L.A. Places

Hiatus

2010-09-02T19:23:00.000-07:00

I'm out of commission for a while and will not be blogging for at least the next few months. I'm still reading comments on old posts and responding to emails so feel free to continue to contact me.

Cat of the Week: Kukku

2010-07-10T21:47:00.001-07:00

"Kukku" saying hello to a new little friend on the Chung King Alley in L.A.'s Chinatown:

Runyon Canyon

2010-07-10T10:13:00.000-07:00

Runyon Canyon is a very popular urban park in Hollywood with a moderate 3 mile hiking loop.

There are great views over the city from the trail. Here is a view looking out over Hollywood toward downtown Los Angeles:

Cactus and Palm tree near the Fuller street entrance to the park:

The main entrance to Runyon Canyon is on N. Fuller Ave. one block north of Hillside Avenue. There are additional entrances on Vista St. and from the north on Mulholland. Dogs are allowed on the trails.

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From the Archives: Downtown Art Deco

2010-07-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted in July of 2009.)

Los Angeles has a rich collection of Art Deco buildings because the city underwent a period of expansion in the 1920s and 1930s. Last month, I went on the L.A. Conservancy's downtown Art Deco walking tour and this post includes pictures of some of the buildings that we saw on the tour.

The Eastern Columbia Building (849 S. Broadway) was built by Architect Claude Beelman in 1930 as the headquarters and retail center for the Eastern & Columbia clothing and furniture companies. The building was converted into luxury residential condos in 2007. Bright blue terracotta tiles and gold trim decorate the building's exterior. The facade includes many zig-zag and chevron ("v" shape) patterns typical of the Art Deco style:

Art Deco architects sought to emphasize verticality as a symbol of modernity and progress. Strong vertical lines dominate the Eastern Columbia Building's facade and extend all the way up to the clock tower:

A turquoise and yellow terracotta sunburst decorates the vestibule over the front entrance of the building. The vestibule's ceiling also includes more of the ubiquitous Art Deco chevron patterns:

The Sun Realty Building (629 S. Hill St.) is another 1930 Claude Beelman building clad in colorful terracotta tiles and dominated by strong vertical lines:

Art Deco designs often drew inspiration from Mayan and Egyptian art and architecture. Here is a detail of the green terracotta tilework on the Sun Realty building that was inspired by an Egyptian papyrus motif:

Most of downtown L.A.'s Art Deco buildings are less brightly colored than the vibrant Eastern Columbia and Sun Realty Buildings. The Title Guarantee Building, located on the northeast corner of Pershing Square at 411 W. 5th St. and built by John and Donald Parkinson in 1929-1931, is clad in stone-colored terracotta tile:

The Title Guarantee Building's rooftop tower looks like a modern version of a Gothic structure and even includes stylized flying buttresses:

Architects Allison and Allison built the Southern California Edison Building (601 W. 5th St.) in 1930-1931. The building's octagonal entrance is topped with beautiful bas-relief friezes by artist Merrell Gage. Below the reliefs are more of the common Art Deco zig-zag patterns.

Here is a detail of the frieze depicting hydroelectric power. The flow of water from the urn is so stylized that it is almost a zig-zag:

Although this semi-nude figure in the central panel looks classical, his torch is illuminated with a modern light bulb rather than a flame:

The architectural details in these Art Deco buildings are beautifully designed and crafted. Here is a detail of the glass doors to the Oviatt Building (617 S. Olive St.), designed by architects Walker and Eisen in 1927-1928:

The exterior marquee and the interior of the Oviatt Building are decorated with glass made by French glass designer Rene Lalique. Here is a detail of a frosted glass panel from the interior of the building:

The terracotta grillework over the front entrance to Claude Beelmans' 1929 building at 850 S. Broadway uses stylized flower and vine motifs that were popular in Art Deco designs:

A detail from the beautiful bronzework over the front entrance to the William Fox Building (608 S. Hill St.) built by S. Tilden Norton in 1931:

Below is a map of the buildings included on the L.A. Conservancy's downtown Art Deco walking tour. The Art Deco tour leaves from Pershing Square at 10 AM every Saturday. The tours cost $5 for Conservancy members and $10 for non-members. If you participate in the tour, you also receive an excellent pamphlet produced by the Conservancy from which I obtained much of the information in this post. I highly recommend the tour for anyone interested in Art Deco architecture or downtown Los Angeles. I also recommend that people who are interested in historical preservation and conservation join the L.A. Conservancy (basic membership is $40).

View Downtown Art Deco in a larger map

Felix Chevrolet

2010-06-13T17:28:00.000-07:00

Auto dealer Winslow Felix put up this classic sign in 1957 when he got permission from his friend, filmmaker Pat Sullivan, to use the Felix the Cat image on his Chevrolet dealership. Felix Chevrolet still operates as a car dealership and is located at West Figueroa Boulevard and South Jefferson Street next to the University of Southern California campus.

Here is a closer view of the 3-sided sign:
Unlike most of L.A.'s 1950s signs, the Felix Chevrolet sign is protected from unilateral demolition or alteration because it was designated as a City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 2007.

Exposition Park Rose Garden

2010-06-13T16:00:00.000-07:00

The City of Los Angeles has operated the 7-acre formal Rose Garden in Exposition Park since 1928. It is a traditional rose garden including concentric plots of rose bushes laid out symmetrically around a central fountain.

The garden includes over 20,000 rose bushes and over 200 different types of roses.

The garden, which is a nice location for a stroll or a picnic, is open from 9 in the morning until sundown but is closed from January 1st through March 15th for maintenance and pruning. A number of child-friendly museums surround the garden in Exposition Park including The California Science Center, The California African American Museum, and The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. Exposition Park is also across the street from the University of Southern California campus.

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LACMA's Pavilion for Japanese Art

2010-05-31T19:36:00.000-07:00

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is the largest art museum west of Chicago and its huge collection is contained in a sprawling, confusingly laid-out group of buildings in central Los Angeles. One of the most interesting LACMA buildings is the Pavilion for Japanese Art designed by architect Bruce Goff (1904-1982) in the late 1970s. The small but unusual building stands out from the boxy, nondescript buildings which comprise the LACMA's original 1964 campus.

Bruce Goff's idiosyncratic buildings, often described as organic architecture, are characterized by expressive shapes, the use of unusual materials, and spatially complex interiors. Despite Goff's lack of formal architectural training, the University of Oklahoma appointed the self-taught architect as a professor and then as the chairman of their School of Architecture in 1943.

The Pavilion's exterior walls are made of translucent fiberglass panels designed to resemble traditional Japanese rice paper shoji screens. The panels filter the sunlight allowing artwork to be safely illuminated by soft, natural light.

The interior, with its carpeted walls, muted beige color scheme, weird organic foamy shapes, and multi-story spiral gallery, has the feeling of a 1970s Bond villain's lair. However, despite their odd layout and extremely dated decor, the interior spaces work well as elegant and peaceful galleries.

On the Pavilion's roof is an odd structure comprised of supporting cables and tusk-like objects that reference the fossils from the adjacent La Brea Tar Pits. The Tar Pits are an active archeological site next to the LACMA containing skeletons of animals from the last Ice Age including mastodons, mammoths, camels, bison, and saber-tooth tigers who fell into the tar pits tens of thousands of years ago. Skeletons recovered from the pits are on view at the Page Museum next to the LACMA.

The LACMA website and the Page Museum website have more info about visiting the museums.

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Jacarandas

2010-05-16T10:53:00.000-07:00

Jacaranda trees, which are native to South America, are a very popular tree in Los Angeles with beautiful bright purple flowers that peak every May. Here are some Jacarandas in Culver City:

From the Archives: 1950's Diners

2010-05-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted on March 10, 2009)

In the 1950s, people thought that the future would be full of odd angles, flying saucers, boomerangs, and things shaped like parabolas. This futuristic style, which was particularly popular for diners, motels, car washes, and bowling alleys, originated in Southern California and is called "Googie." Although many of the old Googie buildings have been destroyed, Los Angeles still has hundreds of Googie-style roadside signs and buildings.

Rae's, on Pico Boulevard and 29th Street in Santa Monica:
I got a cheeseburger and soda at Rae's and then took this interior photo on my way out:

Johnie's on Fairfax Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard is a classic Googie diner designed in 1955 by Helen Fong of Arnet & Davis, the premiere L.A. coffee shop and diner architects of the 1950s. Johnie's stopped operating as an active diner in 2000 and its original 1950s interior is now used exclusively for movie and television filming. Billboards, SUVs, construction, and street lights conspired to try ruin my photo:
A view of the back entrance:
The old sign for Johnie's Diner is now used for the 99 Cent Store parking lot:

Norms is still an active diner chain serving gross food to people all over the Southland. The original Norms is on La Cienega Boulevard and Melrose Avenue and was also designed by Helen Fong of Arnet & Davis in 1957:

Johnnies Pastrami is on Sepulveda Boulevard and Washington Place in Culver City:
A crown dots the "i" on the beautiful Johnnies sign. I have no idea what "French Dip" means:

The Mission Family Restaurant and Coffee Shop in Pomona:
Here is a typical Googie bowling sign across the street from Santa Monica High School on Pico Boulevard and 3rd Street:

Another bowling alley sign on Crenshaw Boulevard in Torrance:

The popular Culver City Ice Rink, also on Sepulveda Boulevard, has a beautiful sign and skating lady out front:

The Half Moon, the Astro, and Deano's are a string of cheap motels on Sepulveda Boulevard in Culver City:

If you like this type of classic mid-century L.A. design, you might also like my posts on Randy's Donuts, architect Welton Becket, the Union 96 gas station, and the Chemosphere House.

Bungalow Heaven

2010-04-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

Bungalow Heaven is a lovely neighborhood in Pasadena comprised of almost 1000 one-story Arts and Crafts style bungalows. With its quiet tree-lined streets, pretty gardens, and centrally located park, Bungalow Heaven is one of L.A.'s most charming neighborhoods. Most of the houses in this area were built in the 1910s-1920s and include characteristics typical of the American Craftsman style including low-pitched roofs, overhanging eaves, and beautiful, handcrafted stonework and woodwork.

Bungalow Heaven is bordered by E. Washington Blvd. to the North, E. Orange Grove Blvd. to the South, N. Lake Ave. to the West, and N. Hill Ave. to the East. Every spring, the Bungalow Heaven Neighborhood Association organizes a home tour with 8 different restored bungalows open to the public. For more Pasadena Arts and Crafts pictures, check out my post on the Gamble House.

