FEATURED POST:
A WHIMSICAL BUILDING’S REHAB
A whimsical building’s rehab. Several years ago our office was in a building on Wilshire in Beverly Hills playfully known as “the Wedding Cake building”. It was built in 1962 by Edward Durell Stone and known by several names, including Perpetual Savings and Loan and Pacific Mercantile Bank. It was rumored to have been influenced by a neoclassical building in Italy commissioned by Benito Mussolini (now the headquarters of the fashion house Fendi). In the 2000’s, the building was well past its glory days and was in need of some serious rehab. Long gone was the stunning Bertoia Sunburst sculptor adorning the exterior fountain. An L.A. Times article last year enlightened us that it has gone thru a restoration by @montalbaarchitects. We’re thrilled to share some Then and Now pix with you.
Photo and Video credit: © 2022 Estate of Harry Bertoia
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, Kevin Scott, LA Times Article by Carolina A Miranda @cmonstah.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
BOOKS:
1000 Chairs published by Taschen
Julius Shulman. Modernism Rediscovered published by Taschen
Hollywood Signs
MOVIES:
The Grand Budapest Hotel… A film by Wes Anderson
Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman. Directed by Eric Bricker
INVENTING LA: THE CHANDLERS AND THEIR TIMES
AMERICA BYDESIGN: ARCHITECTURE, A SIX-PART SERIES ON CBS
DOCUMENTARY ON LOS ANGELES ARCHITECTURE
PODCASTS:
The House that Came in the Mail
The Pool and the Stream Redux
Cautionary Tales – The Tragedy of Sydney Opera House
TRAVEL:
British Pullman carriage designed by filmmaker Wes Anderson – Sandra Ramani
Eileen Gray’s E-1027 Villa and Side Table
TOURS:
Brentwood Modernist Utopia: Crestwood Hills
If you could only see what we’re seeing…
Forgotten Fantasy | World’s First Art Amusement Park
ARCHITECTURE:
A whimsical building’s rehab
HOLLYWOOD SIGNS: THE GOLDEN AGE OF GLITTERING GRAPHICS AND GLOWING NEON
We recently discovered a book called Hollywood Signs: The Golden Age of Glittering Graphics and Glowing Neon. What an absolute treat for design and Hollywood history fans alike. While we at Modern Living LA tend to focus on houses and buildings, these iconic signs play a pivotal roll in our appreciation of the structures they adorn. Great design lies at the intersection of architecture and these historic signs. Several of these signs were actually created by the architectural firms commissioned to design the buildings. The still standing Cinerama Dome Theater by Welton Becket and Associates exhibits its playfully colorful letters in bright lights. Sardi’s restaurant designed by Rudolph Schindler displays an elegant neon sign in sans serif font. The streamline moderne Earl Carroll Theater on Sunset Blvd by Gordon Kaufman generously used neon in the exterior signs and vertical piping along the building sides. We’re told it is going thru a renovation and may reopen. The building was originally praised in California Arts and Architecture (the predecessor to Arts and Architecture magazine).
We have a new found appreciation for these remarkable sign and value the efforts made to save the ones we’ve not lost.
And, a special thanks to Kathy Kikkert for preserving all of these signs on the pages of her book.
1000 Chairs published by Taschen
1000 Chairs. Revised and updated edition
Sometimes we take for granted something so basic as the chair we sit on day after day. Sit back, relax, and survey some of the most iconic chairs in history. A must for design addicts and collectors alike, this dependable compendium presents each chair alongside essential information about the designer and their work, from Alvar Aalto to Eva Zeisel, from Art Nouveau to International Style. This recently refurbished edition traverses archetypal seats of the 1800s right up to the most innovative designs of today.
“The ultimate reference book for anyone interested in knowing the what, where, who, why and how of the most iconic chairs from the last two centuries.” Red Magazine
From the 1,800’s to today, this collection outlines the modern history of your favorite seating designs along with some you’ve yet to discover.
Julius Shulman. Modernism Rediscovered published by Taschen
The Master of Modern | Discoveries from the Julius Shulman vaults
The undisputed heavy weight of architectural photography, Shulman’s library of photos seems never ending. The “forgotten” masterpieces in this collection pay tribute to some lesser known but incredibly important modern homes with a focus on Southern California.
