If you can't see the forest for the trees, Los Angeles might only seem like an exclusively horizontal city. The fact of the matter is, however, that no city on earth has greater difference in elevation, from below-sea-level Wilmington to 1,544 meter tall Mount Lukens. Tallest in the county is Mount San Antonio but even … Continue reading Mist & Iron — Visiting Radio Hill
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High Rising — Architecture, Urbanism, and the Cinema
April is National Landscape Architecture Month. This got me thinking about an idea for a piece but, as often happens, I found myself tumbling down a rabbit hole of research tangents and decided I’d start with a post about architecture of the non-landscape variety. Apparently there is no "National Architecture Month" and Los Angeles proclaimed October … Continue reading High Rising — Architecture, Urbanism, and the Cinema
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Southland Parks — Visiting Ascot Hills Park
Parks comprise more than 14% of Los Angeles’s landscape and the city is home to hundreds of these cherished public spaces. From the largest park within any American city (Topanga State Park) to the smallest pocket parks and parklets, I hope to showcase them one park at a time, in the series Southland Parks. ***** Ascot Hills … Continue reading Southland Parks — Visiting Ascot Hills Park
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Southland Parks — Visiting Los Angeles High Memorial Park
Parks comprise more than 14% of Los Angeles’s landscape and the city is home to hundreds of these cherished public spaces. From the largest park within any American city (Topanga State Park) to the smallest pocket parks and parklets, I hope to showcase them one park at a time, in the series Southland Parks. ***** Yesterday, whilst … Continue reading Southland Parks — Visiting Los Angeles High Memorial Park
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Mini-Mallism — Visiting 2829 Hyperion Avenue
Strip malls (also called mini-malls, pod malls, power centers, retail parks, shopping centers, and shopping plazas) and malls in general are symbols of suburbia that although overabundant are rarely paid much attention. I find them interesting, however, mainly because I’m amused by their often pretentious names and ornamentation which I guess is designed to elevate … Continue reading Mini-Mallism — Visiting 2829 Hyperion Avenue
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Black Hillbilly
The first non-Native American settlers of Appalachia and later, the Ozarks, were of primarily of three ethnicities: Scots-Irish, English, and German. These hard-working farmers and craftsmen created a distinct culture which in the 19th Century came to be named “hillbilly.” Although the Northern European roots of hillbilly are routinely acknowledged, even scholars on the culture … Continue reading Black Hillbilly
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2015 CE — Fictions Set in 2015
When it comes to predicting the future, science-fiction has an pretty uneven track record. For every iPad or flip phone there's a dozen flying cars, anthropomorphic robot maids, or a BrainJail (where people are imprisoned for rubbish laws like downloading their feelings onto computer discs). It's now 2015 and we've made contact with no extraterrestrials, established zero extrasolar colonies, … Continue reading 2015 CE — Fictions Set in 2015
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Cancelled after one episode — a look back at very short-lived television shows
CRT Graveyard While there have been at least six or seven quality television programs, the telecommunication device has for seventy years or so more often been derided for the lack of quality programming. Whereas US forces regularly play awful music to tortured captives, no one with even the tiniest remaining shred of humanity would force … Continue reading Cancelled after one episode — a look back at very short-lived television shows
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California Fool’s Gold’s Guide to Los Angeles’s Revival Cinemas
No city on Earth is more closely associated with motion pictures than Los Angeles. 10% of all movie theaters in the entire country are located in California and Los Angeles County is home to over 100 of them. Although most of Los Angeles's theaters, like those throughout the country, showcase only the latest Hollywood product, … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold’s Guide to Los Angeles’s Revival Cinemas
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One album wonders: The Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (1977) In the early 1980s, when I was in elementary school, I remember asking my father what mental illness was. This was the era of deinstitutionalization, when most of the nation's mental institutions were emptied onto the streets which were at the same … Continue reading One album wonders: The Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols
Eric Brightwell 