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“Treat others with respect as much as you want others to treat you with respect.”

Los Angeles Riots of 1992 was the pivitol moment of race relations not only for the country but the whole world. It showed there was an underlying tensions between the LAPD and the minority community, especially in the black community in South LA.

The question is: “Have we as a society move forward in trying to bridge race relations in the private, political and social spectrum in this country?” In some ways yes and other ways no. Yes, we have the first black president, President Barrack Obama, but there is still hatred for him by a few Jesus Freaks who uses the name of God to spew venom and hatred towards the president because he’s black. Still minorities struggle to have their voices heard and mistreatment.

Do architects and designs have a role in producing works that bridge that gap? Will have to see.

Song of the Blog:  Living in the City by Stevie Wonder in the Album Innervision

The biggest debate in the general shift of neighborhoods that has pitted neighbor against neighbor is older neighborhoods that are dominated by the middle class or lower middle class being inundated by development to increase value in its area, changing the look for the better and allowing young professionals to move in, causing a dissension on what it should be presented as. Some people call it white flight, others call it gentrification, but the truth is that it has created a bastion of the old guard neighbors fighting against the affluent who want to improve the neighborhood.

The word Gentrification is defined by Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary : the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents.

Some may quote that it will eliminate crime in the area, which bodes well, but in the meantime it will displace and discourage the lower income people to afford living in the area close to work, unless they make enough capital to live there, which means working 2 jobs and allowing more tenants move in dilapidated units or houses that becomes a hazard for public safety. It would not only cause a class struggle but also race struggle, immigrants trying to resort their means of survival and live the American dream.

One example gentrification running amok is the article in the LA times regarding the Echo Park/ Elysian Park area. It is one hotly debated area besides Santa Monica and parts of the Westside and serves to notice that the community is still redefining itself, urbanistically. It is a more complex matter which geographically and creatively, how are new development, businesses and people could basically turn a page of a culture that is diverse in nature and is dealing with increase population and traffic with no center or point of interest.

Another one is the prospect of East LA and Boyle Heights is in verge of urban renewal. Boyle Heights has a different approach in which much of the new businesses and development are home-based, meaning there is no outside sources influencing the landscape of the neighborhood and the racial make-up is largely Hispanic, there is no such movement in white flight. If there was, hell would break loose.

Much of the shifting urban landscape is how to balance the area for affordable housing, urban renewal, culture identity and sustaining itself from shifting away from its historiography and spatial identity. More and more, designers, planners and architects are needed to know about the area’s certain nuances and characters in order to come up with theories, ideas and proposals that embraces the community rather than to facilitate the masses.

Muffler Shop in East LA

Song of the Blog: People as Places as People by Modest Mouse on the CD We Were Dead Before the Ship Ever Sank

Hearst Castle by Julia Morgan in San Simeon, CA

View of the main castle.

macroscopic view of one of the marble sculptures of Hearst Castle’s collections.

One of the Halls leading up to the upper floors at the main building.

View of the indoor pool

Song of the Blog: Searching For My Good Eye Close by Soundgarden on the Album Badmotorfinger

One of most advantages living in Los Angeles is that you will be living in the center of the city and you could go for ride for 30 minutes and be at the mountains or the ocean in no time. One place is the San Vicente mountain peak along a dirt road on Mulholland Drive, west of the 405 freeway, where it was a former site of a missile control center during the cold war, LA96C.

It is one of the most advantageous views of LA where you could see the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles Basin, and the Ocean. On a good day you will be able to see Santa Catalina Island and Santa Barbara Island. The tower itself is a deck where you are able take those views. It kinda reminds the work of John Lautner’s Chemosphere House (Malin’s Residence) in the Hollywood Hills with its single column supporting the deck.

After the site was close in 1974, it became the biggest party site for everybody in the Valley, mostly teenagers and it happen mostly at night where bomb fires and beer bottles litter the area. In 1996, the site became a nationally recognize park where they refurbished the old tower and added easy access to the tower of concrete paths and metal staircase to the observation deck. It’s one of LA’s treasured history.

