Results tagged “architecture”

The Los Angeles Police Department's new home in Downtown is a state-of-the-art facility that has been the topic of much praise and scrutiny since construction began in 2007. Today, however, the building, which has yet to be graced with an official name, will be opened in a public ceremony helmed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and outgoing Chief William Bratton. "At the 10 a.m. ceremony, Bratton will welcome the public to tour the new building," notes abc7, which is thought to be the most expensive and modern police facility in the country.

They've done Wilshire, Pico, and Santa Monica, and this year the Great LA Walk will take you and your two feet from Downtown to the shore via Adams and Washington on Saturday November 21st.

Spanish, Colonial, Mid-Century Modern, Craftsman, Streamline Moderne, Art Deco...Los Angeles is packed end to end with architecture reflective of so many different styles. Sometimes we pause to celebrate a building, its design, and designers only when it reaches a milestone or when we say goodbye to it. But this month the American Institute of Architects: Los Angeles (AIA) wants to encourage all of us to celebrate architecture for all 31 days of October.

Seth Tinkham is a correspondent for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and he's taken a JetBlue 30-day All-You-Can-Jet Pass and a laptop on the road--or to the skies, rather--on a tour dubbed the JetModern, aimed at spotlighting modernist design treasures in major US cities. His trip concludes next week here in Los Angeles, where he will visit buildings that exemplify the modernist style that are in need of some preservationist attention.

LAist recently met Freya Estreller and Natasha Case, the matriarchs of the ice cream sandwich truck, Coolhaus -- The Kogi of Ice Cream Sandwiches (LAist's term, not their own.) Tasty web show VendrTV, hosted by Daniel Delaney, recently sought the skinny on their mobile, architecture-inspired deserts.

Councilman Greig Smith hosts a movie night tonight -- National Night Out -- with free hot dogs, popcorn and "Kung Fu Panda" tonight at Northridge Park. The dogs come courtesy of CPAB and LAPD and will be served at 6:30 pm. The movie starts at nightfall. There will also be free popcorn until 9 pm, free drawings for prizes, face-painting for kids, booths with public safety information, LAPD mounted police and underwater diving units, games, activities, and more. For more information, call Councilman Smith's office at 818.756.8501 or visit his website.

A year ago, the LA Times was predicting a major comeback of sorts for Westwood, the Los Angeles neighborhood most associated with UCLA. But if the comeback is to involve classic movie houses, the comeback looks grim. This week the Mann Festival closed down, and preservationists are on standby, prepared to battle the possible loss of the Mann's Village and Bruin, according to the Times.

Last night, Los Angeles lost a true Angeleno. Photographer Julius Shulman, 98, died last night, according to an LA Times breaking news e-mail alert. Shulman was a blunt--yet hilarious--critic of architecture and he showed the works he loved through his work. In a new documentary about Shulman, screened in Los Angeles at Dwell on Design, he would call most of the city's housing design style a pile of junk. The audience burst out laughing.

LAist is stoked about the three-day style and design event Dwell on Design, taking place today, tomorrow, and Sunday. Exhibits, panels, and special events are taking place all over town, and while we're most excited about some of the on stage speakers and panels this weekend and tomorrow night's movie & mobile food event, things get underway today at the Convention Center for the Dwell on Design Exhibition, open to Trade and Dwell Conference Plus ticket holders only until 8 p.m.

This weekend's Dwell on Design at the Convention Center features an extensive amount of activities, offering something for everyone, from mobile food to pre-fab homes, all in the name of sustainable design.

Meet Freya Estreller and Natasha Case, the twentysomething women behind the Coolhaus ice cream sandwich brand. You may have already caught them proffering their wares at various events around town -- Barnsdall Park, Venice First Fridays, Stories Books -- in their pink, chrome-rimmed converted postal jeep. But for those who haven't had the Coolhaus experience, we'll break it down for you.

     

Yesterday was officially National Doughnut (or Donut) Day, but there's no reason to not carry the spirit of celebration over to your weekend, which is why today we're looking at the story behind one of our city's most well known structures.

Tonight’s the opening night for Cole Porter’s Red, Hot and Blue! at the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks. This Depression era screwball comedy deals with a National Lottery offering a first prize to anyone who finds a long-lost love with a rare identification mark. Included are the Cole Porter classics "It's De-Lovely," "Down in the Depths (On the 90th Floor)," "Ridin' High" and "Red, Hot and Blue!" The show begins at 8 pm tonight and runs through July 5.

      

Tomorrow afternoon, the Los Angeles Conservancy will honor nine projects and one individual representative of the best achievements in preservation of last year. In its 28th year, the list offers a variety of undertakings, from the successful bid to recognize our sprawling and magnificent Griffith Park as a Historic Cultural Monument to the refurbishing of longstanding meccas of culture like the Mark Taper Forum, the revitalization of the eatery behind some much-loved sandwiches, and the re-purposing of a onetime giant of industry as a place to call home. [Full list after the jump.]

LACMA presents its Masters of Architecture Lecture Series with Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas tonight at 7:30 pm. His studio focuses on urban design and public projects, including the Bao’an International Airport, Shenzhen, China; Congress Center EUR, Rome, Italy; African Institute of Science and Technology, Abuja, Nigeria; Zenith Music Hall, Strasbourg, France, and Amiens, France; Armani Ginza Tower, Tokyo, Japan; and New Milan Trade Fair, Milan, Italy. From 1998 to 2000, he served as director of the VII Biennale Internazionale di Architettura di Venezia “Less Aesthetics, More Ethics.” Tonight he’ll be introduced by LA Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne. Tickets are $12.

