Joseph Arthur Recap

(can't see anything, but such a pretty song)

So I was looking forward to seeing one of my favorite musicians, Joseph Arthur, on Friday, til i went to the website and saw that the show was Saturday, which meant that Sam couldn't go because he had a show in Bakersfield. I was pretty bummed. I got to the show with a friend on Saturday and was told at will call that my tickets were for Friday and I had missed the show and there was nothing I could do. After enough things going wrong this past week (including looking for my lost keys for an hour and a half and having a couple emotional breakdowns), I was on the verge of tears. But I mustered up enough courage to just try to forget about it and go to the show anyway. I was already there and would be even more upset if I didn't get to see him. Luckily I was able to bring my camera in and took some pictures:



I was glad I went. There was even a guest appearance by Ben Harper:



After the show, some guy who had done a film for Joeseph Arthur asked if I could send him the pictures I had taken, then introduced me to the manager and (long story short) I waited around for over an hour to take pictures of the band after the show!! How amazing is that!? So it ended up being a pretty good ending to a frustrating week. Here are some of the band photos:

To Grandmother's House We Go!

I spent a few evenings at my Grandmother's house after she moved, to help prepare it for being sold. Here are some pictures of some of the retro-ness that I think makes her house awesome:

Kitchen: Wallpaper is a retro delight, but had to be stripped for the painters. Hardware on cabinets is awesome. Old-school floor laminate. Overall seagreen color with yellow sink.These are closeups of the two tiles you can see under the top cabinet in the picture above. I wish I could take these with me. Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Dining room lamp:
Save the pink bathrooms!
I love this bathroom hardware. I might have to take it with me...
Table lamp:
Classic glass knobs:

Vasquez Rocks

Vasquez Rocks is an easy 3-mile hike about an hour from most places in Los Angeles. Best time to go is sunrise or sunset, as you'll see from the pictures I took around 5pm this past Saturday. All the pictures have larger versions if you click on them, so check them out; especially the panoramas! :)

(This panorama was a bit harder to piece together, sorry for the seams.
Used "equalize" in photoshop to get this effect)

As I'm sure you'll recognize, the Vasquez Rocks have been used in many motion pictures and television shows. It was a delightful place to visit. To get there take the 5N to the 14N, exit and turn L on Agua Dolce Canyon Rd. Follow the signs about 2 miles to the park entrance. If you go at sunset, park outside the gate so you don't get locked in.

Lovely Rita and her floppy ear (matches the rocks!).

This was the view from climbing halfway up the main rock.
I loved how the sun cast the color on the rock across from us.

I loved getting this shot of the man standing on the rock. Looks epic.
Thanks dude, whoever you are!

lensbaby photos of the sunset

Discovering Mid-Century Modern, Part 4

highlight on A. Quincy Jones and Charles and Ray Eames

A. Quincy Jones was a Los Angeles-based architect and pioneer for "green" design. My wonderful husband got me a book about him several years ago: I was surprised that I had never heard of him because his modern style and innovative design was so compelling and beautiful. I was captured by his houses that were centered around interior courtyards. He implemented this idea also in his tract housing developments and designed prefabricated units to provide affordable options for urban planning. A lot of his buildings incorporated a usable atrium as well.
According to the wikipedia page on Jones: "The December 1950 issue of the magazine Architectural Forum featured a "Builder's House of the Year" designed by A. Quincy Jones. The same issue also awarded the innovative Palo Alto building magnate Joseph Eichler "Subdivision of the Year". Eichler then invited Jones to tour the Palo Alto development he had just completed where he suggested to Jones that the Builder of the Year team with the Architect of the Year. This relationship continued until Eichler's death in 1974."
Eichler also prompted Jones to partner with architect Frederick Emmons and together the three of them designed and built about 5000 homes. Here are a couple in the Los Angeles area (photos courtesy of you-are-here.com):



Charles and Ray Eames were a married couple that made much contribution to the mid-century modern era. Charles' story reminds me much of Roark from the book the Fountainhead. A follower of Frank Lloyd Wright, he was dismissed from his university because his views were too modern. Charles and Ray Eames designed and built the Eames House (a.k.a. Case Study House #8) as their home overlooking the Pacific Ocean, with "prefabricated steel parts intended for industrial construction." -wiki

They also designed a lot of amazing modern furniture together:

Discovering Mid-Century Modern, Part 3

highlight on John Lautner and Frank Lloyd Wright

Another favorite architect of mine is John Lautner. He designed several homes in the Los Angeles area, including this one known as the Chemosphere:
"John Lautner didn’t believe that his work was futuristic, his opinion was that good architecture exits out of time." -look into my owl
Lautner seemed to pay close attention to space, and he tried to include the natural environment. One home that really impressed me is a home where he used the surrounding area's trees as columns or pillars to hold the expansive glass walls:
He is mostly responsible for the term "Googie" architecture, the exaggerated space-like architecture of coffee shops and bowling alleys in the 50's and 60's, because he designed the coffee shop Googie's. This building was on the corner of Sunset and Crescent Heights Blvd, but was demolished in the 80's.
Here is one more photo of a home that he created in Acapulco Bay, Mexico called the Arango Residence, also known as Marbrisa:

