oneshotexhibition.org blog

With Chrysler and General Motors filing bankruptcy and the closing of Car dealership around the country, the question is what will become of the dealership, especially in Southern California, once they are closed? Sometimes opportunity knocks for urban development. The auto industry will change their practice by how the public will respond to their direction and how will cars be produce for the environment and sell them.

Most of the dealership that are closing are located along commercial corridors, which give the opportunity to reimagine the streets as a whole with the amount of  square acres each dealership owns, a clear investment for the locals to build something new and make it relevant for the community. What is meant about local to have something being built is people living within their community has the opportunity to influence the development and design in the area of concern. The notion of auto dealership is almost becoming obsolete as relevant of real estate agents are being taken over by real estate brokerage website in selling property, consumers are more apt to buy thru the internet because prices, specific preference on car model’s accessories and ease of purchasing thru dealers without traveling.

In a report by Planetzen,  The Future of Empty Car Dealership, the majority of web readers stated that local residents should determine what kind of development to replace the empty car dealership which says a lot because the importance of local input and a foreseeable opportunity of social experience other than politicians, developers, planners and architects. The more input between professionals and ordinary folks who have a stake can be educating, less trivial in terms of identity and a move towards a sustainable community in the American suburbs.

One case for debate and focus is the Big Valley dodge Dealership on the corner of Van Nuys Blvd. and the MTA Orange Line in the heart of the San Fernando Valley, which is the North-East of the intersection. The possibility of a new urban center that connects itself along Van Nuys Boulevard that can spread to neighboring communities.

While the world’s economy is in a downturn and one of  the primary focus in it’s survival is saving the environment, the redevelopment of suburbs can infuse hope and rejuvenation of once hopeless landscape that is catered to the automobile and consumption. Each of us has a responsibility to choose where they work and live, but also to invest their interest in improving their neighborhoods by community involvement such as local neighborhood councils meetings, grassroots organizations and personal choices (live near work, shop at local farmer’s market, grow your own vegetable garden and buy local products). The re-imagination of our suburbs one step in the grass.

Site of a possible transit oriented development at the Big Valley Dodge on the corner of the Orange line stop & Van Nuys Blvd.

Song of the Blog: Stop Boogie Shuffle by Charles Mingus on the Album Mingus Ah Um

Recently, there was a competition in regards to the recent voters approval for having mass transit in Los Angeles County, Measure R and Proposition 1A. Sponsor by Sci-Arc and the Architect’s Newspaper, this competition expressed an opportunity to come up with ideals and designs that will take advantage for government’s interest in improving public transit and life, even President Barack Obama is giving billions of dollars for creating a better infrastructure.

The winner of this competition was the group firm Radical Craft led by LA based Joshua G. Stein which proposed a high speed rail that loops around the LA basin at speeds of 100-150 miles per hour (MPH), with a urban corridor development along Sepulveda Blvd. in Sherman Oaks. While the winners were praised for their radical ideas in this format, what really lies is the lack of practicality, shows no certain nuance of the community and does not fix the immediate problems that exist today. It is more conceptual and abstract approach in which the analysis are convincing and insightful, but the end product brings more questions than probable solutions. What should have been an opportunity of a lifetime to bring a cohesive proposal to the public becomes a lost cause for 15 minutes of fame and disclosure. It’s hard to imagine to come up with one clear view where the issues are broad and  diverse that can bring a sigh of hope for a particular community and the rest of the area.

  Transit oriented development winning proposal from Radical Craft along the Sepulveda Blvd in the Sherman Oaks area. (from LA Curbed)

      Site development map along the Sepulveda Corridor of Sherman Oaks in phases. It would eliminate mostly medium-rise apartment complexes and single family residences with civic and commercial development. What about Mix-use development? (from LA Curbed)

                                    Can anybody say Monorail? (from LA Curbed)

This idea reminds of a Simpson’s episode of bringing a monorail into the town of Springfield, rather than improving mainstreet in downtown. Another scenario can be seen in a much smaller scale is Disneyland.

Song of the Blog: What Difference Does it Make? by the Smiths on their Debut Album The Smiths.

One of things in moving away from car culture that lasted for more than 50 years is to develop areas that are pedestrian friendly near transportation stops, meaning transportation oriented development (TOD); Make places more inviting and pleasing of the senses by integrating mixed use, open space and connectivity to the neighborhood.

One sort of banal and mundane approach of the typical urban sprawl that hasn’t brought any revitalization nor a paradigm shift of urban renewal into a community is the proposed commercial development at the corner of Woodman Avenue and Oxnard Street in Van Nuys (it’s really called Valley Glen for real estate purposes and local governing councils). It’s right in the center of a transportation stop for the gold line and is a perfect opportunity to have a new type of development in that corner with some good design acumen. This type of development is the same approach that disenfranchises communities than to more forward into a sustainable society.

This development could exacerbate the mindless cost to extend the practice of more parking lots and boxy buildings for the area that doesn’t tell about the people, area and locale of its richness and diversity. When will there be some kind of civic approach towards urban design that has the capacity to embrace the neighborhood and capitalize urban growth.

It is time to rethink this type of development and design, to bring down the hideous mini-mall that’s going to be obsolete.

The site on the corner of  Woodman and Oxnard where the mini-mall is being develop.

  The proposed development of vacant lot. A typical approach to Urban Sprawl near the TOD site on the Orange Line.

Close up of the building. Check out one of the name of the businesses (Modern Design). Far away from the truth.

Song of the Blog: the pre-released song Georgia by Eagle and Talon on the up-coming CD THRACIAN

One of the most blatant act of police brutality was done by a rookie New York City Cop Patrick Pogan who attacked a cyclist in one of the Critical Mass event which bicycle activists ride the streets of NYC to promote a better share of riding bicycles in the city landscape and for the public awareness of being socially conscious & environmentally responsible. The cyclist, Christopher Long, who is a Army veteran, was not seriously hurt but left an imprint on other cyclist on the status of being proactive in promoting sustainable living and responsibility.

The whole event was not permit, given the fact the bureaucracy of government officials would circumvent the critical organizers attempt to get a legal gathering or event to promote an alternative mode of transportation with safety concerns. It is important to note that more and more people are finding ways to decrease the amount of driving the automobile because the high price of gasoline and the driving experiences between cars and bicycles.

The most disturbing thing about the incident is the comments made in You-tube and other blog posts are asinine comments by ignorants who think that it was OK to beat up cyclist with no provocations. Be the judge of that. Also check out the New York Times report regarding this incident by the conflicting accounts from the officer account and what is actually happen by videotaping it.

Song of the Blog: Screw The Law by Black Flag on the Album The Process of Weeding Out.

There is a exhibition in the Tate Museum in London about the growing social and climate changes in major cities like Los Angeles which falls in line on what One Shot Exhibition is all about.

Global Cities exhibit looks at the changing faces of ten dynamic international cities: Cairo, Istanbul, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Mumbai, São Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo. Exploring each city through five thematic lenses – speed, size, density, diversity and form – the exhibition draws on data originally assembled for the 10th International Architecture Exhibition at the 2006 Venice Biennale. This unique show presents existing films, videos and photographs by more than 20 artists and architects to offer subjective and intimate interpretations of urban conditions in all ten cities done by some world-renown architects (Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid) and artistes who are addressing with their interpretations on the issue of globalization and the environment.

One of the participants, Los-Angeles base architect/artist Fritz Haeg presents an alternative to the consumption of open space. His attempt to stage a diorama of edible plants, such as herbs and vegetables, to replace existing grassed front lawns which cause carbon emissions from gas mowers and other gas-power machines. He calls it Edible Estates. The work he is doing is a paradigm shift to rethink the western theology of land use in a developed communities; to act responsible on the needs of social and cultural change.

Fritz Haeg, “Edible Estates, edition #2: Lakewood, CA”, 2006.

Sang of the Blog: People in the City by Air from the CD 10,000 Hz Legend

I had an opportunity to visit a friend in Palmdale where there is a quite a shift in demographics and a mass development of residential communities and commercial squares.

A majority a families wanted to own a home but couldn’t afford of owning in the metropolitan area of Los Angeles decided to move to the desert in order to own a home but have to commute to LA for work. Where temperatures get to triple digits and some of the homes have green lawns which they water it a couple times a day.

Palmdale Civic Center is interesting because the center reminds you of a small town square with local shops around the center with green lawns, Gazebo, fountain and a fire station across the street. The architecture is predominately Spanish Mediterranean w/terra-cotta tiles and stucco walls that are more traditional than the bastardized version of it all around the Mojave Desert. You will mistaken as a piece of Americana in the desert while it is totally detach from major malls and large developed communities.

E. Palmdale Blvd heading west
fountain at Palmdale Civic Center

Government Buildings surrounding the Center
The Civic Center lies along the railroad tracks where the Metrolink route and Sierra Highway run parallel to each other and nearby is the Palmdale Station, about less than a mile from the Civic Center, evident of urban sprawl with no end in sight.

Song of the Blog: The District Sleeps Alone Tonight by the Postal Service from the CD Give Up.

Smeared black ink… your palms are sweaty
And i’m barely listening to last demands
I’m staring at the asphalt wondering what’s buried underneath where i am

I’ll wear my badge… a vinyl sticker with bigh block letters adherent to my chest
That tells your new friends i am a visitory here…
I am not permanent
And the only thing keeping me dry is where i am

You seem so out of context in this gaudy apartment complex
A stranger with yor door key explaining that i am just visiting
And i am finally seeing why i was the one worth leaving

D.C. sleeps alone tonight

You seem so so out of context in this gaudy apartment complex
A stranger with your door key explaining that i am just visiting
And i am finally seing why i was the one worth leaving
The district sleeps alone tonight after the bars turn out their lights
And send the autos swerving into the loneliest evening
And i am finally seeing why i was the one worth leaving

One of things that most commuters deal on a daily basis is confronting traffic to and from work each day in a alarming rate. Spending less time with their family, feeling more isolated and being more stressful.

It use to be that driving meant freedom. Able to let yourself in the endless highway and having the wind blow across your hair, as in Route 66. We all know who were old enough to remember that getting there was more fun than being there at your destination. That was part of the west coast experience.

Now, our driving experience has become less romantic and more a burdensome that has most of us thinking, what has happen and where did the love go? We have become our own worst enemies when we are on the road.

The problem is the increase cost of gasoline, people paying less attention on the road, more cars on the road, some drivers don’t obey the rules of the road and the lack of alternative public transportation.

Most of all, we are dealing with our own world, not having a human to human contact with the other drivers, separated by two tons of metal. The only interaction would be if you were in a accident or you are flipping the bird to someone who has cut in front of you. Oh the Humanity!

At this point, I try to not drive at all but take my bicycle if I need to do some errands or to get somewhere in the Valley. I do encourage more  Angelenos to use the bike more or to pick up bicycling to get around. It’s good for the heart and soul.

Song of the Blog: Hang Me Out to Dry by Cold War Kids from Cops and Robbers