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Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve

2010-04-17T17:38:00.001-07:00

Bright orange California poppies bloom at the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, located in northern Los Angeles County, from late February through early May usually peaking in mid-April. Poppies are native to the Mojave Desert Grassland climate of the Antelope Valley and the Poppy Reserve does not plant, cultivate, or water the wildflowers.

The Poppy Reserve is only open during poppy season and is located near Lancaster - it took us about an hour and a half to drive there from Culver City with no traffic. More information about visiting the Reserve is available at the State Park website.

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Cat of the Week: Jasper

2010-04-07T19:17:00.000-07:00

Jasper in the Palms neighborhood:

The Selig Retail Building

2010-04-03T21:40:00.000-07:00

The Selig Clothing Store, built in 1931, is a small, one-story, black and gold Art Deco building on the corner of Western Avenue and Third Street. It housed a bank for several decades and is now being used as retail space again.
The street-level portion of the Selig Building is unremarkable, but the black and gold terracotta tiles, with their distinctive corn-cob pattern, are quite beautiful:

The Selig Building is of particular historical interest because it gives a sense of what the 12-story black and gold Art Deco masterpiece the Richfield Oil Building looked like before it was demolished in 1969 to make way for two modern office buildings in downtown Los Angeles. The demolition of the Richfield Oil Building, one of the most significant Art Deco buildings in the country, catalyzed the formation of the Los Angeles Conservancy which is dedicated to preserving L.A.'s historic buildings. To see more photos of L.A.'s many remaining Art Deco buildings, check out my posts on downtown L.A. Art Deco, the Wiltern Theater, and Bullocks-Wilshire.

Solstice Canyon

2010-04-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

Solstice Canyon in Malibu has a number of easy trails that lead up to a waterfall and some old ruins. Here is a view of the canyon on a foggy spring day:

An old grotto near the waterfall:
Ruins of a house that used to look over the canyon:
Beautiful Coastal Live Oaks line the year-round creek:
All the wildflowers in bloom now seem to be yellow, white, blue, or purple.

The Solstice Canyon trailhead is right off the Pacific Coast Highway and is very easy to find. Parking is free and there are bathrooms and maps at the parking lot. A few of the trails, including one that goes to the ruins and waterfall, are paved and are fully accessible for strollers and wheelchairs.

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From the Archives: People's History Mural

2010-03-27T13:15:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted on 4/15/2009)

At half a mile long (.8 kilometers), "The Great Wall of California" in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley is the longest mural in the world. Artist Judith Baca created the mural with over 400 local teenagers during the summers between 1976 and 1984. The mural is located along the West wall of the Tunjunga Flood Control Channel and its acrylic paint is resistant to water damage. The mural depicts the history of Los Angeles and California from pre-historic times to the 1980s with a focus on women, minorities, laborers, artists, and everyday people.

A view of the first section of the mural in the flood control channel:

Here is a detail of the mural depicting the 1781 founding of Los Angeles in the Alta California region of Nueva Espana. The mural shows that the founding settlors were primarily of mixed Spanish, African, and Native American descent:

A detail of the mural depicting a wedding at a hacienda during Mexican rule of California, which lasted between Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821 until the Mexican-American War of the 1840s:

Many Chinese immigrants who came to California during the 1850s Gold Rush ended up working as laborers on the California railroads:

A detail of the mural depicting depression-era workers:

In the 1930s, thousands of migrants fled to California to escape from severe droughts and economic hardship in Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and the Texas Panhandle:
A detail of the mural depicting the forced relocation and internment of over 100,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans during WWII:

Los Angeles has the second largest Jewish population of any metropolitan region in the United States. Here is a detail of the mural depicting a Jewish family during WWII:

During the Zoot Suits Riots of 1943, white Marines, with the tacit approval of the Los Angeles Police Department, targeted and assaulted young Mexican-American men in Los Angeles:

The beginnings of suburban sprawl and "white flight" out of the urban core of the city:

A detail of the mural depicting the 1950s-era blacklisting of entertainment industry professionals who were suspected of being affiliated with the Communist Party:

The beginnings of the African-American Civil Rights Movement:

The Mattachine Society, founded in Los Angeles in 1950, was one of the first gay rights organization in the United States:

Another view of the mural along the channel's West wall:

These pictures show only a small fraction of the mural. The website of Venice Beach based Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) has pictures of all of the mural's panels, a more detailed history of the mural, and information about current efforts to restore and preserve the mural.

The Great Wall is located along Coldwater Canyon Avenue between Burbank Boulevard and Oxnard Street. There is a walkway along the East side of the channel on Coldwater Canyon Ave. that runs the whole length of the mural.

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Desert Garden Conservatory

2010-03-16T20:16:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of the cacti and succulents housed in the Desert Garden Conservatory at the Huntington Gardens:

For more pictures and information about the Huntington Library, Museum, and Gardens, check out my earlier post about the Huntington or the Huntington website.

From the Archives: The Eames House

2010-02-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

(Originally posted on 3/22/2009)

In addition to creating some of the most iconic furniture designs of the 20th Century, husband and wife Charles Eames (1907-1978) and Ray Eames (1912-1988) built a lovely modern house and studio in Pacific Palisades as part of the influential Case Study Program. Through the Los Angeles-based program, which ran from 1945 to 1966, Arts & Architecture magazine commissioned top architects to design and build inexpensive and efficient modern houses that could serve as models for the post-WWII housing boom.

After building the Pacific Palisades house for the Case Study Program, the Eameses resided in the house from its completion in 1949 to their deaths in 1978 and 1988. The Eames House is one of the Case Study Program's most popular houses and has even been replicated in miniature out of chocolate.

The house was constructed out of pre-fabricated, industrial materials and the Mondrian-inspired exterior is composed of white and primary colored panels of varying sizes outlined by black steel beams:

Twisting bark on a row of large, fragrant eucalyptus trees in front of the house provides an interesting textural contrast with the glass and steel of the structure's exterior:

The two buildings and their adjoining patios are set against an 8-foot high, 200-foot long retaining wall which abuts the hill on one side of a small meadow. The far edge of the meadow ends on a bluff with views over the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Monica Bay.

A view of the house from the top of the retaining wall:

A view from the studio over the little meadow toward the ocean:

The grounds of the Eames House are open to visitors who call in advance to schedule an appointment. The interior of the house is not open to the public, but the living room, kitchen, and dining area are visible from outside through the glass doors and windows. The living room, with its high ceiling, warm rugs, tropical plants, and tall book shelves, is unusually livable and comfy for a modernist house. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take interior photos. Here is the living room from the outside:

The side of the living room as viewed from one of the patios:

A few blocks away from the Eames House, modern treehouse-style homes are perched above little creeks running through the narrow, lush Santa Monica Canyon. Kappe House, built in 1968 on Brooktree Road by architect Raymond Kappe, is the most well-known of these treehouse residences. From the road, the Kappe House appears to be floating above the canyon. Wooden terraces jut out from the house and blend in with the treetops and a creek runs underneath the house on wide, rocky boulders.

Unfortunately, my photos do a poor job of capturing the charm of the Kappe House:

While Kappe's name is not well known among the general population, architects and designers love his houses and the L.A. Times ranked the Kappe House as number 8 on its 2008 list of the best Los Angeles Houses of all time. Also on the L.A. Times list were several other houses that I have visited including the Eames House (#4), the Gamble House (#6), the Ennis House (#3), Hollyhock House (#10), and the Schindler House (#1).

Another view of the Kappe House from the street:

Here is a map with the locations of the Eames House and Kappe House:

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Cat of the Week: Sal

2010-02-14T11:49:00.000-08:00

Sal mostly stayed in the bedroom during a dinner party at his house in West Hollywood last night:

Seasons in Southern California

2010-02-13T16:55:00.000-08:00

Here are two pictures (taken from different angles) of the La Jolla Valley in Mugu State Park. I took the first picture at the end of August, when it hadn't rained for 6 months, and I took the second picture today in mid-February after we've had a couple of winter rains:

For more information on Mugu hikes check out the Modern Hiker and the Geek Hiker websites. I recommend the 7.5 mile loop that starts at the parking lot marked below:

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From the Archives: L.A.'s Cathedral

2010-02-11T21:05:00.000-08:00

(Originally posted on 5/9/2009)

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels is the third-largest cathedral in the world and serves as the seat of the archbishop of Los Angeles. The cathedral was completed in 2002 and was designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo, who received architecture's highest honor - the Pritzker Prize - in 1996.

The great cathedrals of Europe were traditionally built next to rivers but in Los Angeles, the cathedral is next to the 101 freeway. Architect Rafael Moneo has likened the freeway to a modern day river that serves an an artery for commerce and transportation in the city. The view of the cathedral is so clear from the freeway that many Angelinos refer to it as "Our Lady of the 101."

Robert Graham (1938-2008), a Venice Beach based artist and husband of actress Angelica Huston, created the monumental brass doors and the modern sculpture of the Virgin Mary at the entrance to the cathedral:
Architectural critics have described the cathedral as "introspective" because it is somewhat uninviting from the exterior, but has beautiful interior spaces. The cathedral didn't appeal to me at first, but it has grown on me. I like the solidity of the building, its unusual angles, its warm color, and the repetive horizontal stripes on the exterior.

A view toward the bell tower from the front courtyard:

Here are some views of the massive exterior from the side of the building that doesn't face the 101:

The interior is divided into small and large spaces and is lit with natural light filtered through alabster windows. I had trouble capturing the quality of the interior spaces in my photos. Here is one view of the central cross over the main altar:

Our Lady of the Angels is open to the public and is located in downtown L.A. on Temple Street between Grand Avenue and Hill Street. The cathedral has an outdoor plaza and garden and lots of contemporary Catholic artwork inside. There are docent-led tours Monday-Friday at 1 p.m. and self guided tour booklets available for purchase in the gift store. More information is available at the cathedral's website.

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Union Station Harvey House

2010-02-06T19:14:00.000-08:00

In 1875, a businessman named Fred Harvey (1835-1901) opened two restaurants in Kansas and Oklahoma along the Kansas Pacific Railway. At that time, the railways did not serve food on trains and Harvey's restaurants quickly became popular with travelers. Within a few years, Harvey contracted with the Santa Fe Railway to build and operate restaurants at dozens of stops throughout the Southwest. The Harvey House chain operated until the 1960s and at its height included 84 restaurants stretching from Kansas to California.

