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| Begonia |
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| Salvia "Hot Lips" |
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| Rosa "Mr Lincoln" |
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| Mimulus (Monkeyflower) |
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| Erigeron (Santa Barbara daisy) |
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| Brugmansia |
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| Pomegranate |
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| Salvia "Alan Chickering" |
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| Clerodendrum (Blue butterfly bush) |
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| Ochna (Mickey Mouse Plant) |
Monday, July 23, 2012
Up close in the garden
It's summer in SoCal. We've been lucky that it hasn't been really hot, unlike a lot of the rest of the country. Because of the generally mild weather year round, there's usually something blooming in my garden at any given time. It's been a while since I did a garden post, so here are a few of the flowers I'm lucky to see every day. Enjoy!
Monday, July 16, 2012
LA Central Library
The Society for Calligraphy arranged a private tour of the LA Central Library's rare and vintage book collection. The original building was built in 1926; in 1983 there was a very destructive arson fire. The building was saved from demolition and instead renovated, adding a new 8-story atrium wing (to keep the addition at the same height as the original building, most of the new wing is subterranean).
The library is very beautiful - there are numerous large murals, statuary, and engraved inspirational quotes both inside and out.
Emma, the librarian who led our tour, showed us a sample of the different types of old books the library owns, including a collection of hand-written cookbooks, first editions, and autographs. Below are some photos from my literary day :)
The library is very beautiful - there are numerous large murals, statuary, and engraved inspirational quotes both inside and out.
Emma, the librarian who led our tour, showed us a sample of the different types of old books the library owns, including a collection of hand-written cookbooks, first editions, and autographs. Below are some photos from my literary day :)
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| Downtown art and hotel |
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| Main building, 5th St entrance |
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| Entrance to new wing |
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| Rotunda and solar system chandelier |
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| Emma, our charming guide |
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| Example of a home-made cookbook, written in wonderful script |
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| The oldest document in the collection - 1500s |
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| A book printed by William Morris' Kelmscott Press |
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| Original score by Erich Korngold, movie composer (Adventures of Robin Hood, etc) |
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| Lobby of new wing, miniature-style |
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| One of my favorite illustrators from the Golden Age of illustration (I have one of his books!) |
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| Statue of Civilization (lots of symbolism here!) |
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Last Remaining Seats
LA Conservancy is one of the non-profit organizations I volunteer for (they are similar to Pasadena Heritage, where I've been helping out on home tours for years). The Conservancy runs a program each summer called "Last Remaining Seats", showing classic movies in the classic old movie houses in downtown LA. You'd be surprised at how well they are attended!
I volunteered to usher for two of them: "The Big Sleep" (1946) at the Los Angeles Theatre (b. 1931) and "Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood" (1922) at the Orpheum Theatre (b. 1926). Both of the theaters are those ornate Art Deco types (like the Pantages, if you're from LA); the Orpheum has had a multi-million dollar renovation, while the Los Angeles has not (the owners are just doing maintenance/repair work until they can find funds to renovate. It's still beautiful, but if you look closely, you can see things like peeling paint on the ceiling, etc).
For those of us nowadays who think of movie theaters as slick minimalist addendums to shopping malls, it's amazing to see these old establishments and realize that when they were built, going to the movies was an event! The Los Angeles has two subterranean levels; the first was a ballroom for dancing, the one below that had a restaurant and "saloon". People would come for dinner, see the movie, and then stay for dancing and drinks. I'm sure that lots of cities across the country still have versions of these grand dames hiding somewhere in their centers.
Today's blog photos are from the Orpheum. It still has its original Mighty Wurlitzer organ, which was used to play the accompaniment to the silent "Robin Hood" (the organist Robert Israel composed an original score). This is quite a lavish Robin Hood - the studio spent almost a million dollars producing it, which was a lot of money in 1922 - and it was very popular in its day.
Those of you who go to the movies might recognize the Orpheum - a lot of the Oscar-winning movie "The Artist" was filmed there. Enjoy :)
I volunteered to usher for two of them: "The Big Sleep" (1946) at the Los Angeles Theatre (b. 1931) and "Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood" (1922) at the Orpheum Theatre (b. 1926). Both of the theaters are those ornate Art Deco types (like the Pantages, if you're from LA); the Orpheum has had a multi-million dollar renovation, while the Los Angeles has not (the owners are just doing maintenance/repair work until they can find funds to renovate. It's still beautiful, but if you look closely, you can see things like peeling paint on the ceiling, etc).
For those of us nowadays who think of movie theaters as slick minimalist addendums to shopping malls, it's amazing to see these old establishments and realize that when they were built, going to the movies was an event! The Los Angeles has two subterranean levels; the first was a ballroom for dancing, the one below that had a restaurant and "saloon". People would come for dinner, see the movie, and then stay for dancing and drinks. I'm sure that lots of cities across the country still have versions of these grand dames hiding somewhere in their centers.
Today's blog photos are from the Orpheum. It still has its original Mighty Wurlitzer organ, which was used to play the accompaniment to the silent "Robin Hood" (the organist Robert Israel composed an original score). This is quite a lavish Robin Hood - the studio spent almost a million dollars producing it, which was a lot of money in 1922 - and it was very popular in its day.
Those of you who go to the movies might recognize the Orpheum - a lot of the Oscar-winning movie "The Artist" was filmed there. Enjoy :)
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| Lights on Broadway |
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| Vintage poster |
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| Orchestra section |
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| Box seats |
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| From the Balcony |
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| House chandeliers up close |
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| All the way up from the balcony |
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| More fun with miniaturization setting |
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| Cartoon short before the movie |
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| Robert Israel, organ player extraordinaire |
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