To:The Seal Beach City Council
2211 Eighth Street
Seal Beach, CA 90740

From: Bruce Y. Rossmoor


April 19, 2004

Dear Seal Beach City Council,

As a resident of the Seal Beach-Rossmoor-Los Alamitos area, I feel it is my
duty to write to you concerning the proposed demolition of the Parasol
Restaurant in Rossmoor Center. This restaurant should be preserved as a historic
landmark and important work of unusual and nostalgic architecture. It serves as a
major focal point of the community for artistic as well as social reasons.

I am a native Southern Californian who has seen such wonderful pieces of
local history as the Ships Restaurants, Van de Camps, Tiny Naylor's, Bob's Big
Boys, Raffles and Twin Wheels disappear, one by one, increasingly impoverishing
our communities and the qualities of our lives with their loss and replacement
by "cookie cutter", characterless buildings.

Restaurants such as the Parasol are valuable illustrations of particular
visions of our culture and past. By destroying them, we are destroying the
cultural heritage of our local community, as well as that of Southern California.
With such acts of short-sightedness, we are depriving future generations of the
chance to know and enjoy this important segment of our communal past.

Please save this beautiful landmark of our heritage. In addition to its
undeniable merit as singular and significant architecture, it serves our community
as a friendly, welcoming meeting place for neighbors to come together,
especially for families and seniors who find it easily accessible, inexpensive, and
charming with long-time staff and dependably good food. Three generations of
local people have celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, ball game wins, new
jobs and new babies in the burgundy booths under the pink umbrella lights and
it's meant more to us than can be measured. Some neighborhoods have their local
barbershop, diner or soda fountain forbringing folks together; in our area
(and for miles around), the Parasol is a living and priceless piece of history
we savor every day. Please don't let this unique and special landmark be taken
away from so many who value it so highly.


Sincerely,


P.S. Quick action is very important. The Seal Beach Environmental Quality
Control Board meeting is on the Wednesday the 28th of April at 6:30 PM and the
Seal Beach Planning Commission meeting on May 19th at 7 PM, both in the Seal
Beach City Hall.





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