Will the home of Billy’s Gangplank become Echo Park’s next historic landmark?

The city’s Cultural Heritage Commission voted today to consider declaring the home of art dealer Billy Shire a historic cultural monument. Shire’s hard to miss home -which he once described as having “a tiki-nautical thing going on” – is already an unofficial neighborhood landmark in the Elysian Heights section of Echo Park. The front of the attention getting home is entered through a front-porch structure, dubbed “Billy’s Gangplank,” that was created and built by his brother and neighbor, sculptor Peter Shire. The Shires consider Billy’s Gangplank a work of art but city inspectors have expressed a different view on the matter. Read more in Home & History.