The photographs of Julius Shulman offer one of the most compelling visual chronologies of architectural modernism. This book offers privileged access to Shulman’s extraordinary archives with some 200 images paying homage to the multifarious forms of modernism across California and the rest of the United States.
LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF | DOCUMENTARY ON LOS ANGELES ARCHITECTURE
Ok cinephiles, who’s seen Los Angeles Plays Itself? If you haven’t, do yourself a favor and give it a look. Director Thom Andersen put together and intriguing documentary of how Los Angeles is depicted in film. And, as a treat for architecture lovers, there’s a whole section on modernist houses. Homes by John Lautner, Richard Neutra, Pierre Koenig and Frank Lloyd Wright are prominently featured in the film. Anderson humorously points out that these homes are often the residences of the movie’s villain. According to Hollywood filmmakers, I guess we are to believe that gangsters, pimps, pornographers and drug dealers all love masterful architecture.
It used to be only available to watch at film festivals or private screenings. But, thankfully with a click of a button, you can rent or buy it.
COAST MODERN: A GOOD PIECE OF ARCHITECTURE IS A HABITABLE WORK OF ART
The Coast Modern documentary is an enjoyable look into the foundations of modernist architecture along the West coast from Vancouver down to Los Angeles. It features works from our cherished icons like Richard Neutra, John Lautner and Rudolph Schindler to architects working today like L.A.’s own Barbara Bestor. For fans of architecture, we recommend carving out an evening to be inspired.
Watch Coast Modern – Trailer One
Watch Coast Modern – Trailer Two
AMERICA BYDESIGN: ARCHITECTURE, A SIX-PART SERIES ON CBS
We’re thrilled to help promote a 6-part series on architecture. Any time architecture gets airtime, it’s worth a look in our book.
Click for the AIA site and more info
INVENTING LA: THE CHANDLERS AND THEIR TIMES
Inventing LA: The Chandlers and Their Times
We love good L.A. history. And, this one is quite a doozy. The family that ran the Los Angeles Times for decades wielded a powerful hand in shaping the city as we know it today. We’d recommend this documentary for anyone who calls L.A their home.
We love good L.A. history. And, this one is quite a doozy. The family that ran the Los Angeles Times for decades wielded a powerful hand in shaping the city as we know it today. We’d recommend this documentary for anyone who calls L.A their home.
The Grand Budapest Hotel… A film by Wes Anderson
The Grand Budapest Hotel is a 2014 comedy-drama film written and directed by Wes Anderson. It tells the story of a famed concierge of a twentieth-century mountainside resort in the fictional country of Zubrowka who is framed for the murder of a wealthy dowager amidst the backdrop of an encroaching fascist regime. Color, Design, Architecture, Dialogue and Acting; all A+.
Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman. Directed by Eric Bricker
A must watch for the architectural enthusiast. Julius Shulman is widely considered to be the pre-eminent architectural photographer of the 20th century.
ABOUT THE FILM
Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, VISUAL ACOUSTICS celebrates the life and career of Julius Shulman, acclaimed by many as “the world’s most influential architectural photographer.” Shulman’s images embody the energy and optimism of Southern California in the second half of the 20th century and brought its iconic architecture to the attention of an international audience. His photographs immortalize the work of the most prominent American modern architects from the 1930s until Shulman’s death in 2009, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, John Lautner, and Frank Gehry. This award-winning film is both a testament to the evolution of modern architecture and a joyful portrait of the magnetic visionary who chronicled it with his unforgettable images.
CAUTIONARY TALES | THE TRAGEDY OF SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
Did you know that the architect for the Sydney Opera house was pulled from a pile rejects? An international design competition enlisted
Finnish American super star architect, Eero Saarinen, to help judge the contest. It was he who found the winning drawing, basically a simple doodle,
by Danish architect, Jorn Utzon.
Cautionary Tales podcast on the subject is a fascinating look at the creation of one of the famous and iconic architectural buildings in the world.
