when finished. Van Meter's Tower of Pallets sat on the gravesite of a child buried in 1869. It took Van Meter several weeks to build the wooden tower of pallets. The top had an opening that was thirteen feet across. The "room" inside contained outdoor patio furniture. In 1953, Los Angeles county building inspectors were baffled as to how to classify Van Meter's innovation. They ultimately decided it was a wooden " fence". No further regulatory action was taken for over twenty years and the building department left him alone, along with his "folk art" innovation, until 1977. In that year the city fire department declared his creation "an illegally stacked lumber pile." He was instructed to tear it down. Van Meter, using some imagination, convinced the Cultural Heritage Commission and the city of Los Angeles to designate his creation a Historic Cultural Monument. It was declared then as HCM Monument No. 184 in 1978."Does It Stack Up as Art?" ''Los Angeles Times'' Jan 26, 2005/ref> This designation protected Van Meter's pile of pallets until he died or moved. Later, then-commissioner Robert W. Winter said "maybe we were drunk" when the pile was designated a monument for Van Meter's lifetime. Winter said it was the funniest thing they ever did. Van Meter lived to be 87 years old and died in 1998. Some say Van Meter's tower of wooden pallets was one of a kind and consider him an "outside artist."Tower of Wooden Pallets – Gone
/ref> In 2006 the remainder of the Tower of Pallets was bulldozed. Van Meter's heirs sold the underlying land for $4.5 million; a 98-unit multi-level apartment building was built in the tower's place.
/ref> Supposedly, there will be a memorial display of the Tower of Pallets in the lobby of the apartment building. Van Meter was quoted as saying when he lobbied for his tower’s landmark status:
References
Notes
Bibliography
*''Los Angeles Times''; Jan 23, 1938, p. A6, '"Noted Inventor Burial Planned" *Los Angeles Times; Feb 25, 1942, p. A1, ''Noble Called Racketeer by Former Associate'' *''Los Angeles Times''; Apr 16, 1942, p. 15, ''Brothers Seek Arrest in Vain'' *''Los Angeles Times''; Jul 6, 1942, p. 6, ''Noble Aids Go on Trial Today'' *''Los Angeles Times''; Nov 28, 1946, p. 10, ''Seven Denied Damages by State Board'' *''Los Angeles Times''; Jul 14, 1954, p. B8, ''Rites Set Today for Mrs. Esther Van Meter'' *''Los Angeles Times''; Feb 15, 1988, p. 8, Simon, Richard, ''Tower of Tranquility Unusual Sherman Oaks Landmarks Provides a Refuge from Turmoil'' *Los Angeles Times; Feb 19, 1988, p. 3, Simon, Richard, ''For a Collector, His Is an Odd Pallet'' *Los Angeles Times; Nov 14, 2002, p. B4, Harvey, Steve ''Only in L.A.; The Valley’s Once-Mighty Tower of Pallets Has Fallen on Hard Times'' *''Los Angeles Times''; Jan 26, 2005, p. Metro A1, Garrison, Jennifer ''Does It Stack Up as Art?'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Tower of Wooden Pallets Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles Wooden towers