A One of a Kind Line
All aboard! The first stop on LA's newest light rail line
After more than a decade of waiting (up to 15 years, depending who you ask), a light-rail Breda train will depart for East L.A. from Union Station this Sunday, November 15 as part of Metro’s new Gold Line Eastside Extension. The eight-station line, with stops in Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles, will offer continuing service on the first phase of the Gold Line, which heads northeast through Pasadena and was completed in 2003. Read More
South Central Farm Documentary Up For an Oscar Tonight
The 14-acre South Central Farm
As you’re dazzled by light refracting off one million Swarovski crystals at a very Rockwellian Oscars this evening, there’ll be one award worth watching besides the Mickey Rourke vs. Angelina Jolie faceoff for Biggest Lips. Up for best documentary feature is The Garden, the story of a 14-acre community garden in South Central that was the largest of its kind…until it was bulldozed in 2006 by developer Ralph Horowitz to make way for a Forever 21 warehouse.
T.C. Boyle’s Frank Lloyd Wright Obsession Is More Novel Than We Thought
T.C. Boyle and his wife Karen in their Wright place. Photo: LAT
We were already anxious to get the word on T.C. Boyle‘s new book The Women since it’s all about the sexploits of that infamous philanderer Frank Lloyd Wright. (The women the title is named for would be Kitty, Mamah, Miriam and Olgivanna, in that order.) But little did we know the origins of Boyle’s influence when it came to writing this novel in the first place…his muse, if you will. Boyle and his family actually live in the first Wright-designed house built in California!
Postopolis! Comes to LA
Architecture bloggers in La La Land
You remember Postopolis! don’t you? The reality show-worthy architecture blog-a-thon that sequestered five bloggers for five days at the Storefront for Art and Architecture two years ago? Well, hold onto your laptops, kids, because Postopolis! is back and promises to be bigger, better, bloggier and more exclamation-pointy than ever before…because it’s coming to LA, baby!
How Much Is That Building Really Worth To You?
Shigeru Ban sketch on the block for SCI-Arc
If you’ve got some extra cash this year—and really, who doesn’t?—why not invest in architecture? Not the pricey, unlikely-to-be-built, brick-and-mortar kind. We’re talking about 2D architecture, the kind you can hang on your wall. Shigeru Ban, Daly Genik, Hodgetts + Fung and Michael Maltzan are just a few of the architects you could have in your home by Christmas, thanks to this auction where you can bid on their drawings and renderings, with all the proceeds going to SCI-Arc.
Heath Ceramics Finally Out of the Kiln
Pottery people, by Eric Nakamura
The Los Angeles branch of mid-century institution Heath Ceramics materialized last Friday night in a sweet corner location on Beverly that will serve as a studio, gallery and first retail store outside of its Sausalito headquarters. The space designed by local firm Commune was clean and bright, wine served in teeny sake cups and a keg on the patio made for a festive feel, and all anyone talked about was the economy. But Heath Ceramics owners Robin Petravic and Catherine Bailey were especially buoyant, telling Frances Anderton that a downturn would actually inspire more people to seek out lovingly handcrafted items. New partner Adam Silverman (of Atwater Pottery) was also all smiles, his wild hair providing its own interpretation of uplifting, as he called his new relationship with his longtime crush “a perfect match.”
City Listening Hears LA’s Great Voices in Architecture
John Chase and his pimp-tastic outfit, by Keith Wiley
Architecture was heard and not seen at City Listening, the latest installation of de LaB (design east of La Brea), LA’s semi-regular design gathering hosted by AN contributors Haily Zaki and Alissa Walker (the writer of this post, but better known to you as “we“). Monday night’s event was held at the new Barbara Bestor-designed GOOD Space in Hollywood, where design writers and bloggers crawled out from under their keyboards to show us their faces, and in some cases, their feelings. The evening was packed with AN contributors and readers, including two pieces out of seven read that were originally published in AN!
DJ Thommy Mayne and the Pritzker-Making Hits
KCRW DJ Tom Schnabel and the Mayne Event
Widely accepted as the greatest public radio station on the planet, KCRW is famous for its groundbreaking music played by DJs who are smarter, cooler and infinitely better dressers than you. But last week was a bitter one for LA as the station’s great Nic Harcourt hung up his headphones as music director. For those of you who are already missing Harcourt’s esoteric taste (sometimes a bit difficult to take at 9:03am even after a visit to Intelligensia), never fear: Thom Mayne has stepped into the booth.
Suddenly Remodeling Takes On a Whole New Meaning
Manhattan architect/J.Crew model Caleb Mulvena
If the model sporting the purple Italian cashmere scarf and hand-finished denim in the November J.Crew catalog looks familiar to you, that’s because he’s none other than New York architect Caleb Mulvena, principal with Colin Brice at the hot new firm Mapos. Read More
Stairway to Heaven
Taking the stairs, photo by Scott Mayoral
The SCI-Arc Gallery’s techno-thumping, wine-spattered opening nights are the place for local architects to drink and be drunk. The latest revelry celebrated the debut installation by Oyler Wu Collaborative, who are quickly becoming the hottest new duo in LA architecture. Dwayne Oyler and Jenny Wu‘s recent exhibitions include Density Fields at Materials & Applications and Pendulum Plane for the new LA Forum space. And now, Live Wire, which takes their massive aluminum tubing structures to the next level—literally!
If Not President-Elect, Architect?
Jorge Rocha Antunes' White House Redux submission
Not since Thomas Jefferson have AN readers had such an advocate in the Oval Office! In a piece timed with Barack and Michelle Obama‘s historic White House visit today, the UK’s Telegraph has a list of 50 things you might not know about our President-Elect. And this little nugget caught our Eavesdrop eye:
He would have liked to have been an architect if he were not a politician.
Now we know the Obamas would definitely be interested in some redecorating ideas from the AN-sponsored White House Redux competition. Perhaps Jorge Rocha Antunes‘ proposal (above) where the White House is encased in an artificially-produced living organism?
The Esquire House Bait-and-Switch: A Case Study
How a man lives?
We’ve heard plenty about the annual tradition that is the Esquire House. The mag transforms a chic address into the ultimate bachelor pad or “How a Man Lives”…along with hundreds of his heaviest-drinking C-list celeb friends. Last year the spot was Charles Gwathmey‘s Astor Place Tower, so this year they returned to the west coast, with a location to-be-revealed somewhere in the Hollywood Hills. But when we got the above invite to the Jaguar-sponsored event last Saturday, we took one look at the iconic Julius Shulman shot and gasped in horror.
Was Esquire really going to turn the Pierre Koenig-designed Stahl House, aka Case Study House No. 22, into a den for men? Read More
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