May 22, 2022
Neutra Homes In Silver Lake
A week ago I headed into Silver Lake for a tour of homes designed by Richard Neutra. It was part of Modernism Week which seems to take place three times a year now. This tour started at the Neutra VDL Studio and Residences at 2300 Silver Lake Boulevard. This was Neutra's home and office. There are nine homes designed by Neutra in the immediate neighborhood. The tour started with the interior of the Neutra VDL Studio, followed by a walk-by of the other homes, concluding with an interior tour of Reunion House at 2440 Earl Street, which the Neutra Institute took possession of just this past February. The complete set of photos is here. These are some samples:
Neutra VDL Studio and Residences.
Neutra's remains are interred in the courtyard of the house.
They let us climb these apparently insubstantial stairs to the penthouse.
Balcony overlooking the courtyard.
The gate to the Sokol House at 2242 Silver Lake Boulevard.
L to R: the Inadomi, Kambara and Yew Houses on Silver Lake Boulevard.
The entrance area for the Inadomi and Kambara houses.
Yew House at 2226 Silver Lake Boulevard.
Ohara House at 2210 Neutra Place.
Reunion House at 2440 Earl Street.
permalink | May 22, 2022 at 05:43 PM | Comments (1)
May 2, 2022
Four Old Ones
Boston Public Garden,1983, Agfachrome.
Boston Public Garden in winter with a view of the ritz-Carlton and John Hancock Tower, 1982, Agfachrome.
Veterans War Memorial Tower on Mt Greylock in western Massachusetts. Mt Greylock is the highest peak in Massachusetts with an elevation of 3,489 feet (1,063 meters). I had bicycled with friends to the top. 1991, Kodachrome.
A sculpture I have not yet identified, but the slide is from October 1992, a month when I visited Washington DC, so there's a good chance this was in a Smithsonian museum. Kodachrome.
permalink | May 2, 2022 at 07:34 PM | Comments (0)
April 15, 2022
Three Cemetery Photos and A Rose
John Foster, deceased 1681, Dorchester North Burying Ground (Boston). Kodachrome, 1992.
Brothers Henry D. Smith (dec'd 1862, Bull Run) and James H. Smith (dec'd 1866). Westerly Burying Ground, West Roxbury (Boston). Kodachrome, 1991.
Ebenezer Warren (dec'd 1756) and Deacon Edward Ruggles (dec'd 1765). Eliot Burying Ground, Roxbury (Boston). Kodachrome, 1991.
Pink rose with some kind of insect that might be a bee. Kodachrome, 1992.
permalink | April 15, 2022 at 07:07 PM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2022
Three Petroglyph Photos
Each of these was shot on Ilford XP2 Super 400 film. These petroglyphs are near Joshua Tree, but not in the national park.
permalink | March 18, 2022 at 05:42 PM | Comments (0)
March 8, 2022
The 88 Cities of Los Angeles County
This will start you at 6:10 where they begin to list the 88 cities in order by date of incorporation. If you want to see the whole video, just go back to the start.
permalink | March 8, 2022 at 03:24 PM | Comments (0)
January 30, 2022
Yet Four More Slides
Lowell, Massachusetts. Kodachrome, 1991.
The Boston Massacre Monument on the Boston Common. Kodachrome, 1991.
Myself in front of the Gloucester Fishermen's Memorial. Ektachrome, 2002.
A Canadian record store chain. This must be in Montreal. The slide was dated May 1992, but I think we were there in January or February. It was so cold I longed for the relative warmth of a Chicago winter for relief. Kodachrome.
permalink | January 30, 2022 at 07:37 PM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2022
Four Grave Photos
All of these were shot on Kodachrome in October 1990. I was probably preparing for the Tour De Graves or participating in the actual tour. The Tour De Graves was a bicycle ride that visited most (if not all) of the city-owned cemeteries in Boston. That proved to be too long a ride for some of the people who turned out for it, so in subsequent years it was shortened to exclude the cemeteries that are further out from the center of the city. These photos (or some of these) might be in Mt. Hope Cemetery, but I have been unable to determine for sure which cemetery any of these are in.
permalink | January 23, 2022 at 07:20 PM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2022
Four Old Kodachromes
Provincetown viewed from atop the Pilgrim Monument, Kodachrome, 1991.
The Bunker Hill monument in Charlestown, Kodachrome, 2002.
Old North Church, Kodachrome, 2002.
