John Lesak is a Principal at Page & Turnbull in Los Angeles, where he specializes in in the preservation, rehabilitation, repair, and reuse of historic structures. His work includes the adaption of historic modern office buildings, 1970s concrete structures, and a 1960s library into The Cheech, a museum for Chicano art in Riverside, California that opened last year to house the collection of actor Cheech Marin. Unfrozen and Lesak chat concrete, the broad meaning of historic preservation, and of course, the Cheech – the man and the museum.

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Intro: “Born in East L.A.,” by Cheech & Chong

Discussed:

The Cheech

The Mercury (Union Bank, Getty Realty Building) – Claud Beelman, converted to residential in 2007

Local Law 97 – New York City

Empire State Building retrofit by Johnson Controls

Ranking of NYC buildings for energy performance

Shift of LEED from incentive-based program to code

Concrete cage match: Walter Netsch vs William Pereira

Consider also Max Abramowitz

Boston City Hall

Early recognition of embodied energy impact, 1976-1980: Energy Use for Building Construction, Richard G. Stein & Associates + Center for Advanced Computation at the University of Illinois

New Energy from Old Buildings, National Trust, 1981

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Outro: “Concrete,” by the Darkness