One sunny morning in July, I took a lomo field trip down to Carson Street in Torrance, where a couple of projects had caught my eye previously on a quick drive-by. On route via Crenshaw Boulevard, I passed a couple of minor landmarks from the 1960s fast-food boom. This improbably well preserved Baskin-Robbins ice cream […] «Read more»
The Erwin Street Commercial Center (ESCC) at 15500 Erwin Street, Van Nuys, Los Angeles, is a diagram building of unexpected rigor and quality. It resembles an architecture student’s design project – specifically, it looks like about three-quarters of my own studio projects, which had a tendency to expose their structural frames and adorn their exteriors […] «Read more»
Standing at the corner of Tujunga Avenue and Moorpark Street in Studio City/North Hollywood since 1961, Henry’s Tacos is a taco stand in the literal sense of the term – you conduct your transaction standing at a window. The tacos are “gringo” style. The crunchy taco shells are fried prior to filling, like the ones […] «Read more»
The eye-catching Islander Apartments is at 7000 South La Cienega Boulevard in the city of Inglewood – perhaps you have seen it on your way to the airport. The Islander may be the best, which is to say, possessed of the most densely-packed exuberance, of small apartment buildings in the “Polynesian Gabled” style. Yet another […] «Read more»
This matchbook looks as though it must be at least 1500 years old, with its edges oxidized like ancient parchment. But do not be fooled, it is all part of the illusion! The letterforms that make up the “CAESARS PALACE” logogram are inspired by Roman inscriptions, i.e., this kind of thing. The characters are made […] «Read more»
Camelot Golfland, located at 3200 East Carpenter Avenue in Anaheim just off of the 91 Freeway, is one of the foremost miniature golf venues in Southern California, and probably the whole world. It features five 18-hole courses, an arcade that looks like a giant castle, an architectural waterslide, and a Lower-Modernist landscape design of overall […] «Read more»