The House that Came in the Mail
The House that Came in the Mail
The Sears & Roebuck Mail Order Catalog was nearly omnipresent in early 20th century American life. By 1908, one fifth of Americans were subscribers. Anyone anywhere in the country could order a copy for free, look through it, and then have anything their heart desired delivered directly to their doorstep. At its peak, the Sears catalog offered over 100,000 items on 1,400 pages. It weighed four pounds. Today, those 1,400 pages provide us with a snapshot of American life in the first decade of the 20th century, from sheep-shearing machines and cream separators to telephones and china cabinets. The Sears catalog tells the tale of a world — itemized. And starting in 1908, the company that offered America everything began offering what just might be its most audacious product line ever: houses.
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-house-that-came-in-the-mail/
The Pool and the Stream Redux
You Should Know: The First Kidney-Shaped Pool (1939)
Villa Mairea was completed in 1939. Designed by the world-famous architect Alvar Aalto and his wife. Villa Mairea belongs to a time when Alvar Aalto moved from the minimalist functionalism to more modern architectural expression. It might be this swimming pool that changed the history of skateboarding. Until then, swimming pools were traditional rectangles, but the pool at Villa Mairea doesn’t have any angles. The top view of the pool edge line forms a kidney-like shape. The ground is round, and it’s divided into two parts: a deep end and a shallow end.
The Pool and the Stream Redux
This is the UPDATED story of a curvy, kidney-shaped swimming pool born in Northern Europe that had a huge ripple effect on popular culture in Southern California and landscape architecture in Northern California, and then the world.
Is it possible that a 1930’s design concept from a Finnish Architect named Alvar Aalto was the ultimate inspiration for a design decades later that would revolutionize the world of skateboarding?
(Alvar Aalto was a Finnish Modernist Architect believed to have created the first kidney shaped pool in the world. He was beloved by Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry). This is the newly updated story of a curvy, kidney-shaped swimming pool born in Northern Europe that had a huge ripple effect on popular culture in Southern California and landscape architecture in Northern California, and then the world.
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-pool-and-the-stream-redux/
Donnell Pool | 1948 • SONOMA COUNTY, CA
Nine years later to 1948, in Sonoma, California, Jean and Dewey Donnell’s private home—called the Donnell Garden—was completed. It got a lot of coverage in the press, and the house style was copied widely. One of the most copied features of the house was the swimming pool, which became the modern Californian lifestyle symbol. Donnell Garden is the first known kidney shaped pool in the states. Images of Donnell Garden became imitated by landscape architects and pool builders.
https://www.tclf.org/sites/default/files/microsites/halprinlegacy/donnell-pool.html
British Pullman carriage designed by filmmaker Wes Anderson – Sandra Ramani
The filmmaker teamed up with Belmond to restore and redesign a historic train car for the legendary British Pullman.
Filmmaker Wes Anderson has parlayed a sense of nostalgia and a skill for diorama-like details into a celebrated oeuvre. So it only makes sense that he’s joined forces with travel brand Belmond—operators of famous trains like the Venice-Simplon Orient-Express and the Belmond Hotel Cipriani in Venice—to marry those two elements in one luxurious new offering. Beginning on October 13, British Pullman, A Belmond Train, England will feature a carriage that has been reimagined by the director himself.
We can’t wait to take a journey to the past thru the eyes of auteur Wes Anderson. Take a day trip across England in the Golden Era influenced train car.
Eileen Gray’s E-1027 Villa and Side Table
“To create, one must first question everything” Eileen Gray
Not long ago, we had the privilege of staying at a gorgeous private residence in the town of Roquebrune visited by the likes of Princess Grace and Audrey Hepburn back in the day. A visit to the beach below is where we came across what we knew in our bones to be a significant architectural modern home.
You’ll be more familiar with the table that was created to go into the house. You know the one: circular glass top with a chrome frame. It’s quite an accomplishment that this iconic design is hugely popular a century later. Eileen Gray created the design for this table in the 1920’s for the very home we saw perched above the Mediterranean Sea. Known as E-1027, she designed the home for herself to live in. The house still stands today. It is currently owned by a national preservation association and is available for guided tours.