Nike Observation Tower on San Vicente Peak along dirt Mulholland Drive.

Nike tower similarities to John Lautner’s Chemosphere Residence (photo by Jules Shulman)

View from the observation tower looking at the San Fernando Valley.

Song the Blog: Last Year’s Leaves by Blanche on the CD Little Amber Bottles

The Historic Filipinotown in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles is an important part of Filipino-Americans gaining an identity where they are known for their ability to adapt and do it well but in the other time seems to be lost on creating a center of presence for the community that they could proudly call their own.

There is no recognizable landmarks or any business like restaurants, markets and commercials entities that are Filipino own, let alone there are more Hispanics and Latinos living in the neighborhood than Filipinos. The only Filipino restaurant noticeable along the major streets is Bahay Kudo on 2330 W Temple St. Unlike Koreatown down at the Vermont Blvd. to Thaitown along East Hollywood Blvd., the historic Filipinotown has fail to create an essence of Filipino pride and identity. No buildings of significance that really define urbanistically and culturally in the area, especially along major streets like Beverly Blvd., Temple Street, Alvarado Blvd. and Glendale Blvd. There are some mini malls and multi-housing units that named their buildings synonymous to the Philippines locales (Luzon Plaza, Mindanao and Manila Terrace), which looks banal and mundane like any other place in Los Angeles.

The only monument significant to Filipino-Americans is the Filipino World War II Veterans Memorial Monument by Cheri Gaulke on Lake Street Park in 227 N. Lake Street, Los Angeles, CA 90057. It is the only Filipino monument in the United States, which recognized the struggles of Filipinos Veterans in receiving benefits for their service and their role in World War II, especially surviving the Bataan Death March. The problem is the locale of the monument, which is situated in the middle of a residential neighborhood, not along the majors streets where it could be accessible and be seen in part of the urban fabric.

Today, most Filipinos live in dispersed areas around Los Angeles, far from Historic Filipinotown. Most of them created patches of entrepreneurial business in Panorama City, Cerritos, Carson and Eagle Rock which becomes a lively part of Filipino-culture but the truth is there has not been solidarity amongst Filipinos to create an identity urbanistically that they could feel proud of.

The signifying that you enter into Historic Filipinotown on Temple Street.

Luzon Plaza @ the corner of Temple Street and Bonnie Brae.

Filipino-American Community of Los Angeles Hall on 1740 W. Temple Street.

The sign for Filipino-American Community of Los Angeles which is barely seen from the both the fast moving cars and walking pedestrians.

Filipino World War II Veterans Memorial Monument @ 227 N. Lake Street, Los Angeles, CA 90057

Filipino World War II Veterans Memorial Monument looking east.

Song of the Blog: Bebot by Black Eye Peas on the CD Monkey Business

East of Downtown Los Angeles, across the LA River, Boyle Heights is probably the most understood communities and the most culturally vibrant areas in LA where the next couple of years there is going to be a resurgence of redevelopment.

With the extended Gold Line going through the neighborhood, the Wyvernwood Garden Apartments will be redevelop at a tune of 2 billion dollars, which will quadruple the size of the current site. Even though some people will say gentrification will transform itself into a another Venice in the eastside, where prices will increase and will start to remove small business in the area, but the possibility of it won’t occur until LA become more dense and corporate business start plotting their shops and headquarters next to local gangs territory.

We’ll see what happens when good urban planning and design will prevail in a otherwise historical suburban neighborhood.

Mariachi Plaza @ Boyle Heights (by Scheer Images)

Breed Street Shul Synagogue on 247 North Breed Street. One of the oldest Synagogues in Los Angeles. (Scheer Images)

Front doors of Breed Street Shul Synagogue (Scheer Images)

Torres Closeout @ 2005 E. 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033 (sells CAB Streetwear)

Song of the Blog: Estoy Sentado Aqui (“I am seated here”) by Los Lobos on the Album La Pistola y El Corazon

The Disney Hall alongside with the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

One of the things that make cities successful is the dispersement of public programs or venues serving the community throughout the city. It seems to be Los Angeles is still lacking a good urban design format in which make sense in creating a multiple centers of interest surrounding Los Angeles, especially downtown.

Back in the eighties and early nineties, like most cites, Downtown Los Angeles was a big sewer rat hole with all its pimps, prostitutes, homelessness, drug addicts and derelicts. No one in their right mind would enter downtown at night unless you were adventurous or be able to bring their own clean needles and do that stuff.

Now, there is a resurgence of new development of residence, institutional headquarters, performance and entertainment centers that is catapulting Los Angeles into a world-class city. Downtown Los Angeles has seen this much attention in reshaping civic

But one problem is the imperceptive placement of the Disney Hall next to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Why is it that the case when they serve the same purpose? Is there a rhyme or reason? Where they’re any consideration in other areas besides to build it right next to the Music Center?

This calamity could only be force by capitalizing on saving the Music Center viability or government/Disney Company insistence in having it on that site. The streetscape surrounding Disney Hall is not compelling as compare to the Paris Opera House by Charles Garnier or the situation the Music Center has with the Civic Corridor, which integrates with the direct axis from City Hall to the Department of Water and Power Building.

Paris Opera House by Charles Garnier

It would have been well served if Disney Hall were place in a decentralize zone of downtown, somewhere within the boundaries of downtown where it could be strategically place of urban conditions and connectedness. Sometimes history plays a role for newer cities (ie. Los Angeles) but not necessarily model from well established cites in Europe, but to gain knowledge and to implement a thoughtful and resourceful urban design. Buildings need to be in a macroscopic level, rather than microscopic level in regards of urban design and territory, and the program of the building itself plays part of it.

Song of the Blog: All a Dem a Do by Noiseshaper and Juggla from the CD The Signal

Park Plaza Hotel (607 S Park View St, Los Angeles) hasn’t change when it was first built in 1925 but the use of the building has been evolving more than 30 years; from being a club called the Scream when Jane’s Addiction would play one night and the Cult would play the next night, to being a film/video shoot location. It always has a niche in Los Angeles folklore that more the citizens value its historical content around MacArthur Park. There are always stories about Park Plaza and the surrounding neighborhood by people who has lived in LA for more than 25 years.

Recently, it has been reported that some Korean businessmen bought the place and is converting it to a hi-end hotel. There hasn’t been much notice as far the renovations on the uppers floors for hotel guest to start occupying nor any kind of hotel operation exist right now.

In the meantime, here are some fotos taken nearly nine months ago by Scheer Images. Enjoy.

The vaulted ceiling in the grand lobby of Park Plaza Hotel by Scheer Images.

Upper lobby of Park Plaza
Organ in the hallway
The Ballroom

Song of the Blog: Ripple (Grateful Dead tune) by Jane’s Addition on the Album Deadicated: A tribute to the Grateful Dead.

Culver City, the movietown that has change quite significantly. It really show what a small community can change the fabric, But is change is good for the better part of society?

I remember that downtown Culver City, which Washington Boulevard and Culver Boulevard intersect each other, was mostly an area where middle class families hang out and eat at family own restaurant. The only restaurant that is still a fixture of the local business and the area is the S & W Country Diner.

S & W Country Diner along Washington Boulevard.

What has change is the gentrification of the area. There are boutique restaurants, replacing San Gennaro and Sagebrush Cantina, Starbucks has invaded it and there is burgeoning arts district along the east portion of Washington Boulevard.