The last of the Harvey Houses was built in 1939 in Los Angeles by architect Mary Colter (1869-1958) next to L.A.'s Union Station. Colter, who built a number of the Fred Harvey restaurants, drew inspiration from Navajo themes and her restaurants and hotels continue to be influential in Southwestern architecture. The glossy red and brown tiled floor of the Los Angeles Harvey House resembles a Navajo rug:

The restaurant has many beautiful architectural details such as the floral-patterned studding on the leather siding of this raised dining area:

A detail of the concrete parrot tiles that line the walls of the restaurant:

After having bad experiences with male employees in the Southwest, Harvey decided to hire only educated, single women between the ages of 18 and 30 from the East Coast and Mid-West to work at his restaurants. Harvey hired the young women on one-year contracts, paid them quite well, and required that they live in boarding houses adjacent to the restaurants run by house-mothers who enforced strict rules of conduct. In popular lore, the respectable "Harvey Girls" civilized and populated the Southwest by marrying local men after their year-long contracts with Fred Harvey expired. There is even a musical entitled "Harvey Girls" produced by MGM Studios in 1946 starring Judy Garland as a young woman from the East Coast who became a Harvey Girl.

The Los Angeles Harvey House stopped operating as a restaurant in 1967 and the space is now rented out for special events and movie shoots. The central dining room at the Harvey House is dominated by a large U-shaped lunch counter that used to be surrounded by built-in seating and is now used at a bar during events:

The view from behind the bar:

There are raised dining areas on both sides of the central room with built-in leather seating:

The L.A. Harvey House is generally not open to the public, but the L.A. Conservancy walking tour of Union Station includes entrance into the Harvey House. More information about the Conservancy's walking tours including their Union Station tour is available on the L.A. Conservancy website. I highly recommend that people who are interested in historic buildings in Los Angeles join the Conservancy and go on Conservancy walking tours. For more pictures and information about Union Station, check out my Union Station blog post.

The Harvey House is located adjacent to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles:

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Cats of the Week: Brothers

2010-01-17T21:35:00.000-08:00

Two brothers in Culver City:

Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook

2010-01-01T18:54:00.000-08:00

Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook is a great new park in Culver City that includes trails, a visitor's center with exhibits, and gorgeous views over the Los Angeles basin. Here is the visitor's center designed by San Diego-based husband and wife Safdie Rabines Architects:

To get up to the visitor's center you can drive up, walk up a winding mile-long trail, or climb up a long, steep stone staircase:

There are beautiful 360 degree views of the Los Angeles basin from the top of the hill:

The master plan for this area is to connect Kenneth Hahn Park, Culver City Park, and Baldwin Hills Park and then to connect the parks to the beach with the Ballona Creek bike path.

If you want to hike up to the visitor's center, park on Jefferson and find the marked trailhead just to the East of Hetzler Road. You can also drive up Heztler and park at the visitor's center parking lot at the top of the hill. More info about the architecture and architects is available at the American Architects website.

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Mission San Juan Capistrano

2009-12-27T09:46:00.000-08:00

In 1769, Spain's King Charles III sent a group of Franciscan priests led by Father Junipero Serra to establish Spanish missions in Alta California. The purpose of the mission system was to extend Spanish influence and power in the New World by converting and controlling indigenous populations. Between 1769 and 1823, the Franciscans built 21 missions in coastal California along the Camino Real (the 101 Freeway now roughly follows the old Spanish "Royal Road") from San Diego in the South to Sonoma in the North.

In 1775, the Franciscans founded Mission San Juan Capistrano. With its beautiful gardens and fountains, Mission San Juan Capistrano, which is located in Orange County about an hour south of L.A., is one of the prettiest of California's historic missions.

Through the missions, the Franciscans introduced Spanish farming practices and crops such as wheat, citrus fruits, figs, grapes, and olives to California. The Spanish operated the missions and their farms as coercive labor camps. Indian converts, once baptized, were "attached" to the mission and were obligated to remain at the mission and work the land. The Spanish actively searched for runaways and forcibly returned escaped Indians to the missions.

Here is a statue of Father Junipero Serra baptizing an Indian boy:

By mistreating the indigenous population, destroying traditional food sources, and introducing new communicable diseases to the region, the Spanish decimated the Indian population of California. In 1770, there were at least 300,000 Indians in California; by the mid-1800s, the Indian population was reduced by more than half.

The Catholic Church still owns and operates 19 of California's historic missions. The California missions usually have low-quality exhibits and weird dioramas that tend to gloss over their troubling histories. Here is one of the dioramas at San Juan Capistrano:

The 1776 adobe church at San Juan Capistrano, referred to as Father Serra's chapel, is the oldest known building in California. The chapel has an ornate golden altar and a traditional painted wooden ceiling:
A niche-statue inside of Father Serra's chapel:

In 1796, the Franciscans, using Indian labor, constructed a large stone church at Mission San Juan Capistrano with limestone mortar and stones from a nearby quarry. The building, which was the largest of the California Mission churches, collapsed during an earthquake in 1812 killing 40 Indians who were inside attending mass. The older church, built out of traditional adobe, survived the earthquake. Here are two views of the ruins of the great stone church:
Bells were an integral part of mission life and were used to signal the beginning of the work day, breaks for meals, and prayer time. A view of the coast in nearby Laguna Beach:

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Cat of the Week: Buster

2009-12-26T09:09:00.000-08:00

Buster of Westside Village enjoying an early walk on Christmas morning:

1950s Gas Station

2009-12-19T10:59:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things about L.A. is its distinctive mid-century roadside architecture. Here are a few pictures of the Union 96 gas station on Cresent Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills:

For more classic L.A. 1950s design, check out my posts on Googie diners, Randy's Donuts, the Chemosphere House, and architect Welton Becket.

Bullocks Wilshire

2009-12-13T12:48:00.000-08:00

The Bullocks-Wilshire Department Store, which opened in Los Angeles in 1929, was one of the country's first major Art Deco buildings. The proprietors built Bullocks on Wilshire Boulevard about 3 miles west of downtown Los Angeles with the expectation that consumers would travel by automobile to shop at the upscale department store.

The main entrance to the store faced the back parking lot where shoppers arrived by automobile:

The structure is built with reinforced concrete clad in terracotta tiles and decorated with copper detailing.

The copper-topped tower is 241 feet high (74 meters):

Here is a detail of a copper spandrel (a decorative panel between windows):
Carved terracotta tiles over the building's Wilshire entrance:

Bullocks-Wilshire operated as a successful department store for 5 decades until the 1980s when the owners sold the business. The store stayed open until 1993 when it declared bankruptcy and closed its doors. A year later, in 1994, Southwestern Law School purchased the building and renovated it for use as its law school library. Southwestern did an excellent job with its renovation and the building is currently in great condition with many of its original decorative details intact. Here are some views of the main lobby:

The ceiling over the main parking lot entrance is decorated with a mural entitled "The Spirit of Transportation" by Herman Sachs. The mural includes images of steam trains, ocean liners, planes, and giant blimps:

The building's silhouette with its elegant vertical lines and tapering tower is quite beautiful:
Bullocks-Wilshire is located at Wilshire and Westmoreland (2 blocks east of Vermont). Southwestern Law School opens the building for architectural tours once a year. If you are interested in Art Deco architecture, check out my earlier posts on downtown L.A. and the Wiltern Theater.

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L.A. County Arboretum & Botanical Gardens

2009-12-13T10:42:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles County operates a large arboretum and botanical garden in Arcadia. The L.A. County Arboretum is less pristine than L.A's privately operated botanical gardens like the nearby Huntington, but admission is cheaper and the grounds are less crowded.

Like many of California's botanical gardens, the L.A. Arboretum's collection focuses on plants from other regions with Mediterranean climates including the Mediterranean basin, Chile, South Africa, western and southern Australia, and northwestern Mexico. The L.A. County Arboretum also includes landscaped ponds, streams, and waterfalls.

There are many birds and animals at the Arboretum including dozens of beautiful Indian Blue Peacocks that walk around very slowly and make loud, horrible noises.

A close-up of a peacock's iridescent tail feathers:
A peacock in front of the women's restroom with its tail fully fanned:
A rear view of the peacock:
An Arboretum staff member taught me that female peacocks are called "peahens" and baby peacocks are "peachicks."

A colorful little Wood Duck:

A Black-Crowned Night-Heron:

A little turtle sunning himself on a log:

The LA County Arboretum is located at 301 North Baldwin Avenue in Arcadia, CA. Visiting information is available on the Arboretum's website.

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The Getty Villa

2009-12-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

In the early 1970s, billionaire oil tycoon J. Paul Getty (1892-1976) built a re-creation of a first-century Roman villa on his ranch in Pacific Palisades to display his growing art collection to the public. Critics derided the project as a kitchy theme-park, but Getty defended the faux-Roman villa arguing that it was more appropriate for displaying classical art than a traditional "neutral" museum setting.

The Villa is located on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Here is the main pool with the Villa in the background:

The Inner Peristyle has bronze replicas of the statutes found at the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, Italy, the building on which the Getty Villa is based:

In 1997, the Getty Foundation relocated its main collection, as well as its administrative and research centers to the giant Getty Center in nearby Brentwood. The Villa was reopened to the public in 2006 after a major renovation by architects Machado and Jorge Silvetti and it continues to house the Getty's ancient collection.

In 2005, the Italian government indicted the Getty's head antiquities curator, Marion True, for conspiracy to traffic in illegal antiquities. The Getty has since agreed to return dozens of pieces with dubious provenance to Italy. Despite its involvement in controversy, the Getty still holds an excellent ancient art collection which it displays thematically in galleries such as "Women and Children in Antiquity," "Athletes and Competition," and "Wine in Antiquity." The thematic displays and the villa setting make the museum particularly accessible and popular with the general public. Images from the collection are available online on the Getty's website.

The Villa grounds include beautifully landscaped gardens and courtyards, picnic areas, an outdoor cafe, and an open air theater.

With an average of 345 days of sunshine per year in Pacific Palisades, even grumpy people who think the Getty Villa is tacky will probably enjoy a visit.

Admission to the Getty Villa is free, but you have to reserve a time-slot in advance online. If you drive, parking is $15 per car. More information about visiting the Getty Villa is available on the Getty website. The Getty Villa refers to itself as the "Getty Malibu," presumably for marketing purposes, however, it is actually located in Pacific Palisades in the city of Los Angeles, not over the border in the city of Malibu.

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Cat of the Week

2009-12-05T08:42:00.001-08:00

An unnamed kitty in Venice:

Watts Towers

2009-11-21T16:40:00.000-08:00

Over the course of 34 years from 1921-1955, Italian immigrant Simon Rodia (1879-1965) built a series of giant structures in his backyard in Watts out of scrap metal and concrete. Rodia's Watts Towers are the largest folk art monument in the country built by a single individual.

