Cultural Heritage Commissioners

Richard Barron is a registered architect and has practiced architecture in Los Angeles for 30 years. Since 1987, he has been Principal of Richard Barron/Architects Inc., where he has specialized in the rehabilitation of historic structures for affordable housing. He has won Preservation Awards from the Los Angeles Conservancy and California Preservation Foundation for the rehabilitation of St. Andrew’s Bungalow Court in Hollywood, for the adaptive reuse of downtown Los Angeles’ St. George Hotel as affordable housing, and for the adaptive reuse of Hollywood’s Palomar Hotel, site of a tragic, deadly fire in 2001, as senior apartments. As a founding member of the Highland Park Neighborhood Association, he helped spearhead the passage of a Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ) for Highland Park, and has served on the Highland Park HPOZ Board since its inception.

Tara Jones Hamacher is President of Historic Consultants, a firm founded in 1994 to provide predevelopment counseling, project financing, and tax credit brokerage services to large commercial rehabilitation projects. In 2000, she also founded National Preservation Partners, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on the revitalization of the Broadway Theater and Entertainment National Register Historic Districts.  She has served on the Board of Trustees for the Bringing Back Broadway Initiative speareheaded by Councilmember Jose Huizar, Vice-President of the Entertainment Committee for the Historic Downtown Buinsess Improvement District, and Board Member of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council.

Gail Kennard is the President of Kennard Design Group (KDG), a Wilshire Center architectural firm founded in 1957 by her late father, Robert Kennard, FAIA.   KDG is the oldest African-American-owned architectural practice in the Western United States.   The firm's projects include public buildings, transportation, education, recreation, and multi-unit housing.  Raised in Los Angeles and currently living in Hollywood, Ms. Kennard began her career as a journalist for United Press International and Time Magazine, and as a journalism adviser for UCLA.   She serves on the Board of Advisors for the USC School of Architecture and is a Board Member and former President of Homeless Health Care Los Angeles. 

Roella H. Louie has previously served as Deputy Director of the Workforce Development Division in the Community Development Department, and from 1989 to 2001 was Director of Public Art and Cultural Planning for the Cultural Affairs Department, where she created the “Percent for Arts Expenditure” program,which allocates one percent of private construction costs topublic arts improvement. Louie holds a Master in Arts Administration degree from California State University at Dominguez Hills, and is a native of Los Angeles, currently living in Westwood Hills. She previously served on the Cultural Heritage Commission during 2004-2005, as an appointee of former Mayor Hahn.

Oz Scott is an accomplished and award-winning television, theatrical and motion picture director with over two decades of experience, having directed hundreds of television episodes along with dozens of stage productions, made-for-TV movies, and motion pictures. Scott’s credits include The Jeffersons, Archie Bunker’s Place, Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, Picket Fences, JAG, Soul Food, CSI, and Ed. In addition, Scott directed both the video that introduced Jesse Jackson to the 1988 Democratic Convention and the Nelson Mandela Rally for Freedom at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1990. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. A resident of Sherman Oaks, Scott has a longtime personal interest in architecture and enjoys scouting unique Los Angeles historic locations for his productions.