Eileen Gray’s modernist E-1027 villa revealed in photographs by Manuel Bougot
Eileen Gray designed a series of furniture prototypes for the house, among them the small side table which became Gray’s most famous furniture design. She is said to have designed this table for her sister Thora to allow her to have breakfast in bed when visiting.
Eileen Gray retrospective in New York features work “never shown before”
FORGOTTEN FANTASY | WORLD’S FIRST ART AMUSEMENT PARK
Imagine for a moment that a select group of influential modern artists got thrown into a carnival bouncy house and then launched via a cartoon spaceship into 1980’s Germany. We have the results stationed right in downtown Los Angeles. Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy, a spectacular showcase of the world’s first art amusement park- lost since 1987.
Artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Salvador Dali, Keith Haring, David Hockney and Roy Lichtenstein were commissioned to design rides and exhibits for a genre bending amusement park. The grand plans for a touring attraction were dashed, and, shockingly, the amusement was put into storage and forgotten. Thanks to a select group of individuals, including the rapper, Drake, Luna Luna lives again today as an art exhibit. And, you can experience it for yourself in downtown for the next few months.
If you could go back in time, what artist would you add to this list?
IF YOU COULD ONLY SEE WHAT WE’RE SEEING
If you could only see what we’re seeing…
When we heard about a land art installation 50 years in the making, let’s just say we were intrigued. It all seemed a bit mysterious from the start. We signed up for the lottery system on a website back in January of this year. Months later we received an acknowledgment that we had 4 tickets (of 6 daily) to visit the installation in the middle of the Nevada Desert. A few days prior to our visit, we were given instructions on how to proceed to our secret destination. The day of our visit would have us leaving Las Vegas at 3:30 am in the morning and driving to the tiny town of Alamo, Nevada. We were then met by a friendly transportation guide who drove us another hour and a half through gov’t then private land owned by the artist Michael Heizer (all the while regaling us with stories of space aliens and Area 51). Upon arrival, we were given instructions and set on our way to explore the mile and a 1/2 art installation. The exhibitors required us to sign a consent saying that we won’t take or post any pictures of the installation as it is meant to be experienced live and not recorded. There have been several articles published on the exhibit, so we’re reposting approved photos (we hope) here. Most Angelinos will know the artist by his Levitated Mass exhibit at LACMA (the giant suspended boulder one can walk under). We were informed that the artist purchased the land back in the late 70’s and it is just now finished and open to a select lucky few. If you’re intrigued, I would check out the website and get yourself signed up for tix. www.tripleaughtfoundation.org
BRENTWOOD MODERNIST UTOPIA: CRESTWOOD HILLS
We recently had the privilege of touring the first structure built in Crestwood Hills area of Brentwood. Known as the site office, it housed the office area for the architects, draftsman, engineers etc., working on what was then called the Mutual Housing Association. Conceived in the mid 1940’s (around the time of the development of the Case Study program), the Mutual Housing Association was supposed to be a blue print for California modern living post World War II. Four friends, returning veterans and musicians, concocted a plan to build four houses with a communal swimming pool.
A WHIMSICAL BUILDING’S REHAB
A whimsical building’s rehab. Several years ago our office was in a building on Wilshire in Beverly Hills playfully known as “the Wedding Cake building”. It was built in 1962 by Edward Durell Stone and known by several names, including Perpetual Savings and Loan and Pacific Mercantile Bank. It was rumored to have been influenced by a neoclassical building in Italy commissioned by Benito Mussolini (now the headquarters of the fashion house Fendi). In the 2000’s, the building was well past its glory days and was in need of some serious rehab. Long gone was the stunning Bertoia Sunburst sculptor adorning the exterior fountain. An L.A. Times article last year enlightened us that it has gone thru a restoration by @montalbaarchitects. We’re thrilled to share some Then and Now pix with you.
Photo and Video credit: © 2022 Estate of Harry Bertoia
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, Kevin Scott, LA Times Article by Carolina A Miranda @cmonstah.
If you would like to know more, call 310.622.0312 or email Brian Courville.
Whether Mid Century Architectural, Spanish, Luxury, or Classic Los Angeles design, MODERN LIVING LA is here to guide you home. Follow us on Instagram @modernlivingla
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