Title: Jay More Collection, 1984-2012

Dates: 1984-2012

Collection Number: GPC_b099 – GPC_b113, GPC_b156 – GPB_b160

Creator/Collector: More, Jay.

Extent: 21 boxes (10.5 linear ft.)

Repository: Los Angeles Public Library

Abstract: 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.

Language of Material: English

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

[Identification of item]. Jay More Collection, 1984-2012. Collection Number: GPC_b099 – GPC_b113, GPC_b156 – GPB_b160. Los Angeles Public Library

Gift of Danielle More, 3/16/2013

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.

The Jay More Collection spans three decades in the landscape of Los Angeles and surrounding areas, dating from 1984 through 2012. The nearly 5,500 images tell the story of a city’s disappearing identity, building by building, as it is replaced by everincreasingly homogenous structures. Mayan, Victorian, Greco-Roman, Adobe, Streamline Moderne and vernacular architecture, preserved in More’s photos, are followed by demolition, empty lots and new construction in subsequent weeks, months and years. Careful to take the photos from identical angles, More creates a fluid chronology of street corners and neighborhoods morphing into a barely distinguishable modern-day L.A., save for the surviving landmarks that confirm their locations. More’s subjects include apartment houses, hotels, office buildings, retail stores, gas stations, sign posts, ‘Muffler Men”, bus stations, train stations and garages. Historic events that shaped L.A. are chronicled with intimate proximity. Dozens of photos of the 1994 Northridge Earthquake’s aftermath show seemingly endless miles of destruction. The morning after the April 29, 1992 Los Angeles Uprising, More finds buildings in ruins, still smoldering. The graffiti-scrawled walls, condemning the LAPD and identifying “Black Owned” businesses, sadly did not save them from arson and looting, and his sensitive treatment of the ravaged landscape is at once poignant and devastating. From downtown to the west side and all around the county, Pasadena, Monterey Park, Montebello, Pico Rivera, even Long Beach and San Diego, wherever a building was doomed, More was there to take its final portrait. The boarded up and broken windows, For Lease signs, Going Out of Business banners, and hastily erected fencing add a somber tone to abandoned structures once grand, sometimes whimsical. The resulting collection acts as a valuable resource for those studying 30 years of L.A.’s lost architecture, and traces the evolution of retail centers, commercial districts and residential neighborhoods from height-restricted clusters to sprawling developments and towers.