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SPECIAL SECTION: NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE ANNIVERSARY
Over the course of 30 seconds last January, a number of communities in and near Los Angeles - including Santa Monica, Hollywood and Fillmore - immediately shared a painful, common thread.
Historical buildings in all three cities suffered more damage than in any other community within Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
Though a hodgepodge of old buildings in the San Fernando Valley took their share of hits - like the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood and the San Fernando Mission - relics in the three communities bore the brunt of the earthquake, officials said.
Affected were some of the area's most treasured structures: the Fillmore Town Theater, the El Capitan and Pantages theaters, the Miles Playhouse in Santa Monica, as well as the Los Angeles Coliseum, UCLA's Royce Hall and the Watts Towers.
Owners of more than 1,500 publicly owned buildings that are more than 50 years old have already requested federal aid; another 75 or so have applied for special state and federal grant money.
But don't count on the executive director of the Los Angeles Historical Conservancy to say this is the worst disaster ever to hit the area's oldest structures. She'd prefer to count...