Architecture in L.A.

Wrong Regarding 'Wrights'

This multifamily residential building may 

not appear to the average passerby to 

be a particularly special example of mid- 

century modern architecture; but, it did  

appear so to Republic of L.A.  

Perhaps it's likely most other lay-persons 

sharing RoLA's passion for L.A.'s hodge-podge 

of adventurous, often highly stylized residential 

design and frequently offputting urban-planning 

paradigm, would - as we erroneously did - 

recognize this collection of apartments at 

2036-2046 Griffith Park Blvd. as a fine, 

however modest, example of architecture 

by Eric Lloyd Wright, founder of Eric Lloyd Wright 

Architecture and Planning grandson and former 

apprentice of master 20th Century architect, 

Frank Lloyd Wright. However, It turns out, the 

main cue that led RoLA to think we were looking 

at an Eric Lloyd Wright design - the sculpted 

flourishes atop the painted (cinderblock?) walls separating garages at the site, were etched out by sculptor gordon Newell.  The buildings (there are two) were designed by legendary Los Angeles architect, R.M. Schindler as a home with rental-intcome units for Anastasia Bubeshko and her daughter Luby, whom - according to the Los Angeles Conservancy - lived in the Schindler-designed home that her mother left her, was first completed in the late 1930s.

The Bubeshko Apartments won a preservation award from the L.A. Conservancy in 2010 (Preservation Architect: DSH / Eric Haas & Chava Danielson)

Glitz, Glamour Find Unlikely New Home in the Wilshire District

Los Angeles' New Ambassadors   

Six Schools on a Campus Like  no  Other

   a RoLA                          S                   e               r          i       e   s   

The Architecturally Acclaimed Auditorium at

Ambassador/RFK Campus' Los Angeles High School for the Arts (LAHSA): 

Witness:  A reinterpretation of the aesthetic of  the iconic nightlife venue that helped define what was probably Hollywood's most glamorous period--from the 1920s to the early 1950s, when Harlow, Hughes and Hepburn graced the Ambassador Hotel's own Cocoanut Grove night club.  

One neighbor of RFK Community Schools said the auditorium by itself is the best thing that's happened to youth in this inner-city part of Southern California in decades, and that it shows.  The woman, who lives within visual distance of the RFK campus, says she raised two of her own now grown and "very successful" children in L.A.'s pulbic school system.  She also said, after years of apathy and neglect regarding public schools in Los Angeles, she can now sees students who seem proud of where they go to school.  When walking her dog some mornings, the longtime Wilshire District resident has recently noted a new excitement in the eyes of the students she sees walking to toward the six RFK schools located at the former Ambassador Hotel site.    (Watch for video of RoLA's interview with the neighbor and others with school officials and students--all in coming installmentsot of our special series on the Ambassador/RFK site.  Meantime, here are some interior shots of the schools' auditorium inspired by, and built at the former site of the old Cocoanut Grove.)

Though not all who lamented, and still mourn, the demolition of the Ambassador in 2005 are completely satisfied with the outcome of their failed battle to completely  preserve the property, some concede that the new schools' auditorium (which actually retains much Cocoanut Grove building's construction in its last incarnation before the closure of the Ambassador for good in 1989); succeeds in some measure invoking the spirit of the original Grove.

The faculty-staff-and their-guests-only lounge at RFK Community Schools is a faithfully restored original 1950s diner designed by Paul R. Williams, a pioneering African-American architect whose work (Beverly Wilshire Hotel [major redesign]; Saks Fifth Avenue, Beverly Hills; Chasens Restaurant; Theme building at LAX (the sweeping, swoopy structure at the center of the airport's terminals area);  helped define the classical Los Angeles architecture asthetic. 



   

Ambassador Hotel's Gone, Poignancy of New School's Design Honors Kennedy

Los Angeles' New Ambassadors   

Six Schools on a Campus Like  no  Other

   a RoLA                          S                   e               r          i       e   s   

Reporter Surprised by Own Emotional Response to RFK Tributes at Ambassador (video)

[PART II in a multi-post, multimedia special RoLA Series.]  

We appreciate your patience in viewing video on RoLA in small snippets, which, at the moment, are the most efficient way for us to upload and for you to enjoy, in light of the currently very modest resources available to the blog.  


That said, RoLA expects to augment our capacities before the end of 2011.  If all goes as planned, you'll be visiting a much improved site in terms of content and format.  And, as a current consumer of information on Republic Of L.A., you can expect to receive special access to enhanced content on the new RoLA, as well as to some pretty cool events planned for election year, 2012.  


In the meantime, here are the first two videos in this special series about RFK Community Schools.  We've begun the series at the Robert F. Kennedy Inspiration Park and its memorial to the late brother also-assasinated John F. Kennedy.  BTW, It's okay to snicker at how strangely and unexpectedly emotional my visit there was:  

In the next video installment of this special Republic of L.A. series about RFK Learning Center at the Ambassador Campus, hear what muralized quotes were borrowed from Rosa Parks and George Bernard Shaw for the Ambassador site.  

L.A.'s Eccentrics and their Art Facing Greater Scrutiny

Endangered Off-beat Charm and Colorful Folk Art Defines L.A.

Like a not-ready-for-prime-time-at-Disneyland's Small World attraction attraction, or a rejected eighth-hole miniature golf course design, this blue tree, it's attendant lawn gnomes and a watchful blue owl atop its branches constitute a fixture in someone's idea of Shangri-La. Repulbic Of L.A. spotted this unusual assemblage lovingly appointed to the front yard of a corner-lot home in Los Angeles, near L.A. City College.

Perhaps the coolest aspect of this Dali-esque affair is the fact that it barely stands out amid the delightful (delightful--if you're in a similar mood that this blogger happened to be when charmed by the scene pictured above) hodgepodge of bungalow-style, mid-century, post-modern, contemporary, residential and commercial structures and the equally discordant intentional-aesthetic-meets-obvious-neglect atmosphere that define this and so many Los Angeles neighborhoods.

On the topic of L.A.'s oddest charmers, is the apparently imminent demolition by county bulldozers of Phonehenge West and the jailing last week of its 59-year-old builder, who refused the county's order to tear down the surprisingly "right-looking" buildings.

Kim Fahey, a retired phone-company technician, built an outlandish and playful world for his children and visitors to Lancaster to enjoy. In fact, there's a proper gift shop and regular tours at Phonehenge West. (We're not sure if there's a Phonehenge East.) The County of Los Angeles ordered him to tear down the permit-less buildings, and after years of battles in court, which Mr. Fahey seems to have lost, he's been incarcerated for not following those orders. Because of the inherent property and claimed constitutional rights issues, not to mention the great visuals, plus the David vs. Goliath theme of the story, Phonehenge West has captured national attention. Click here for a link to the Washington Times' reporting of the Fahey and the D.A., and here for an earlier piece by the Huffingtonpost

It's interesting to note that the current edition of the L.A. Weekly has a cover story about L.A. County's "War on Desert Rats" which the paper says is currently underway near Lancaster in the Antelope Valley. Here is a link to that story.

RoLA will keep the exact location of our whimsical creation secret. lest the city attorney tries to pull a (District Attorney) Steve Cooley on it.