(Lautner photos found from various google image searches)

Ah, yes. Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the most well-known names in architecture. I'm not sure that Wright is known as a "mid-century modern" designer, but rather as the author of "organic architecture." However, he taught several of the "mid-century modern" designers and had much influence on modern design. I think he made close to 400 structures.
He worked early on in this era and called a large group (about 50) of his homes "Usonian homes," which coined the term "carport" since he used car coverings instead of garages. These were usually small, single-family L-shaped houses with a garden terrace that incorporated natural heating, cooling, and lighting.

Here are some of his most famous buildings:
The Guggenheim Museum in New York City (these are a few photos from my last visit):

Falling Water in Bear Run, Pennsylvania (photos courtesy of wikipedia):

One that I'm hoping to visit soon on a trip to AZ is the Taliesin West, Scottsdale, Arizona (photo from franklloydwright.org):

And for you locals, here is a home that is available for viewing in the Hollywood area:

the Hollyhock House at Barnsdall Art Park:

I went here a couple years ago with my friend Abbie and her parents. It was a great tour...about $8. Here is a panorama I made from a few pictures I took during the tour:

(click on picture above to enlarge! You can see a space around the fireplace where water would flow throughout the house, from the outside to the inside, through the interior garden terrace, and out to a sort of exterior mini amphitheater)

I could do a whole post on this house alone since the tour was so thorough. And maybe I will in the future, but for now, a couple more of the photos I took during the tour:

(this detail work was Wright's architectural version of the Hollyhock flowering plant, the client's favorite flower, and used throughout the interior and exterior of the house)

Sitting room adjacent living room, looks relaxing!

Interior breezeway

That was a much longer blog than I intended, but these two architects are worth it! It was fun to share a few of my personal photos, too. I hope you enjoyed it.

Discovering Mid-Century Modern, Part 2

highlight on Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler

Another famous architect of this era is Richard Neutra. Many of Neutra's homes and his current family-run (by his son and partner, Dion) foundation can be found in Silverlake near the Silverlake Reservoir. More specifically, you can drive by some of his designed homes: the VDL house at 2300 Silver Lake Blvd, or 'the Colony' on Neutra Place and Earl St.

Another blog that I frequent did a few beautiful posts on one of Neutra's homes in Texas built for George Kraigher, a Pan Am pilot. He designed this home that just recently got restored back to it's original condition. Here is a before and after picture, courtesy of http://kcmodern.blogspot.com/:


Next architect: Rudolph Schindler

I recently was able to go visit the Schindler house in West Hollywood with my coworker Jessica. (my photo while outside)

It was interesting, but if you visit, go Friday afternoon between 4-6pm, when it's free. It's not worth the $18 you would normally have to pay to visit. Very low ceilings throughout made the place feel a bit cramped, but the linear designs throughout gave a serene feeling of simplicity and the concrete floor and bathrooms brought in a pleasant industrial feeling.

Schindler was an Austrian/American architect who was known for being able to successfully work within tight budgets, using warm materials, and making interesting yet complex floor plans. Here is the Lovell Beach House in Newport Beach: beautiful specimen!
Here is one of Schindler's houses for sale in Silverlake. If only I had a million dollars!
http://www.architectureforsale.com/address/835/Rudolph-Schindler-Architect#

Discovering Mid-Century Modern, Part 1

highlight on Julius Shulman and Pierre Koenig

(screenshot from The Incredibles, found on midcenturymodernist.com)

I've been exploring mid-century modern style design. It excites me. The design is fascinating, and dissecting it in details is difficult.
What materials are they using: stone, stucco, wood?
How is the landscaping properly laid out?
Furniture seems to be minimalist; where do they put all that clutter?
Rugs? Flooring?
What colors are most commonly used?
What characteristics actually characterize this era of design? The angles? The ovals? The industrial? The retro?

All these questions have been stirring through my mind often. Which led me to exploring a few of the masterminds in the industry:
First, Julius Shulman, architectural photographer, who recently passed away. This man created how we look at Los Angeles modernism, as I'm sure most of you recognize this picture:
(I'm hoping that the screening of this movie about him: Visual Acoustics comes to a theater in L.A.) This particular home in the Hollywood Hills, known as the Stahl House or Case Study House #22, was designed by architect Pierre Koenig, and is characterized by steel construction, a flat roof, and linear forms throughout. His wife (now widow), Gloria Koenig, is an architectural historian, writing many wonderful books about the architects of this time.

I will be posting a few more posts this week on some of the major architects of this era, so stay tuned! And if you know of any amazing websites in this realm of interest, please share! More to come...