Riding to a bike rally in way-upstate New York I crossed over this divide, Kodachrome, 1992.
permalink | January 22, 2022 at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2022
"I Have Been To The Mountaintop"
Full text. MLK's final speech, the night before he was murdered.
permalink | January 17, 2022 at 06:47 PM | Comments (0)
January 16, 2022
On Broadway
Not my photo. This came in a recent email from the Museum of Neon Arts. Somebody shot this at the conclusion of the Jewish Lights Over Broadway Tour. I'm the one in the white sweatshirt wearing a pink cap. Left of me (on my right) is Edmon Rodman who led the tour. I think we lost three or four from the group at the mid-point of the tour, the Grand Central Market.
permalink | January 16, 2022 at 07:30 PM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2021
Jewish Lights Over Broadway
The Museum of Neon Arts seems to be able to schedule a tour (or two) during each COVID low point. This past Sunday they offered "Jewish Lights Over Broadway." The route was simple. We met at the Eastern Building which is almost at 9th and Broadway. From there we walked up to 4th and Broadway (the Bradbury Building), turned around and came back down on the opposite side of Broadway. Along the way the tour leader shared his incredibly detailed knowledge on the history of the buildings, the neon, and the people who built it all, many of whom were/are Jewish. I'd be willing to do this tour any time of the year, although if you tried it in the summer you'd have to wait until well after 9 o'clock to insure solid darkness to appreciate all the neon. But at this particular time of year it appealed to me even more because it looked like a social event during the holiday season that was NOT likely to include traditional Christmasy stuff. And Hanukkah has passed, so I wouldn't even have to hear a dreidel song.
The entrance to the Eastern Columbia Lofts.
The neon wasn't turned on, but it was still up there.
Also at the Grand Central Market. The MONA had some connection to the creation of this display.
The complete set of photos is here.
permalink | December 22, 2021 at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)
November 29, 2021
Phil Saviano Dead At Age 69
Phil and I met well before the time of the Boston Globe Spotlight stories, and I recall him telling me that personnel changes at the Boston Globe might finally make it possible for him to get his story out there.
From Facebook:
Wednesday, December 1: Wake from 4PM - 8 PM at Mann & Rodgers Funeral Home, 44 Perkins Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
Thursday, December 2: Wake from 4PM — 8PM at Jackman Funeral Home, 7 Mechanic Street, Douglas, MA 01516
Friday, December 3:” Funeral mass at 10AM at St Denis Church, 23 Manchaug Street, Douglas, MA 01516 followed by burial
permalink | November 29, 2021 at 09:08 AM | Comments (1)
November 12, 2021
Plessy to be Pardoned
Ferguson, however, will not be so fortunate.The Louisiana Board of Pardons voted unanimously to recommend a pardon for Homer Plessy who died in 1925. The final decision now is up to the Governor..
permalink | November 12, 2021 at 04:36 PM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2021
Three In California; One in Boston
Here I am on Ocean Beach in San Francisco in the days just before California AIDS Ride 2 started in May 1995. This was my Cannondale bike's first trip to the west coast, so I wanted to baptize it with Pacific Ocean water.
Park Street Church and Park Street Station shot on Agfachrome in December 1992. In the foreground is the Brewer Fountain.
Prosperity Cleaners on Cole Street in San Francisco, May 1995.
permalink | September 23, 2021 at 07:33 PM | Comments (0)
September 21, 2021
Fall River
What grinds my gears in this brief news article about former mayor Correia of Fall River [pronounced like 'Faw Rivah'], Massachusetts, being sentenced to six years for "fraud and extortion tied to the licensing of local marijuana businesses," is that they refer to FR as "a small Massachusetts town." Don't you picture a town green with a white church and a few other 18th century buildings lying about? Fall River is the tenth largest city in Massachusetts with a population of 94,000. It was one of those Massachusetts cities that were early leaders in the American industrial revolution. So when the ex-Mayuh of the tenth largest city goes down for fraud and extortion, that's kind of big town.
permalink | September 21, 2021 at 08:21 PM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2021
The Rodney King Videographer Has Died Due To COVID
George Holliday, a plumber from Argentina, grabbed his Sony Handycam when he heard the sirens outside his residence. He shot the video from his balcony. He tried to offer the video to the LAPD twice, but they were uninterested, so he handed it over to KTLA. The video - a bit over 8 minutes.
Mr. Holliday died at a hospital in Simi Valley on Sunday.
permalink | September 20, 2021 at 09:39 PM | Comments (0)
August 13, 2021
Date Shake History
Here's an interesting and informative podcast on the history of dates and date shakes in the Coachella Valley. I'm sure I don't need to caution my informed readers to beware of the claim that somehow date sugar is more "natural" than refined sugar and, therefore, is safer for diabetics. Sugar is sugar.
permalink | August 13, 2021 at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)
August 11, 2021
Four Kodachromes From The Early '90s
The bandstand on Boston Common, Kodachrome, 1991.
NYC Public Library on Fifth Avenue during Gay Pride, 1994. Kodachrome.
The grave of Robert Frost and other members of his family in Bennington, Vermont, Kodachrome, 1991.
My Cannondale in front of a covered bridge somewhere in New England, Kodachrome, 1990.
permalink | August 11, 2021 at 07:53 PM | Comments (0)
July 24, 2021
Aluminaire House Coming To Palm Springs
It will be built in the south parking lot at the Palm Springs Art Museum. Google satellite view.
permalink | July 24, 2021 at 09:16 AM | Comments (0)
July 18, 2021
Four More In Los Angeles
These were shot on Bergger Pancro400 film.
The Million Dollar Theater, the first Grauman theater. Wikipedia.
The Million Dollar Theater, all of it.
The Cameo Theatre operated from 1910 to 1991, making it "the city's longest running, continually operating theatre." More info.
