It's blustery and breezy in Los Angeles today. A barely measurable amount of precipitation fell which inevitably resulted in chaos on the county's concrete freeways. I climbed out of bed at 5:30, an act made almost Olympian due to the combination of pre-dawn darkness, drops and drizzle, and the warmth offered by my eiderdown. Winsor … Continue reading Sing a song of eiderdowns
Author: Eric Brightwell
Eric Brightwell is an essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener. He lives in Los Angeles, not because he was born here, but because he chose to... for all of the things for which its famous: its verticality, its mass transit, its diversity, its schools, its liminal spaces, its architecture, its wildlife, its museums, its night markets, its cinemas, its theaters, its enclaves, its restaurants, its bars, its libraries, &c
VideoDisc Day — An introduction to the Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED)
On 22 March, 1981, RCA introduced a brand new but curiously retro analog video format, the SelectaVision CED VideoDisc system. Today the CED (Capacitance Electronic Disc) is all but forgotten but even at its most popular it wasn't well-known and was much widely-adopted than contemporaneous video formats like Betamax, VHS, and LaserDiscs. CED collection, Ron Treverton of Brantford, Canada (source: Personal … Continue reading VideoDisc Day — An introduction to the Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED)
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Happy quasquicentennial, Orange County!
On this day in 1889, Orange County, California was born, making it 125 years young today. Pendersleigh & Sons Cartography's map of Orange County In early 1889, Pemberton Medicine Company (later Coca-Cola) incorporated in Atlanta, Colombia Phonograph (later Columbia Records) launched, Japan adopted the Meiji Constitution and the Eiffel Tower opened in Paris. Meanwhile in … Continue reading Happy quasquicentennial, Orange County!
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Nobody Drives in LA — Exploring Foothill Transit’s 187 Line
With bicycles, buses, ferries, planes, rideshares, sidewalks, subways, taxis, and trains at Angelenos’ disposal, why would any sane person choose car-dependency? Nobody Drives in LA celebrates sense and sensibility in transportation. ***** Foothill Transit, one of Southern California's many public transportation agencies, recently turned 25 years old. It may come as something of a surprise then, that at this still … Continue reading Nobody Drives in LA — Exploring Foothill Transit’s 187 Line
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All-Female Bands of the 1960s – Happy Women’s History Month!
In the first half of the 20th Century, there were many popular all-female musical acts. In the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s there were vocal groups like The Andrews Sisters, The Boswell Sisters, and The McGuire Sisters. In the early rock/soul era, the so-called "girl groups" such as The Shirelles, The Teen Queens, The Paris Sisters, … Continue reading All-Female Bands of the 1960s – Happy Women’s History Month!
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We just tell it how we see it, nothing more, nothing less — Neue Sachlichkeit in film
Albert Renger-Patzsch's Hochofenwerk Herrenwyk, Lübeck (1928) Germany's interwar Weimar Republic may've existed amidst political chaos but it was an incredibly fertile time for the arts. German Expressionism, although it first developed around 1900, only flowered on the screen during the interwar period. Emerging Fascists enjoyed the themes of Arnold Fanck and Leni Riefenstahl's Mountain Movies. Less … Continue reading We just tell it how we see it, nothing more, nothing less — Neue Sachlichkeit in film
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Stories start in many ways — a look back at old time radio’s Night Beat
In the Golden Age of Radio, NBC produced some of the medium's best crime dramas, programs like The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, The Adventures of Sam Spade, Confession, Dragnet, and Tales of the Texas Rangers. Another -- although sadly not well-remembered today -- was Night Beat, which debuted on 6 February, 1950 and aired not just in the US, but … Continue reading Stories start in many ways — a look back at old time radio’s Night Beat
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California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Watts
MORE THAN JUST RIOTS AND TOWERS -- WATTS It seems to me that the totality of Watts's reputation rests almost entirely on two things – the Watts Rebellion and the Watts Towers. Results of a Google search for “watts” can be divided into three categories: photos of the towers, black and white images of burning … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — Exploring Watts
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California Fool’s Gold — Exploring South Central
IS BUSTIN' A CAP REALLY FUNDAMENTAL -- SOUTH CENTRAL Pendersleigh & Sons Cartography's oil map of South Central South Central means different things to different people. To some, it refers to a vast, amorphous collection of neighborhoods and cities between the Santa Monica Bay and the San Gabriel River, north of the San Pedro Bay, and south … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — Exploring South Central
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California Fool’s Gold — Exploring North Hollywood, The Gateway to the Valley
INTRODUCTION After focusing on eight Eastside neighborhoods whilst house-sitting in El Sereno, I've returned to the polls to determine where to explore. I've heard the vox populi and therefore visited North Hollywood -- only my fourth piece on a San Fernando Valley community thus far. It was a hot, somewhat hazy, and thankfully breezy January day … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — Exploring North Hollywood, The Gateway to the Valley
Eric Brightwell 