Moving chaos

(My husband Sam and niece Audrey:

A fitting picture for a personal blog, venting about a chaotic few weeks)

I had a week off of work to move out of my apartment. We spent a few days in Flagstaff, AZ (Dec 23rd to the 26th) picking up some furniture and coming back in a UHaul. I was sick just before I left for Flagstaff and it got progressively worse. As I was returning the UHaul, I needed to get gas for the vehicle. I happened to find the one and only gas station in L.A. that didn't have enough height clearance for the vehicle and damaged the gas station's roof. Probably about $1000 worth of damage, which is that in between stage where it's not really worth it to get insurance involved.

I continued to be so sick for the next three days that I didn't get much packing done and had to sleep for a good 16 hours or so before feeling better. My friend Renee came into town the day that I started feeling a bit better and, fortunately for me, spent some of her vacation time in L.A. helping me pack and move. Not how I wanted it to happen, but so grateful for her help! And we were able to get some great fun times in the visit as well.

Monday we were out of the apartment...

Tuesday, Sam lost his wallet. It was eventually found and turned into the police, but in the meantime we had to cancel cards and are still awaiting new cards to come. What's most frustrating is that we had to cancel the same credit card 2 months ago due to fraudulent activity in Canada. Another dozen phone calls and website visits to set up automatic withdrawals...

Then Thursday, I got a call from my mom saying that she was in town, and when was I going to come by to pick up a few things from my Grandmother's house, because she was moving on Monday. All of this unbeknown to me, apparently no one told me about the last minute decision made a week before. I knew she was moving, as I had helped her go through stuff on several occasions since September, but to boil it down to "Everything needs to be out by next weekend because that's when you're moving" was necessary, but extremely stressful for everyone involved. I didn't get to see my mom, but stopped by my Grandmother's yesterday and will be there several times this week to take care of remaining items. My Uncle Randal and his girlfriend Cheryl have been up all night helping her and will be driving my Grandmother to Santa Rosa on 1 hour sleep. Yikes. Sam and I will be staying at her house for a week to help prepare things for the house to be sold.

Then last night I lost my phone. When using Sam's phone to try to find it, someone called his phone back, but just hung up after he answered. NO!! So now my phone is out there somewhere and I'm debating whether to get insurance to send me a new phone (which used to be $50, but somehow along the line was changed to a $100 deductible), or just hook up an old phone and hope someone turns in my phone. Either way, I think I'll have to switch to an iPhone when my contract is up. Especially if they are no longer with AT&T, which has deferred me from getting the iPhone with them thus far...terrible service in certain L.A. areas.

All that to say, the last two weeks have been one stressful day after another, but somehow I seem to be handling it better than I expected. Still stressed out, but maybe since I was expecting a bit of chaos, I was a little more prepared for it. I'm looking forward to relaxing once things get more settled...hopefully February.

Christmas/New Year's photos

We missed the 40 and decided to drive through Vegas, since it wasn't that far out of the way. On the way to Flagstaff, we saw this bridge under construction at the dam near the AZ border.

Sam's family, Christmas Eve.
(Sam, Audrey, Grandma Kathy, Sara, Lukas, and Momma Donna. Four generations!)

My family, Christmas day.
(Sam, Rita, Robbie, me, Jenni, Jonny, Mom and Dad)

Vicious dog!

Renee came for a visit, keeping up the New Year's tradition. We had a great time together!

Auntie Em's in Eagle Rock

Dominique

Preface: I'm reading The Fountainhead (amazing book) and attempted to write a poem after reading a miserable chapter about Dominique Francon:


You long for the extraordinary
and it confines you to the mundane.
You see the possibility of perfection
and want to destroy it.
You won't, because of your love for it
because it exists outside of your reach.
And the pain cripples you,
but you long for the pain,
because it proves the extraordinary.
And you move on to live that somewhat healthy life.
You know you've come a long way
but a sentence is uttered, a thought intrudes
reminding you
and it feels like only yesterday again
when the extraordinary was so close
yet so very far.
Still, you seek something different, something better even.
Maybe it will come.
And in the meantime, it is all mundane.

Hope

The moments that took place a year ago defy their own sense of time in my mind. Feeling like only yesterday, and at the same time, feeling like a lifetime ago. So much can happen in a year, but the pain leaves us all crippled at times, leaving me with an undesirable understanding that pain and hope go hand in hand. I don't pretend to go through more pain than others, but I realize that pain is all very real to each of us in our own way. Yet we all know the choking in the throat, the pit in the stomach, and the pain in a broken heart: We're never alone, even though we feel like we are. I've learned more about myself this past year than I've ever learned in any given year in my life. And I get excited when I see myself not resorting back to old habits and actually changing in healthy ways. It's challenging, but beneficial. So here's to my last emotional ranting for a while... and a song I've been listening to lately that is just beautiful: