Category: Uncategorized

Gareth and Danya are two recent arrivals from Canada who have settled in Van Nuys. They are allegedly from Winnipeg, Manitoba and describe themselves as avid readers. They have some hilarious observations about life in Los Angeles, including this one about parents here:

“The library was connected to a “Child Development Center”. People in Los Angeles seem to be overly interested in the development of their children. People live vicariously through their kids to a degree that I’ve never seen in Canada. In the US since college is more of a privilege and WAY more expensive than Canada and it seems like your whole life revolves around getting into college, even at a very young age. Every single minivan you see has a sticker that says something annoying like “My Child is an Honor Student at I.M. Greedy Middle School”. I say let kids be kids. I would settle for “My Child Hasn’t Done Drugs Yet!”.”

In Studio City (top), the conversion of the part of a commercial building at 12229 Ventura Blvd. into a second floor Russian restaurant is evidence that Tolstoy’s people have come home to the Valley. The twin onion domes are an ancestor of a style that first appeared at Novgorod on the Cathedral of Sancta Sophia (bottom), in the 11th century. The bulb forms were not merely decorative in the old country, but meant to shed the vast snow falls that used to plague certain regions of this planet.

Photos: carfree.com

One of the wonderful things about visiting Europe is walking down a narrow alley or dead end street and discovering some restaurant or cafe hidden away. Often these are located on dark and dim streets where the sun is filtered and shadows predominate.

In Los Angeles, we have many black, tar baked, sunny parking lots and stores that sit in the blistering hot sun. Think of North Hollywood at Victory and Laurel Canyon on a Sunday afternoon in July! In some areas of the San Fernando Valley, like Studio City on Ventura Boulevard, there are tall palm trees, but these do not shade the pedestrian. The palm treees are fashion accessories without function.

Architects and builders should think about creating denser spaces where streets are narrow–and we can get out of our cars and walk around in the shade. Some parts of Old Pasadena are like this–but more dark and narrow mysteries in the urban landscape might humanize our wide, open vacuousness.

I first remember Donald Trump as the man who destroyed the Art Deco era “Bonwit Teller” store that stood at 56th and Fifth Avenue in New York City. It was in the way of his monster Trump Tower, a gaudy and dark Las Vegas style skyscraper that has forever lowered the prestige of Fifth Avenue even as it helped inflate the property values. With its pink atrium marbled lobby and enormous waterfall, Trump Tower leads one into what feels like the world’s largest and most ornate urinal. Most appropriate: since most of the public comes inside to relieve themselves in the basement rest rooms.

Trump’s work is all over New York City, yet it will be instantly forgotten the day he dies. His mark is the mirrored facade, which he has pasted over everything he owns from Atlantic City casinos to the former Commodore Hotel on Lexington and 42nd. His “architecture” hasn’t progressed since 1975 and his latest scheme to build two more ugly tall boxes in Jersey City looks like a rendering from the Jimmy Carter era. His only concern is his name which he needs to shout all over the air waves and from atop the highest and most mediocre structures of our time. Despite his sponsorship by Yahoo, Trump bragged on “Larry King” that he doesn’t even know how to use a computer.

His latest apprentice is the distinguished gentleman Randal Pinkett. A biography of Pinkett on his website reads, “Dr. Pinkett holds five academic degrees including the following: Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, that he completed with a 3.9 GPA while serving as President of MEET, the Rutgers Chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and Captain of the Rutgers University Varsity Men’s Track and Field team competing as a high jumper and long jumper; Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Computer Science from Oxford University, England as a Rhodes Scholar; Master of Science (S.M.) in Electrical Engineering from the MIT School of Engineering and Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from the MIT Sloan School of Management as a participant in the MIT Leaders for Manufacturing (LFM) Program; and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from the MIT Media Laboratory. Most notably, Dr. Pinkett made history as the first African-American ever to receive a Rhodes Scholarship at Rutgers University.”

It is therefore astounding that Trump would choose this man, who had worked his ass off to become “The Apprentice” and then in Pinkett’s moment of glory, rob him of his singular feat and ask him if he wanted to share his coronation with Rebecca Jarvis, the runner-up. Bravely, Pinkett answered no. But Trump could not leave him alone, he needed to shift his own indecision onto Pinkett and make it seem if Trump’s wavering and cruelty were somewhere Pinkett’s fault.

Trump bristled at Larry King’s inquiry about whether Pinkett’s pigmentation might have affected the slicing of the pie into two pieces. Testy, thin skinned, squinty eyed…Trump acted like President Bush and called the question “inappropriate”. But isn’t it insensitive to African-Americans to push the white lady into the ring with the black champ? Image is the fuel that keeps the Trump blimp aloft, so he should have understood how black Americans might view this discount win.

Trump has made a name for himself by making his name the only name. His show has a singular goal: pleasing Mr. Trump. The ego that thinks the world should bow down to him, has robbed another man of his well earned title, and cheapened the brand name of “The Apprentice”. When you create a show that is supposed to produce the single best man, don’t back out at the last minute and steal the honor from the one who you are honoring.

One of the more bizarre and disturbing photos found in the archives of the San Fernando History Digital Libary is this image of Panorama City area Ku Klux Klan members in a 1966 parade. A blond haired boy on a bike follows the white robed men.

The caption reads, “Ku Klux Klan Parade – Panorama City, Calif. September 15, 1966. Driving in a Dodge truck south on Van Nuys Boulevard just before Roscoe Boulevard. Man on sidewalk spraying KKK members in robes. Photographer and Donor: Ralph Samuels.”

One can only imagine the reception they would get today driving along the same route. Something to think about when people reminisce about the “good old days”.

Around the Valley, there is a noticeable increase in the construction of apartments. Especially in Studio City, along Moorpark, and near CBS Studios, there are numerous developments going up.

Compared to a few years ago, the residential buildings are now predominately modern and less pseudo-Mediterranean. The “Dwell Magazine” influence has crept eastward like the fog from Venice and Santa Monica. It is now settling in the San Fernando Valley where polyurethane balustrades, mouldings and Grecian architectural details once ruled.

A 1940’s ranch home on Laurelwood Drive near Carpenter Street is one of the last single family survivors on the block. Three new condominium developments have gone up along this block in the last year.

In Santa Monica, near Harvard and Colorado, office architecture seems to borrow from Scandanavia with horizontal strips of wood and tall, steel casement windows.

On Kester Street in Van Nuys, just one block north of the notorious “Busway”, a very modern apartment house with diagonal walls and large windows, is going up. Seems the Busway-with its verdant landscaping and bike paths-
is already having a beneficial effect in the creation of housing.

Hi-rise apartments going up across the street from the North Hollywood Red Line and adjacent to the Orange Line’s Busway are merely one part of a massive retail and residential project meant to tie into public transportation. In the future, people in this area will use something called “legs” to walk to something called a “train” or a “bus”.