Imagine a structure hailed for its exterior design that took 60 days to build, was trafficked by hundreds of thousands of people for almost four decades, spent 17 years abandoned with an uncertain fate, contributed to the launch of LA's preservation movement, and took one night to burn to the ground.

              

On November 6, 1913 the then-named Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art opened. Nearly a hundred years later, LA's first museum building is almost ready for public consumption.

Developer New Century is not thrilled about today's announcement about their property being placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's annual America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list. In fact, they've already sent two press releases, picked up by Curbed LA. The first one partially here: "We are disappointed to see the Century Plaza Hotel politicized in this way, particularly at a time when the City of Los Angeles is suffering from extreme economic hardship and is in dire need of new jobs. The naming of the hotel as an historic place is not supported by the facts. The building is less than 50 years old and does not qualify for consideration under stringent criteria for historic designation of a building of this recent age. [This fact is addressed in that LA Times story]."

If the new owners of the Century Plaza Hotel, currently operating as a Hyatt Regency, get their way, it will soon be razed for two 600-foot towers for commercial, hotel and residential occupation. But those dreams may have just been slashed. Today, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Los Angeles Conservancy will name the landmark on their annual America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list, which highlights important examples of the nation's architectural, cultural and natural heritage that are at risk of destruction or irreparable damage.

There are plenty of ways you can reach out and connect with Los Angeles' vast and fascinating history beyond the confines of our weekly LAistory column. Whether it be through joining a preservation group, taking a walking tour, visiting a museum or historic site, or opening up the pages of a book, LA's stories are often within our grasp. For LAistory, while we like to do the writing and photo-taking (or finding) ourselves, we, too, draw inspiration from our interaction with the city's resources, which is why LAistory is taking a brief pause today to give a shout out to a couple of publications that give us--and can give you, too--a better understanding of where we are and where we came from.

       

Call it a sign of the times: The property on the southeast corner of Wilshire and Highland bears a giant banner bearing the word "Foreclosure."

Ken Kesey told us that “Some things are true, even if they never really happen.” What if a woman was never killed in a house that looks like it might gobble you up if you’re not careful? What if that crime felt true? Then where are you? Well, the answer is, of course, Los Angeles.

Shopping "experiences" like those Rick Caruso has developed in Los Angeles certainly give locals a lot to grouse about, but aside from the perils of modern living (see: Muffin tops, American Girl, and Uggs), these outdoor hyper-designed environments aren't anything new. Of course we can go back hundreds and hundreds of years and note that shopping outdoors in a village-esque atmosphere was a way of life--mainly because you lived in that village--but we can also go back to the 1930s to look at was once a glorious architectural and entrepreneurial vision that was much celebrated right here in LA.

Work is underway on the first phase of the Watts House Project, an ambitious and visionary project directed by Edgar Arceneaux and being tackled now by college students representing a wide range of backgrounds, as described by the LA Times: "[Y]oung men and women; white, black, Asian, Latin; some from USC, others UCLA, and still others from Cal Arts and Art Center [who] have set to work in front of a modest, cream-colored stucco bungalow on 107th Street."

LAist's weekly LAistory series is taking a break this weekend!

              

There are few places in Los Angeles where you can feel the history, where if you squint hard enough, you could easily be in the 1930s, and yet that have a key place in Los Angeles' future. That place is Union Station, one of the most beautiful buildings in our city. Most of it is open to the public and it's central to anyone who wants to take a train, bus or subway (which makes it instrumental, as Los Angeles looks toward a future of public transportation). It has Traxx, a fine dining restaurant and it's bar, as well as a cafe. You can't take a bad picture there. It's truly a fantastic treasure.

For a long time it seemed like Bob's Big Boy was going, going, and almost gone. But the end of an era has been halted, thanks to the new owner of the site of the old Johnie's Broiler in Downey, who is set to build a new Big Boy based on old designs.

Since the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, architect Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House at Barnsdall Art Park in Hollywood has been damaged closed and has been awaiting repairs and retrofitting over the last 14 years (however, it is still open for tours). Some of the work has been done, thanks to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds that went towards the first phase of seismic retrofitting, repairs, and restoration, but the usual wild card for getting anything done these days (one word: funding) hindered the other phases to be completed.

                    

In addition to providing you with an excellent cardio and lower-body workout, the Hollywoodland Staircases Walk also has amazing views of the city, the landscape, and two major landmarks (the Hollywood Sign and Griffith Observatory). Throw some local history (concrete staircases joining hilly residential streets installed in 1923 as part of the Hollywoodland real estate development) and a wide variety of architecture and you have more for your eyes to drink in than you bargained for in just a one-hour, 2 mile walk through the charming Beachwood Canyon neighborhood.

Capitol Records was hoping the plan for a 16-story condo building next door to their iconic Hollywood & Vine tower would not go through. They're worried that construction of an underground 242-space parking lot and vibrations from traffic will cause damage. It "will interfere with and potentially ruin the operation of the unique echo chambers and sound studios at the Capitol Records tower next door," the record company said in a statement.