Watts lies with the flight path of the Los Angeles International Airport so Rodia limited the tallest tower to 99.5 feet (30 meters) in order to avoid having to comply with special regulations governing structures over 100 feet tall.

Rodia was a construction worker and tile-setter and worked on his backyard structure in the evenings and on the weekends. Within the exterior wall surrounding the plot, there are over 15 separate sculptures including towers, gazebos, seating areas, and small fountains.

Rodia made the structures climbable so that he did not need scaffolding to work on the higher portions of the towers.

A detail of a support buttress between two of the towers lined with hearts:

Rodia decorated the sculptures with tile remnants, broken glass and pottery, hand-drawn and imprinted designs, and sea shells:

For many years, Rodia worked at the Malibu Tile Company and was able to acquire broken and remnant Malibu Tiles for his towers:

Bottle bottoms:

At the narrow point of his triangular-shaped plot, Rodia built a sculpture called the "Ship of Marco Polo" with its helm pointed East toward Italy:
Ginger ale bottles decorating the arch over a doorway:

The Watts Towers and the adjacent community arts center are open to the public for tours on Thursdays (10:30-3), Fridays (11-3), Saturdays (10:30-3), and Sundays (12:30-3). The tours are $7 for adults, $3 for seniors and teenagers, and free for kids under 12. There is additional information about the towers and the adjacent community arts center at The Watts Towers Arts Center website, however, the information on the website is not up-to-date. For updates on hours and visiting info, call 213-847-4646.

The Towers are located at 1761-1765 East 107th St. in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles.

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Temporary Hiatus

2009-10-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the temporary break in my blog posts. I was out of town for a while and I just started a new job and moved houses. Hopefully, I will be settled in and have time to do some new posts in a few weeks.

Inglewood History of Transportation Mural

2009-08-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

Southern California Modernist artist Helen Lundeberg (1908-1999) designed the History of Transportation Mural in Inglewood in 1939 as a project of the Works Progress Administration. The mural is 8 feet high, 240 feet long, and is comprised of 60 mosaic panels mounted on a curved cast concrete wall.

The mural depicts the historic inhabitants of the Centinela Valley including Native Americans, Spanish Missionaries, and Anglo settlers. The mural shows forms of transportation including walking, ox-drawn carriages, steam trains, automobiles, and airplanes.

The History of Transportation Mural is made with petrachrome mosaic, a process designed by the WPA specifically for California's hot, sunny climate. Petrachrome mosaics were made with colored, crushed stones embedded in tinted concrete mortar. The WPA designed the petrachrome process to be labor intensive so that the projects would employ a large number of laborers and artisans. The Inglewood mural is one of the last remaining petrachrome artworks in the country.

Here is a detail depicting a boy on horseback waiving at two girls in an ox-drawn cart:
Spanish Missionaries on horseback in the background:

By the 1990s, the mural was severely damaged from weather, pollution, car collisions, and vandalism. The City of Inglewood and a variety of preservation groups raised $1 million in grants from the Getty, the California Heritage Fund, the California Cultural Historical Endowment, and other private donors for a major restoration and re-installation that began in 2001 and was completed in 2007.

The Inglewood transportation mural is appropriately located just a few miles East of LAX International Airport.

Here are some closer details from the mosaic. Some of the color areas are delineated with thin, inlaid brass outlines.

Here is an even closer view which shows the crushed stone embedded in the tinted mortar:

The History of Transportation Mural is located at the corner of Manchester Boulevard and Grevallia Avenue across the street from Inglewood High School just a few blocks away from Randy's Donuts. There is more information about the mural, the restoration effort, the petrachrome process and artist Helen Lundeberg available on the City of Inglewood's website.

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Zuma Beach

2009-08-15T21:02:00.001-07:00

From the southernmost tip of Zuma Beach in Malibu, there is a nice 4-mile walk that goes over Point Dume peninsula and along several pretty coves. Here is the view south from the top of Point Dume:

When we did this walk, we saw spear fishermen, scuba divers, surfers, rock climbers, pelicans, anemones, two seals, a starfish, and a beach wedding. Here is a view from the top of the stairs down to Zuma Cove:

Directions to the Point Dume hike are available on the Local Hikes website.

Randy's Donuts

2009-08-09T22:06:00.000-07:00

Randy's drive-through donut shop is one of the most iconic examples of mid-century "programmatic" architecture, in which the shape of a building represents the product sold at the location. This style of roadside architecture was particularly popular in Los Angeles in the 1950s and was designed to be easily readable from the freeway.

Randy's was built in 1953 as part of the Big Donut Chain, a series of drive-through donut shops which included locations in Culver City, Van Nuys, and North Hollywood. The Randy's giant donut is 32.5 feet high (9.9 meters) and is made of a steel frame with a sprayed concrete exterior.

Randy's has featured in countless movies, television shows, video games, and music videos. It's a good place to stop for a treat if you are on your way to or from LAX as it is located in Inglewood 1 mile from the airport, is open 24 hours a day, and sells delicious donuts at cheap prices.

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The Fairfax Community Mural

2009-08-08T21:46:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles muralist Art Mortimer painted the 7-panel Fairfax Community Mural on the wall in the Canter's Deli parking lot in 1985. The photo-collage style mural depicts the Jewish history of Los Angeles from 1841 to 1985.

The first panel of the mural includes the constitution and bylaws of the Hebrew Benevolent Society of Los Angeles, one of the first charitable groups formed in Los Angeles. The Benevolent Society provided religious services and founded a Jewish cemetery in Chavez Ravine (now the site of Dodger Stadium):

This panel of the mural depicts the Jacoby Brother's Department store in downtown Los Angeles. The black and white color scheme and the photo-collage style give the mural a nostalgic quality:

In 1914, Cecil B. DeMille and Jesse Lasky produced "The Squaw Man," the first feature length movie filmed in Hollywood. In early 20th century films, many Native American characters were played by Jewish actors in "redface."

The Canter brothers moved their delicatessen business from New Jersey to L.A.'s Boyle Heights in 1931. At that time, Boyle Heights, which is now primarily Latino, was the main Jewish neighborhood in Los Angeles. In 1948, another Canter's Deli location opened in the Fairfax district:

There have been Jewish residents in Los Angeles since the mid-1800s, but there was not a large influx of Jews to L.A. until the 1920s when Jewish immigrants who originally settled on the East Coast were drawn to economic opportunities in Southern California. Los Angeles now has the second largest Jewish population of any metropolitan area in the United States.
The detail below includes an image of Sandy Kofax pitching for the Dodgers. The curved bandstand in the upper left portion of this panel is the Hollywood Bowl:

Canter's Deli and Bakery is located at 419 N. Fairfax Avenue at Oakwood. It is open 24 hours everyday and I recommend a visit there for anyone who loves baked goods, traditional deli food, and classic 1950s diner decor.

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Cat of the Week: Frannie

2009-08-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

Frannie of Los Feliz is the bookstore cat at Skylight Books:

The Wiltern Theater

2009-07-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

The Wiltern Theater and the attached Pellissier Building are one of many beautiful Art Deco landmarks on L.A.'s Wilshire Boulevard. Architects Morgan, Walls, and Clements built the theater/office building in 1930-1931 and sheathed the structure in turquoise terracotta tiles.

The narrow windows and strong vertical lines of the facade create the illusion that the building is higher than its 12 stories:

The theater entrance is flanked by two vertical neon signs:

There is an elaborate white plaster starburst pattern above the ticket booth and a simple but more colorful starburst in faux-marble terrazo on the floor:
The carved mahogany doors are surrounded by intricate Art Deco detailing:

A detail from the carved doors:

The Wiltern's terracotta tiles use many common art deco motifs such as chevrons, zig-zags, scallops, and fronds. Here are a few details of the tiles:

The Wiltern is still a functioning theater and is operated by LiveNation.

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Santa Monica Mountains

2009-07-08T20:56:00.001-07:00

The Santa Monica Mountains, which extend from the Hollywood Hills north into Ventura County, include many great hiking trails. Here is a picture from the 7 mile loop to Sandstone Peak, the highest point in the range:

This hike features unusual sandstone formations and sweeping views over the mountain range, the valley, the ocean, and the Catalina Islands. Below is a map with driving directions from downtown L.A. to the hike's trailhead. The Modern Hiker blog has more pictures and information about this hike and many other hikes in the L.A. area.

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Cat of the Week: Bandit

2009-07-03T00:05:00.000-07:00

"Bandit" of Venice prowling around the alleys in the evening:

The Chemosphere

2009-06-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

The Malin House, better known as the "Chemosphere," is another one of L.A.'s iconic mid-century modern residences. Los Angeles architect John Lautner (1911-1994) built the futuristic, octagonal house in 1960 for a young engineer named Leonard Malin who inherited a small plot of land just off of Mulholland Drive. The land was too steep to build a normal house on, so Lautner designed the building to float on top of a 30-foot high concrete pillar. He burried the pillar deep into the hillside so the structure is stable enough to withstand earthquakes and mudslides.

The Chemosphere was used as a residence for several decades and then fell into disrepair in the 1990s when the owners began to rent the house out for parties. In 2000, German art publisher Benedikt Taschen purchased the Chemosphere when he relocated Taschen Publishing's American headquarters to Los Angeles from New York. Taschen has extensively renovated the interior of the house and now uses it as his Los Angeles residence.

The Chemosphere is accessible only by a private funicular that ascends the hillside. The house is on the North side of the Hollywood Hills and has wrap-around windows to take advantage of sweeping views over the San Fernando Valley:

The Chemosphere is located at 7776 Torreyson Drive off of Mulholland Drive. Unfortunately, the interior is not open to the public, but there are good views of the house from Torreyson Drive.

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Disney Concert Hall

2009-06-18T20:27:00.000-07:00

Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall, completed in 2003, is already one of the L.A.'s most recognizable buildings. The distinctive concert hall is credited with helping to spark the recent revival of downtown Los Angeles.

A view of the concert hall from the Department of Water and Power across the street:

Disney Hall was first comissioned in 1988 and ended up taking 15 years to build due to planning and funding set backs. Although Gehry's similar museum in Bilbao was completed before Disney Hall, the design for the concert hall predates the design for the museum.

Here is a view of the building from the roof of the county courthouse across the street:

Frank Gehry is one of two Los Angeles-based architects who have received architecture's highest honor, the Pritzker Prize. Gehry was the 1989 Pritzker Prize laureate and Thom Mayne of the architectural firm Morphosis was the 2005 laureate.

The concert hall includes a gift shop, cafe, terrace garden, and an outdoor children's theater. Gehry designed a rose-shaped fountain made of Delft porcelain in the garden dedicated to the building's patron, Lily Disney:

Gehry choose shiny steel for the building's exterior to compliment the bright Southern California sunshine. When the hall was first built, many neighbors complained about the building's blinding reflective surface and parts of the exterior had to be coated in a special substance to make them slightly less reflective.

From the garden terrace, there is a rooftop walkway that winds up the exterior of the building behind the curved facade:

The concert hall's 11,000 tons of curved steel were put in place with the assistance of a sophisticated aerospace software system similar to GPS. You can see the complex supporting beam system behind the facade:

Here is a view of the concert hall from the viewing deck at City Hall:

The interior of the hall has received universal praise for its design and advanced acoustics. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get inside the auditorium yet. A few interior pictures are available at the Music Center website.

Disney Concert Hall is located near Civic Center on 1st and Hope in downtown Los Angeles:

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Cat of the Week: Coco

2009-06-07T20:56:00.000-07:00

"Coco" of Culver City:

Several people have asked me how I know the names of the cats that I meet. I learn their names from their tags. If you look closely at this picture, you can see that Coco has a dark red name tag hanging from her collar.

L.A. Metro Art Program

2009-06-07T13:50:00.001-07:00

In 1989, the Los Angeles Metro founded a public art program that is funded through a mandated .5% set-aside of the Metro budget. The Metro Art program has commissioned hundreds of public art works for stations on the system's five rail lines. On the Metro Art program website, you can get details about free, docent-led art tours and you can order a copy of the excellent Metro Art Guide which Metro will mail to you for free. Here are a few pictures I took during a Sunday morning tour that left from Union Station:

Richard Wyatt in collaboration with May Sun, "City of Dreams, River of History" (1995). This large mural in the East Portal to the Union Station Metro depicts early and contemporary settlers of Los Angeles. The mural is framed by an architectural trompe l'oeil border:
James Doolin, "Los Angeles Circa 1879, 1910, 1950, and after 2000" (1995). These four murals depicting the history of the Los Angeles basin are located in the Metro Headquarters adjacent to Union Station. Here is "Los Angeles Circa 1879" showing the primarily agrarian basin with only a single smoke line rising into the clear, blue sky:

"Los Angeles Circa 1910" shows increased development, numerous brick buildings (which didn't end up surviving Southern California's earthquakes), railroads running along the L.A. River in the foreground, and almost a dozen columns of thick grey smoke rising from the city:
"Los Angeles Circa 1950" depicts the sculptural freeway intersections that became icons of Southern California's 20th century automobile-based transportation culture:
"Los Angeles Circa after 2000" depicts a smoggy orange and purple sunset over the heavily developed metropolis:

Terry Schoonhoven, "Traveler" (1993). This piece, which depicts travelers to L.A. during different historical periods, is well-known L.A. muralist Terry Schoonhoven's first tiled mural. Here is a detail showing Carole Lombard sitting on her suitcase with L.A.'s city hall in the background:

Architects Escudero-Fribourg and artist May Sun designed the Hollywood & Western Metro Station in 1999. The station is decorated in brightly colored tiles interspersed with poems in Spanish and English, historic photos, and images of bones excavated at the site by paleontologists when the station was built:

An image of one of the bones found at the Hollywood & Western site:

Patrick Nagatani, "Epoch" (1995). This photo collage mural is located in the Metro Headquarters adjacent to Union Station. It includes a running man, astronomical images from L.A. area telescopes, and a collection of hundreds of transportation-related postcards of cars, boats, trains, and trolley cars:

Roy Nicholson, "Solar Shift: San Bernardino and Santa Monica" (2006). Many of the Metro stations include beautiful mosaics such as this colorful glass mosaic at the Gold Line Portal in Union Station that depicts the San Bernardino Mountains to the East and the sun setting over Santa Monica to the West:

Artist Michael Davis and architects Diedrich/NBA colloborated on the Metro station at Vermont & Sunset. Because the station is located near the Griffith Observatory and a number of large hospitals, the artist used astronomical and medical imagery in the station. Here is a granite circle etched with an image of sperm that forms part of an imagined solar system on the station's floor:

For more information about the Los Angeles public transportation and the L.A. Metro art program:
Los Angeles Metro Website
Metro Art Program Website
Public Art in LA's Metro Page

UCLA Sculpture Garden

2009-05-31T19:20:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite places to relax in Los Angeles is the Murphy Sculpture Garden at UCLA. The garden's collection of over 70 sculptures is displayed on 5 beautifully landscaped acres of the UCLA campus.

I included a few pictures from the sculpture garden in my earlier post on UCLA. Here are some more pictures of sculptures from the garden.

George Tsutakawa, "Obos 69" (1969), bronze:

Vladas Vildziunas, "The Bird Goddess" (1977), bronze:

Jean Arp, "Fruit hybrid dit la pagode" ("Hybrid Fruit Called Pagoda")(1934), bronze:

Barbara Hepworth, "Elegy III" (1966), bronze:

Sorel Etrog, "War Rememberance" (1960-1961), bronze:

Aristide Maillol, "Tete heroique" ("Heroic Head")(1923), bronze:

Aristide Maillol, "Torso" (1938), bronze:

Williams Zorach, "Victory" (1950), bronze:

Gerhard Marcks, "Freya" (1949), bronze:

Gerhard Marcks, "Maja" (1942), bronze:

Gaston Lachaise, "Standing Woman" (1932), bronze:

Robert Graham, "Dance Column II" (1978), bronze:

Henri Laurens, "Automne" (1948), bronze:

Henry Moore, "Two-Piece Reclining Figure, No. 3" (1961), bronze:

Francisco Zuniga, "Desnudo Reclinado" (1979), bronze:

David Smith, "Cubi XX" (1964), welded steel:

Jean Arp, "Ptolomee III" (1961), bronze:

Bernard ("Tony") Rosenthal, "Abstract Plaque" (1964), welded sheet bronze:

George Rickey, "Two Lines Oblique Down, Variation II" (1970), stainless steel:

Deborah Butterfield, "Pensive" (1996), bronze:

UCLA's main art building, which is located adjacent to the sculpture garden, was damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. In 2006, Richard Meier & Partners Architects completed the restoration, renovation, and seismic retrofit of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Center. In order to reduce costs and environmental impact, the architects reused the existing eight-story concrete structure. They added a support butress on the left side of the building to provide needed stuctural reinforcement, created exterior walkways with teak shades for sun protection, and remodeled the interior classrooms and workspaces. Richard Serra's 2006 sculpture "T.E.U.C.L.A." (Torqued Ellipse UCLA) sits in front of the entrance to the new art center:

There are many more sculptures in the garden that are not pictured here including works by Alexander Calder, Henri Matisse, Isamu Noguchi, and August Rodin. For a more complete list of the sculptures and other art on the UCLA campus see: Public Art in Los Angeles' UCLA page.

If you are ever in the UCLA area, I recommend a visit to the sculpture garden - the UCLA campus is open to the public and access to the sculpture garden is free (although parking is not).

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Cat of the Week: Peanut

2009-05-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

"Peanut" of Mt. Washington:

Bradbury Building

2009-05-21T16:58:00.000-07:00

The 1893 Bradbury Building, which was commissioned by mining millionaire Lewis Bradbury and built by novice architect George Wyman, is the oldest commercial building in downtown Los Angeles. The building's 50-foot high interior atrium features beautiful carved wood, terracotta tiles, and intricate wrought-iron grillwork.

The architect's inspiration for the design came in part from the 1887 science fiction novel Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy. The novel, which is set in the year 2000 and envisions the United States as a socialist utopia, describes buildings with interior atriums lit by natural light.

In the last several decades, the Bradbury Building has become a science fiction icon. A quick internet search finds it described as "the most famous building in science fiction" and a "real-life steampunk palace." The building has featured prominently in numerous comic books, television shows, and movies such as Blade Runner. Marvel Comics, along with the Los Angeles Police Department's Office of Internal Affairs, is one of the tenants that currently rents office space in the building.

The atrium has two open-cage elevators that originally ran on steam power. Here is a side view of one of the elevators traveling up the open-cage shaft:

Some closeups of the French-made ironwork:

Here is a view down into the lobby from the first floor landing. The lobby floor tiles are Mexican and the marble in the stairways is from Belgium.

In contrast to the ornate interior, the building's exterior is in the plain Romanesque style favored on the East Coast at the end of the 19th century:

There is more information about the history of the Bradbury Building on the Public Art in L.A. website. The building is located on the corner of 3rd Street and Broadway and is open to the public daily from 9-5. The offices in the building are still in use so visitors are only allowed in the lobby and up to the first landings on the stairwells.

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Adamson House: Malibu Tiles

2009-05-10T17:50:00.000-07:00

From the 1910s-1930s, hundreds of small potteries sprung up around Southern California to produce the tiles that were used in the era's popular Spanish revival and Mediterranean-style homes. One of the largest and most successful of the California tile companies was Malibu Potteries which operated from 1926-1932 and utilized the region's natural red clay.

The Adamson House is located in Malibu next to Surfrider Beach and is open to the public for tours. The Spanish revival architecture is nothing special, but the house's interior and exterior are decorated with hundreds of beautiful, original Malibu Pottery tiles.

A view of the Adamson House:

The most impressive and best-preserved tilework is in the interior of the house in the kitchen and the 5 bathrooms. Unfortunately, interior photography is not allowed so all of my photos are of the tiles that decorate the various exterior patios and courtyards. Many of the richly patterned tiles are inspired by traditional Spanish and Moorish designs or by Arts and Crafts flower motifs:

Many of these old tiles used toxic substances such as arsenic to achieve vibrant colors and glaze effects.

Individual tiles are set into the thick adobe walls around the doors leading out to the patios:

Here are some details of individual tiles which include flowers and vines, geometric patterns, and some modern designs:

This colorful peacock fountain is on the ground-level patio facing the beach:

A detail of the peacock's head:

A view of the tiles which form the right peacock on the fountain:

If you look closely at the left peacock's tail you can see that one of the tiles was placed upside down:

A hummingbird:

Details of the tilework along the edges of the fountain:

Another peacock-themed piece on one of the side patios:

Here is a detail of the Green Man fountain on the East side of the house. In the chipped section above the Green Man's head, you can see the Malibu red clay used for the tiles:

Below is a map with the Adamson House's location. The lagoon next to the house is full of hundreds of birds that love the mix of fresh water and sea water where Malibu Creek meets the Pacific Ocean. Information about tours and visiting hours are available at the Adamson House website.

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Malibu Creek State Park

2009-05-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

Located 35 miles from downtown Los Angeles, Malibu Creek State Park used to be a ranch owned by Fox movie studios where TV shows and movies like M*A*S*H, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and King Kong were filmed.

Here are some views of the creek's beautiful grassland valley:

A view of the M*A*S*H filming site:

There is a visitor's center located 1 mile from the parking lot that has information and maps about the park's campsites, rock climbing areas, and hiking/biking/equestrian trails. We did an easy 6 mile out-and-back hike to the M*A*S*H site with a short detour to Century Lake.

Here is a map with the entrance to the park labeled:

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Cat of the Week: Allie

2009-05-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

"Allie" of Venice Beach rolling around on Nowita Place, one of Venice's charming pedestrian streets:

More pictures and a map of Venice's hidden pedestrian streets are available on my Venice blog post.

Huntington Museum, Library, and Gardens

2009-05-01T16:39:00.001-07:00

In 1919, California railroad magnate Henry Huntington (1850-1927) founded the private non-profit Huntington institution. The Huntington, which is located just east of Pasadena in San Marino, houses an art museum and a rare-books research library that focuses on American and British history and literature. The Huntington is also one of the best botanical gardens in the country and includes Chinese water gardens, Japanese gardens, lily ponds, rose gardens, waterfalls, Australian gardens, jungle gardens, a greenhouse conservatory, and a desert garden.

A view toward the rose garden:

Statues line the grassy promenade leading up to the Huntington mansion:

Here is a traditional pedestrian "moon bridge" or "drum bridge" in the Japanese garden:

My favorite part of the Japanese gardens complex is the wonderful Bonsai Court which houses the collection of the Golden State Bonsai Federation:

California Juniper bonsai trees:

Next to the bonsai court is a beautiful dry garden with raked gravel:

The cacti and succulents in the outstanding desert garden are my favorite part of the Huntington:

Everything in the Chinese water garden has a charming name like "Pavilion for Washing Away Thoughts," "Lake of Reflected Fragrance," or "Isle for Welcoming Cranes." Pictured below are the "Jade Ribbon Bridge" and the "Pavilion of the Three Friends." The three friends represent courage during hard times and include the pine, which stays green all through the winter; bamboo, which is strong and flexible; and the plum tree, which flowers in cool weather.
The arches in the Jade Ribbon Bridge create beautiful full circles with their reflections. If you look closely in the picture, you can see a duck with four fluffy ducklings heading toward the bridge.

Orchids in the conservatory:

One of many fountains on the grounds:

I highly recommend that tourists to LA visit the Huntington. It is preferable to visit on a weekday if possible because the entrance fee is cheaper and the gardens are often very crowded on Saturdays and Sundays.

The Huntington is kid-friendly - children will enjoy the fish ponds, waterfalls, ducks, and little bridges in the Japanese and Chinese gardens; the lizards and hummingbirds in the desert garden; and the interactive activities in the conservatory and children's garden.

Visiting information is available at the Huntington website.

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Cat of the Week: Cleo

2009-04-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

"Cleo" of Mount Washington peeping out from behind a rose bush in her garden next to Elyria Canyon Park:

Mt. Washington

2009-04-25T20:05:00.000-07:00

One of my early blog posts included pictures of the new-age Self-Realization Fellowship's serene Lakeside Shrine and Meditation Gardens in Pacific Palisades. It turns out that the Fellowship's administrative headquarters are also located in Los Angeles in the pleasant Mount Washington neighborhood a couple miles north of downtown. The grounds of the headquarters are surrounded by beautiful gardens that are open to the public.

Here is a view of the sundial garden with the downtown skyline in the background:

One of the Fellowship's administrative buildings is the old Mount Washington Hotel, which the Fellowship's founder Paramahansa Yogananda purchased in 1925. The hotel operated as a fancy resort from its construction in 1909 until 1921. There used to be an incline electric railway that brought guests up Mt. Washington to the hotel from downtown. Here is the old hotel building:

The hotel's lovely tennis courts:

Like the grounds at the Lakeside Shrine in Pacific Palisades, the gardens in Mount Washington are beautifully landscaped with lush greenery and flowers:

The gardens have lots of nice little benches and seats for meditation, reflection, picnics, and outdoor meetings:

More information about the history of the Mount Washington electric railway and the Mt. Washington Hotel is available at the Electric Railroad Historical Association of Southern California website.

Walk number 37 in my favorite book Walking L.A. covers the Self-Realization Fellowship grounds and the nearby Elyria Canyon Park which has some little trails with pretty views. Elyria Canyon park is "rustic" and kind of isolated so I would not recommend walking there alone. Here is a map showing the entrance to the Fellowship grounds and the entrance to the park:

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The Pope of Broadway Mural

2009-04-18T17:33:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles artist Eloy Torres painted this 70 foot tall mural on Broadway and 3rd St. in downtown L.A. in 1985 for the Victor Clothing Company. The mural, which is entitled "The Pope of Broadway," depicts the legendary Mexican-American actor and artist Anthony Quinn.

The architectural details in the background of the mural are inspired by the interior of the Victorian-era Bradbury Building across the street.

Union Station

2009-04-18T17:29:00.000-07:00

Union Station in downtown Los Angeles serves as the city's main train, metro, and bus transit hub. The station, which was built between 1934 and 1939 by a team of architects including John and Donald Parkinson, was the last of the great rail passenger depots built in the United States.

At the end of the 19th century, many Californian artists and writers romanticized the eras of Spanish and Mexican rule, which they envisioned as an idealized, pastoral time before the arrival of the Yankees and the beginning of the industrial age. This interest in the past encouraged Californians to begin conserving, restoring, and then emulating the style of the old Spanish missions. By the early 20th century, the Mission Revival style, which drew inspiration from the missions' tiled roofs, curved archways, arcades, and unadorned white plaster surfaces, was the most popular architectural style in California.

In Union Station, the architects combined traditional Mission Revival forms with a modern, streamlined, Art Deco aesthetic. The main waiting hall has a floor made with inlaid marble and teracotta tiles, 6 iron chandeliers weighing 3000 lbs. each, and original leather Art Deco arm chairs:

A detail of one of the black iron chandeliers and the intricately painted ceiling. The ceiling appears to be constructed of traditional beamed wood, but is actually made of concrete that was painted to resemble wood:

The station is decorated throughout with glossy marble and tile work:

Union Station's integration of indoor and outdoor space is unusually successful for a large urban train station. Doors along both sides of the main waiting hall open out to pleasant outdoor courtyards. The North courtyard's tables, chairs, and benches are an ideal spot for lunch and the South courtyard (pictured below) is a more formal rose garden:

Detail of a tiled bench in the North courtyard:

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Griffith Park Observatory

2009-04-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

Griffith J. Griffith (1850-1919) was a Welsh immigrant who made a fortune in mining in Southern California at the end of the 19th Century. In 1896, he donated 3,015 acres of his land to the City of Los Angeles to establish a public park that is five times the size of NYC's Central Park. In 1903, Griffith shot his wife during a dispute and he subsequently served 2 years in San Quentin for attempted murder. After his release, he donated money to the city to build a grand public observatory in the park. Architect John C. Austin (1870-1963) built the observatory in 1935 on the West slope of Mount Hollywood overlooking the Los Angeles basin.

Here is a view of the Griffith Observatory from Los Feliz with the peak of Mount Hollywood to the right:

The exterior of the observatory was originally going to be decorated with elaborate teracotta tiles. However, after the Long Beach earthquake of 1933 caused extensive damage to many local tiled buildings, the architects revised the design and built the observatory in plain reinforced concrete.

The Public Works of Art Project, one of the federally funded New Deal initiatives, comissioned the Astronomers Monument in front of the observatory in 1933. The monument was designed by Los Angeles artist Archibald Garner and includes depictions of the six great astronomers: Hipparchus (about 150 B.C.), Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543), Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), Isaac Newton (1642-1727), and William Herschel (1738-1822).

Here is the copper-plated dome of the central planetarium with the downtown skyline in the background:

A view of the dome that houses the nighttime viewing telescope:

The dome that houses the solar telescopes:

The interior rotunda is decorated with murals painted in 1935 by Hugo Ballin (1879-1956) depicting the history of science:

A detail of the panel "Navigation":

Trails from the observatory lead up to the peak of Mount Hollywood with views over Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley on the other side of the hills. Here is a view from the Mount Hollywood trail looking back down to the observatory:

Many movies and television shows have been filmed at the observatory but the first major movie that the observatory starred in was "Rebel Without a Cause." In front of the observatory, there is a 1955 bronze bust of James Dean by artist Kenneth Kendall:

The observatory underwent a major renovation between 2002 and 2006 and is now open to the public again. I highly recommend that tourists to Los Angeles and people who just moved to Los Angeles visit the Griffith Observatory. Admission to the building and exhibits are free but there is a fee for planetarium shows. The telescopes are open to the public free of charge on clear nights. Be warned that there is limited parking and the observatory tends to get very crowded on weekends. If you drive on a weekend, arrive early or take a shuttle from Los Feliz.

The Griffith Observatory is very kid-friendly with lots of interactive exhibits, shows, etc ...

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Cat of the Week: Monkey

2009-04-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

"Monkey" of Culver City was slightly suspicious of the camera:

Central Public Library

2009-04-09T22:37:00.000-07:00

The 1925 Central Library in Los Angeles, designed by architect Bertram Goodhue (1869-1924), is a beautiful example of early Art Deco architecture. Goodhue had a successful career building neo-gothic churches at the turn of the century and he transitioned to an Art Deco style in the 1920s at the end of his career. In the Central Library, he used modern building techniques in combination with motifs inspired by ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Byzantium.

The library is constructed with reinforced concrete and has a central pyramid that is decorated with mosaics. Here is a view of the West side of the library from Flower Street with the Maguire Gardens and Fountain in the foreground:
Architectural sculptor Lee Lawrie (1877-1963), who is probably most famous for his giant bronze sculpture of Atlas on 5th Avenue at Rockefeller Center in NYC, decorated the exterior of the Central Library. Here is a closer look at his work on the West entrance:

The frieze over the door depicts a symbolic race with two horsemen passing the flame of knowledge:

The South side of the building includes several Lee Lawrie busts representing History (the Greek historian Herodotus), Letters (the classical Roman poet Virgil), Philosophy (Socrates), Statescraft (the Byzantian Emperor Justinian), Art (Leonardo Da Vinci), and Science (Nicolaus Copernicus). Here is Virgil on the left and a very grumpy looking Socrates on the right:

The South entrance on Hope Street is flanked by Lee Lawrie's "The Thinker" (a Greek artist embodying Reflection) and "The Writer" (an Egyptian scribe embodying Expression):

The interior rotunda is decorated with a chandelier and murals painted in 1932 by the artist Dean Cornwell who was a successful American poster and magazine illustrator. The murals depict the "Four Great Eras of California History" (from the conqueror's perspective): Discovery, Mission Building, Americanization, and the Founding of Los Angeles.