The most interesting and successful revitalization of Downtown Culver City is it becoming a part of the urban fabric. The historic Culver Hotel is the integral part of the restructuring of downtown with an open public space and the Lion King fountain. Plus, a new movie complex to go with it. The sidewalks along Culver Boulevard are far and wide with outdoor dining, benches, lush greenery and trees that canvas over the area is such a attraction which gives Culver City which gives a boost in their identity and quality of life.

The Lion King (or the MGM Lion) fountain with the historic Culver Hotel in the background.

Wide sidewalks with trees, outdoor seating, park benches along Culver Boulevard, near the cross section of Washington Boulevard.

Another part of the revitalization of Culver City is the Hayden Tract on the southern industrial area of Culver City, which is near the intersection of National and La Cienega Boulevard. Designed by Eric Owen Moss, much of the development is taking old industrial warehouse and converting/integrating them into über-strass Style Architecture; a Metropolis meets Freddy Kruger approach towards urban theory and design. It’s hard to point the dots when there is no cohesiveness and connection when they are competing themselves in a disturbing way. Much of the interest goes towards the construction and detailing. It would be interesting if you take that approach and integrate in Downtown Culver City. The ideal is to take a more structural design like Moss into a historical facade of Downtown. It really depends on execution and subtlety, which is not his strong points.

The Box on National Blvd. by Eric Own Moss (from Moss website)

Soon, Culver City will have a connective transportation, which is the Expo Line developed by the MTA in 2010. It is an integral part of Culver City as being a important part of the the region’s infrastructure, but a new appreciation for Culver City. Hopefully mix-used housing will come to play as far as bringing people away from the automobile and make it a sustainable community.

Song of the Blog: When Stars Go Blue by Ryan Adams on the CD Gold

East LA (Latino nation), east from the Downtown LA and the 5 Freeway, is a place ready to be explore with its multitude sorts of shops and restaurants along Whittier Blvd, Pomona Blvd and Caesar Chavez Avenue, a rich cultural body that will influence societies into a realm of languages, art, form and identity.

96.8% of the Population is Hispanic, where the majority are Mexicanos. There are Puerto Ricans, El Salvadorians, Nicaraguans, etc.

The dichotomy of East LA is the explosion of flavors in a area where shops of clothes (ropas), gifts (regalos), food (comida) and other services (otros servicios) lined together along busy streets with mariachi music filling the air, in contrast with gang activity, crime and graffiti tagging running rapid.

The extended Gold Line of the MTA which will be completed in late 2008 will stretch through the center of East LA, all the way to Atlantic Blvd. It will give an opportunity to explore the area and try the local cuisine. It is much of a historical and cultural town which already has an identity to grown upon.

Beware of a large auto-tech guy @ Tony’s Transmission on Caesar Chavez Ave.

Mural of Caesar Chavez, Jose Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera and other Mexican Cultural Heroes.

At the south-west corner of Atlantic and Whittier, stands a closed 1927 classic movie palace, the Golden Gate Theatre, registered as a national historic monument. The theater was built in the Spanish Churrigueresque style and an adjacent historic retail building that fronted the movie house was razed in the 1990s after sustaining damage in the Whittier Earthquake.

Now owned by Charles Co., they already have Walgreens signed on to be part of the redevelopment plans which plans in 15 months.

While the Golden Golden Theatre will be preserved, the question is how the new design on the intersection will it integrate itself as being a focal point of the community and the fabric of East LA. Will it replicate to the theatre or will it come up a new approach more representative of the Hispanic community compliments the area with pedestrian open spaces in coordination with the theatre, instead of a parking lot.

Right now, on the south-east corner of S. Woods Ave., there is a boxy colored coordinated commercial building that is uncharacteristic and typical mini-mall that spreads most urban and suburban neighborhoods. Lets hope this isn’t the case.

exterior view Golden Gate Theatre @ the corner of Atlantic and Whittier Blvd.

Interior view of Golden Gate Theatre (courtesy of LA Public Library).

Song of the Blog: The Social Relevance of Public by Quetzal on the CD Sing the Real