A literary history tragedy. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories...y/main20054710.shtml

Which raises the questions:

--Does anyone know of any historic preservation interests or actions by Ray other than getting a plaque placed at the Laurel and Hardy steps?

--Are any historic preservation or landmark efforts being made to sites significant to Ray?

Shocking! I think there would be an outcry if that happened in the UK!

You second question brings us back to the old chestnut of the Carnegie library in Waukegan (who knows if anything will ever be done with that). And also to the plaque that Stephen Leiva blogged about the other day (the old powerhouse).

Glad to learn of the powerhouse plaque.

Americans do not have the sense of historic preservation Europeans do. Witness the home of Walt Disney, which has been discussed here before. Witness the historic Ambassador Hotel in L. A., mentioned in Ray's story "By the Numbers."

Sad to see. I don't believe everything from the past has to be preserved, but this should have. One of the first books of "real" literature I read. It's impact on our culture was amazing. Thanks for flagging this.

Liberace's house hardly draws any tourists these days. Well, maybe not as sad as all that...

Did a paper in Boston a couple years ago on Theodore Dreiser. I had never been to the area. We went and saw the houses of Emerson, Hawthorne, Walden Pond, the location of the first shot of the American Revolutionary War in Concord, the graves of Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Emerson, and lots of other sites. There is a sense of place that we need to be careful to preserve.

To me, Gatsby's house is worth more than all of these put together: http://realestate.msn.com/blog...624b48ae97>1=35011

I mean, seriously, John Saul?

Very sad: http://latimesblogs.latimes.co...he-gatsby-house.html

Presumably Fitzgerald was inspired by two different estates for Gatsby's house, or else one of these was Gatsby's and the other was Tom and Daisy Buchanan's house, as they can hardly be selling it this year if it was torn down last year.

http://www.newsday.com/classif...oint-sells-1.3669075