The "Mission Building" mural:

Details from the "Discovery" mural:

The chandelier in the rotunda is made of cast bronze and is part of a model solar system which includes the blue and green glass globe of the earth, planet and moon ornaments on the chains, and a sunburst pattern on the dome's ceiling:

A view of the children's section which has a beautiful painted ceiling and a series of large 1928 murals by Albert Herter also depicting the history of California:

The quote above the North entrance on 5th Street is from a 1345 treatise on books and libraries called the "Philobiblion" by English bishop and bibliophile Richard de Bury: "Books alone are liberal and free; they give to all who ask; they emancipate all who serve them faithfully."

The Central Library contains many more sculptures, fountains, murals, and mosaics. The following links have more photos and information about the Central Library's art and architecture:
Los Angeles Public Library
Public Art in LA
Big Orange Landmarks

If you are walking around downtown L.A., the library is a great place to stop for a rest. There is a nice shop with books and gifts related to L.A. and libraries, an inexpensive cafeteria, outdoor gardens, galleries with pretty good exhibits, and a nice children's section. Here is the location of the library:

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Kenneth Hahn Park

2009-04-08T17:13:00.001-07:00

Trails from the parking lot at the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area climb up one of the few hills in the middle of the Los Angeles basin. From the top, you can see the defining elements of L.A.'s landscape: the curved bay in the West, the Hollywood Hills to the North, and the towering snow-capped mountains to the East. A vast grid of small single-family houses and mini-malls occupies the basin and extends South as far as the eye can see. L.A.'s high rise buildings are clustered along the 16 mile Wilshire Corridor that stretches from downtown to Santa Monica.

Here is a view of the downtown skyline:
A view across the basin looking North to the hills:

At the bottom of the hill, Hahn Park is crowded and fun. There are picnic and barbeque areas, soccer and baseball fields, basketball courts, kids biking and rolling down grassy hills, and competing music from speakers and mariachi bands. People can feed ducks and fish in the landscaped streams, waterfalls, and lakes.

Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg filmed the music video for the classic 1993 "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" at one of the picnic areas in Hahn Park:

For the first half of the 20th Century, this whole park was an active oil field. After an accident in 1968, most of the pumps were shut down and conservationists and neighbors turned the area into a park. There are still a number of active oil pumps on the adjacent hillside:

We suspected there might be gophers when we saw a bunch of kids gathered around a hole throwing food down it. Then we saw this little one popping his head out:

The park is located in Baldwin Hills - be warned that parking costs $4 on weekends and holidays.

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The Glass Church

2009-03-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

Between 1949 and 1951, Lloyd Wright (Frank's son) built the glass Wayfarer's Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Internet research reveals that many celebrities including Jayne Mansfield, Dennis Hopper, and Brian Wilson have gotten married in the chapel.

Fans of "The O.C." television soap opera will recognize the Wayfarer's Chapel as the location of Julie and Caleb's wedding, Caleb's funeral, and Julie and Bullet's called-off wedding.

The view over the ocean to the Catalina Islands:

Across the street from the Wayfarer's Chapel is Abalone Cove, an excellent place to explore tidepools:

Purple anemones in the tidepools (each of these were about 2"-4" across):

Here is a brown starfish with a large green anemone on top of it and three little purple anemones underneath:

A little orange starfish with my hand for scale:

I've never seen a sea slug like this before - it was brown, about 10" long, and was waiving its tentacle things around:

Here is a map of Rancho Palos Verdes with Abalone Cove and the Wayfarer's Chapel across the street. At the top of the hill, there is a nice viewpoint over the ocean at Del Cerro Park. There are trailheads for hikes on Burrell Lane right next to the park.

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Cat of the Week: Larry David

2009-03-22T19:06:00.001-07:00

"Larry David" of Culver City is the neighborhood troublemaker and is also one of my housemates. Larry had trouble sitting still for a photo:

Cat of the Week: Sven

2009-03-09T18:03:00.001-07:00

"Sven" of the Palms neighborhood with a 1950's dingbat style apartment in the background:

Los Feliz: Frank Lloyd Wright

2009-03-05T19:57:00.000-08:00

Los Feliz is another one of L.A.'s pleasant, walkable neighborhoods that people from NYC and the Bay Area tend to like. Vermont Avenue between Prospect and Franklin has restaurants, shops, cafes, and Skylight Books which, so far, is my favorite book store in Los Angeles. Los Feliz is also home to two large and distinctive houses built by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959).

The magnificent Ennis House, built in 1924, is located at the top of the hill and looms over Los Feliz like a futuristic Mayan fortress. It is one of four houses, all in the Los Angeles area, that Wright built with patterned concrete blocks in the early 1920s. The somewhat ominous looking house has been featured in many TV shows and movies including Blade Runner.

In Frank Lloyd Wright's own words: "No house should ever be on a hill or on anything. It should be of the hill. Belonging to it. Hill and house should live together each the happier for the other." Here is the Ennis House rising out of its hill and mirroring the silhouette of the mountains in the background:

The Ennis House has a panoramic view stretching from the San Gabriel Mountains in the East over the entire Los Angeles Basin out to the Pacific Ocean and the Catalina Islands in the West. Here is a view of downtown L.A. from the front patio:

A view over Los Angeles from the side terrace:

The Ennis House is not currently open to the public, however, I was in the right place at the right time and got myself invited into the house during a private tour for some out-of-town donors. The interior of the house is gorgeous but has a slightly sinister feeling. Here are the pictures that I took of the living room and the raised dining room area:

The long, low hallway has layers of the same patterned concrete blocks that form the exterior of the building:

A close-up of the concrete block design:

The exterior windows and interior glass door panels include beautiful art glass in classic Frank Lloyd Wright designs:

This original glass mosaic above the living room fireplace is supposedly the only remaining glass mosaic in any Frank Lloyd Wright house:

The Ennis House includes three corner panorama windows with unbroken views over the city:

The Berendo Stairs lead up to the Ennis House from Los Feliz:

Down at the Southern edge of Los Feliz, the Hollyhock House, a Mayan-inspired concrete home that Frank Lloyd Wright built between 1917 and 1920 for eccentric oil heiress Aline Barnsdall, is less impressive than the Ennis House. However, it is nicely situated on a scenic hill that was previously an olive grove and which is now owned and administered by the City of Los Angeles as the Barnsdall Art Park. In addition to the Hollyhock House, the park includes a gallery, a children's art center, and an outdoor sculpture garden with beautiful views of the city and Griffith Park.

A view of the exterior of Hollyhock House:

The Hollyhock House was Wright's first building in Los Angeles and he experimented with integrating indoor and outdoor spaces to try to find a style that would work well for the temperate Southern California climate. The house is open for public tours, but I only recommend the tour for people who are specifically interested in architecture or Frank Lloyd Wright. The "one hour" tour that I went on was led by a somewhat belligerent docent and lasted for almost two hours. The house is also not one of Wright's more livable, attractive designs and, in fact, Aline Barnsdall herself only lived in the house for a few years before moving out.

This chain link fence is not a Frank Gehry addition, it's just what happens to a Frank Lloyd Wright house when it is owned by the City of Los Angeles:
The hollyhock was Aline Barnsdall's favorite flower and she requested that it provide the motif for the building. Here is a detail of the stylized hollyhock pattern that decorates the interior and exterior of the house:

And some actual hollyhock flowers from the gardens:

Another detail from the exterior of the house:

This house, refered to simply as Residence A, is the other original Frank Lloyd Wright structure on the Barnsdall Art Park:

A view of the Griffith Park Observatory from the Art Park:

Walk number 23 in my favorite book "Walking L.A." by Erin Mahoney Harris covers Los Feliz including the Barnsdall Art Park/Hollyhock House, the Ennis House, the Bonvue and Berendo stairs, and the nice part of Vermont Avenue. If you are from Berkeley and feeling homesick, the quiet residential streets off of Hillhurst and Vermont look a lot like the East Bay.

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Welton Becket's Los Angeles

2009-03-04T20:50:00.000-08:00

Prolific L.A. architect Welton Becket (1902-1969) designed dozens of buildings in Los Angeles between the 1930s and 1960s that reflected and shaped a distinctive L.A. aesthetic.

Becket built the Cinerama Theater on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard in 1963. The Cinerama is modeled on the geodesic dome design by inventor/architect/engineer/artist Buckminster Fuller and it is the earliest and the largest geodesic dome theater in the world. ArcLight Cinemas re-opened the Cinerama in 2002 after installing extra-comfy seats, upgrading the acoustics, and adding additional theaters in the adjacent building. The Cinerama is still a popular location for Hollywood movie openings.

In the 1950s, people in Southern California liked buildings to be shaped like whatever was sold or made in the building. There are still donut shops here that have giant donuts on top of them and hot dog stands shaped like hot dogs (somewhat more distastefully, there is even a parking enforcement building in West L.A. that is shaped like a parking meter). Welton Becket's Capitol Records building in Hollywood was completed in 1956 and was the world's first round office building. Its 12 circular stories and wrap-around shades are supposed to look like a stack of records:

The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, built in 1959, includes six 72-foot high concrete masts that are reminiscent of 1950's Cadillac fins. Behind the giant masts and the entrance canopy, a cast concrete grille runs the length of the building and gives the facade a beautiful, delicate look.

