Spanning three decades, The Jay More Collection chronicles the changing face of Los Angeles as it underwent the most extensive period of destruction and reconstruction in its history: the ‘80s, ‘90s, and early 2000s. His portraits of residences, shops, restaurants, even gas stations, taken merely days before their demolition, reveal the result that budget cuts, neglect and apathy towards preservation had on the architecture that once defined Los Angeles. More’s mission, to capture the historic and cultural significance of L.A.’s vanishing buildings provides an invaluable record of what’s been lost, and a striking contrast between idiosyncrasy and conformity.

Photographer Jay More’s instinct for composition captures the spirit and surroundings of his subjects as it pertained to the overall theme of loss that is sensed throughout the collection. His earliest series of photographs chronicled the struggle to save, then lose, downtown’s First Methodist Church in 1984, which became his inspiration for photographing condemned buildings. Granddaughter, donor Danielle More, explained her grandfather’s daily routine of scanning the newspapers, looking for mentions of a store or company about to go out of business, a fire that gutted a building, a fight between preservationists and developers, anything that signaled another change in the landscape of greater Los Angeles. He would then drive to the condemned structure, often with Danielle in tow, and set up his camera, mindful to get multiple angles and distances, adding to its context. The photographs were then carefully arranged in albums, often accompanied by the newspaper clippings that announced their fate, along with receipts, business cards and other keepsakes he collected from the establishments he patronized during their last days in operation. More made a practice of familiarizing himself with the histories of his subjects, as evidenced by the various academic footnotes and archival photographs included in his “Before and After” series, matching the original photos with his own using an exact taking perspective. His dedication lasted nearly the rest of his life; More died in 2013, less than one year after shooting his last roll of film.

21 boxes (10.5 linear ft.)

The collection is stored on-site at the Central Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. It is open for research via appointment.