At the downtown Los Angeles Performing Arts Center, Becket built the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion between 1964 and 1969 with a gently swooping roof:

Across the plaza from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Becket-designed Mark Taper Auditorium, also built between 1964 and 1969, consists of a circular theater surrounded by a dark blue moat and a free-standing, square-shaped colonnade. The circular drum of the theater is encased in a 378-foot long cast concrete relief in an abstract pattern:

The Schoenberg Hall at the Herb Alpert School of Music, which appeared in my blog post on UCLA, was built by Welton Becket in 1955 and is decorated with a mosaic by modern artist Richard Haines:

Hollywood Bowl and High Tower

2009-03-03T17:26:00.000-08:00

It is surprisingly quick to get from the crummy, touristy area of Hollywood up into secluded hilly neighborhoods. One group of houses in this area is so inaccessible that residents have to park their cars in freestanding garages at the base of the hill and then walk up stairs or take a private elevator in the "High Tower" to get to their houses:The High Tower was built in 1920 and its design is based on a Bolognese tower. Here is a view of the elevator landing at the top of the High Tower:

These hilly neighborhoods are criss-crossed with public stairways that are hidden in between houses:

The Hollywood Bowl, home to the L.A. Philharmonic since 1922, is the country's largest natural outdoor amphitheater and is located in the hills about one mile from central Hollywood. The stage and shell were originally built in the 1920s and are constantly being renovated to improve acoustics. The original shell was built by Lloyd Wright (Frank's son) and updates include a 1980s remodel by Frank Gehry. Here is a photo from the Bowl of the present-day shell with the Hollywood sign in the background:

George Stanley, the sculptor who designed the Oscar statuette, built this beautiful art deco fountain at the entrance to the Hollywood Bowl in 1940:

This funny dog on Camrose Drive doesn't realize that his owners have made a painting of him on the other side of his peep-hole to the street from his yard:

I combined Walks 16 and 17 from my favorite book "Walking L.A." by Erin Mahoney Harris to do this walk around the lower Hollywood Hills area:

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The First Modern Residence?

2009-03-01T20:19:00.000-08:00

Vienna-born architect Rudolph M. Schindler (1887-1953) built this concrete, wood, and glass house on Kings Road in West Hollywood in 1922. The Kings Road Schindler House is widely considered to be one of the most influential buildings in Los Angeles because Schindler included elements such as an open floor plan, outdoor patios, sliding doors, and a minimalist aesthetic that were radical at the time but would later become ubiquitous in California residential architecture.
The vine-covered structures on top of the one-story house are outdoor "sleeping baskets."

The Schindler House was designed with private units for two families and a shared common space in the central area of the residence. After completing the house, Schindler and his wife lived in one of the units and Schindler stayed in the house until his death in 1953. Richard Neutra, L.A.'s other Vienna-born modern architect, and his wife lived in the other unit from 1925-1930. The Schindler House is open for public tours and often hosts art exhibitions and events. Here are some views of the interior:

The neo-modern Habitat 825 condominium by Irish-born, Los Angeles based architect Lorcan O'Herlihy is located next door to the Schindler House:

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Cat of the Week: John Meow

2009-03-01T20:08:00.001-08:00

"John Meow" of Venice alongside one of the canals:

Venice of America

2009-03-01T18:13:00.000-08:00

In 1905, a millionaire land developer named Abbot Kinney (1850-1920) opened the "Venice of America" beach resort about 15 miles from downtown Los Angeles. To create Venice, Kinney drained the marshland in the area and built a network of canals, a giant amusement pier, and a mini-railroad. Gondolas traveled up and down the new waterways and the main canals were lined with arched Italianate buildings. Visitors could get to Venice from downtown LA and Santa Monica by railroad and rent cottages and tents in Venice for the night.

The 2003 mural "Remembering Venice, 1913" at Windward Circle by artist David Legaspi III depicts Venice of America as it looked in 1913. At that time, the wide streets that radiate from Windward Circle were large canals:

The city of Los Angeles annexed Venice in 1925 and paved over the majority of the canals in 1929. Venice entered a decades long decline and by the 1950s was known as the "Slum by the Sea." In the 1950s and 1960s, beatnik artists and hippies were drawn to Venice by the cheap rent and appealing climate. Venice continued to be an artists' neighborhood through the 70s, 80s, and 90s, but now housing costs have increased substantially.

Although the majority of the canals were paved over in the 1920s, a 3 mile network of canals remains intact in one residential neighborhood. The canals are lined with little pathways, pedestrian bridges, and houses of all different styles:

Venice has a number of very picturesque hidden little pedestrian streets called "Walk Streets" that are also lined with houses of varying architectural styles and charming, overgrown gardens:
A muted modern house next to a bright purple craftsman bungalow:

Here is a 2004 mural on Venice Boulevard and Pacific Avenue by Venice artist Rip Cronk depicting Venice's founder Abott Kinney:

On the map below, I have highlighted in blue the Venice Canal neighborhood, the Walk Streets, and Abbot Kinney Boulevard (a fancy street with coffee shops, restaurants, and expensive clothing stores).

The Walk Streets (Nowita Place, Marco Place, Amoroso Place, and Crescent Place) are difficult to spot - the pedestrian streets are called "Places" and the service alleys for cars are called "Courts" so you want to find "Nowita Place" not "Nowita Court."

I recommend avoiding the Venice boardwalk and beach area (the highlighted red shape on my map) because it is crowded and tacky.

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Mid-Century Dingbat Apartments

2009-02-28T18:09:00.000-08:00

"Dingbats" are boxy 2-3 story walk-up apartment building from the 1950s and 1960s with front overhanging parking areas. According to Wikipedia "in spite of their serviceability as functional, affordable housing, and the niche appeal of their trappings and trim, dingbats are widely reviled as socially alienating visual blights which typify Los Angeles architecture at its worst." I like the simple forms and quirky exteriors of the dingbats, but it's true that some dingbats are unpleasant inside with low ceilings and small windows.

Dingbats typically each contain about 6-10 apartment units and extend all the way back to rear service alleys where there is additional space for parking and garbage disposal. In the 50s and 60s, many developers tore down single family homes, including hundreds of craftsmen bungalows, and built dingbats to replace them in order to increase the number of units that they could fit onto one lot.

All of the pictures in this post are from the Palms neighborhood - a convenient, affordable, and diverse area on L.A.'s Westside that is popular among UCLA grad students.

I've highlighted the streets in Palms where I took these pictures:

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Pasadena: Arts and Crafts

2009-02-27T16:26:00.001-08:00

Architect brothers Henry and Charles Greene built this Arts and Crafts style mansion for the Gamble (of Proctor & Gamble) family in 1908. The Gambles had this house built so that they, like many other wealthy Eastern and Mid-Western families of the time, could spend their winters enjoying Pasadena's mild climate. In 1966, the Gamble family placed the house in a trust which is administered by the University of Southern California School of Architecture, the City of Pasadena, and the Gamble family. I highly recommend that anyone visiting L.A. go on a tour of the Gamble House - the house is beautifully restored and the tours are informative and professional.

The Gamble House is built in the Arts and Crafts style which developed as a response to the industrialization and mechanization of production during the Victorian era. Every detail in the Gamble House (furniture, lamps, hardware, air vents, drainspouts, etc...) was designed by the Greenes and hand-made by artists and craftsmen. I was prohibited from taking interior photographs, but excellent interior photos are available on the Gamble House website: http://www.gamblehouse.org/photos/index.html

A front view of the Gamble House:

Arts and Crafts architects were influenced heavily by both Japanese and Swiss aesthetics and sought to create buildings that were harmonious with the landscape. Broad terraces and porches facilitate easy movement between indoor and outdoor space and low-hanging eaves keep interiors cool in the hot California weather.

Blacker House (1177 Hillcrest Avenue, Pasadena) is another Greene and Greene masterpiece built in 1907 that still serves as a private residence:

The Duncan-Irwin House (240 North Grand Avenue, Pasadena) is one of many large Arts and Crafts houses on the blocks surrounding the Gamble House. It was built by Greene and Greene in 1900:

In California and other Western states, small Arts and Crafts style bungalows became extremely popular for lower and middle income families as well. Pasadena's "Bungalow Heaven" district contains hundreds of small Arts and Crafts bungalows built from 1900 to the 1930's for middle-class families.

A classic little bungalow:

A little bungalow that has an addition stuck on top:

Here's one in less than pristine condition:

Brochures for self guided walking tours of Pasadena's Arts and Crafts homes are available at the Gamble House bookstore. Here are the areas that I visited:

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Pacific Palisades

2009-02-26T13:59:00.000-08:00

Pacific Palisades is a wealthy coastal town in between Santa Monica and Malibu that has many fancy houses and is also home to the Self-Realization Fellowship's Lake Shrine. The Self Realization Fellowship was founded in 1920 by new-age/meditation/spirituality guru Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) and the grounds of the Lake Shrine have been open to the public since 1950. The gardens smell heavily of incense and include meditation areas, peaceful grottos, a pretty lake, and monuments honoring Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam.

Paramahansa Yogananda designed the Golden Lotus Archway for the Lake Shrine in 1950:

When Paramahansa Yogananda acquired the area around the lake, there was a reproduction of a 16th century Dutch windmill on the grounds. Yogananda converted the windmill into a chapel and it now serves as a silent meditation area that is open to the public.

Around the grounds, there are religious statutes set in lush gardens:

In the nearby residential area of Castellemmare, there are beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean to the West and Topanga State Park to the East. People from the East Coast - please take note that this is what California looks like in the middle of winter:

This glamorous modern house with ocean views on Posetano Road was built by architect Pierre Koenig (1925-2004) in 1963. Koenig is famous for these classic L.A. glass box and exposed steel residences and his houses often appear in movies.

There are many sleek, modern homes up on Revello Drive, including this shoe-box like house that is supported off of the ground by pillars:

Public and private stairways going up and down the hill:
A beautiful tree at the top of the hill:

To the beach!

This walk around Castellammare is Walk 1 in my favorite book "Walking L.A." by Erin Mahoney Harris.

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Culver City: Hayden Tract

2009-02-25T14:35:00.000-08:00

A few blocks from the newly revitalized downtown Culver City is an area called the Hayden Tract that consists of formerly abandoned industrial warehouses that are now studios and offices for people like graphic designers and software engineers. Los Angeles architect Eric Owen Moss, whose studio is on the Hayden Tract, has built a collection of experimental buildings called Conjunctive Points which occupies a large portion of the tract. Moss, like Frank Gehry, is one of the contemporary Los Angeles architects considered to be of the "L.A. School." According to my architectural guidebook, buildings in the "L.A. School" style are typically large and bold; often include interrupted and tilting forms; and use materials in unusual and clever ways. The pictures below are of buildings in the Conjunctive Points Project.

The "What Wall?" Building (offices of a software design company):

The Beehive (office building and conference center):

Here is the Stealth Building (headquarters of Darth Vader's advertising agency):

The Samitaur Building (Kodak Company office building):

The Box Building (technology company offices downstairs and a private conference space upstairs in "the box"):

The Umbrella Building (headquarters of an internet and graphic design company):

3555 Hayden (headquarters of a broadcasting company):

3535 Hayden (offices of a graphic design company):

The Gateway Art Tower - currently under construction:

The Debbie Allen Dance Studio:

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