Hollylock House, Los Angeles

Spent a couple of hours at Hollylock House. About 20 blocks away from the Renaissance hotel on Hollywood Drive. Frank Lloyd Wright’s first commission in Los Angeles (several were to follow). Commissionned by Aline Barsndall, the scion of one of the first oil fortunes in the US, and we are told a rather unconventional and independent-minded woman, who early on, had decided to support theatre and asked Wright to design and build her a theatre complex in Los Angeles. Project turned to build a house first – the theatre never saw the light of day until much later on, paid by someone else and designed by someone else.

The house was completed in 1921 and is very much in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright – the recurring thematic decorating feature throughout the house, inside and outside – in this case the stylized hollylock that looks like inspired from a Maya design (which apparently Wright strongly denied!) low archways leading to narrow doors; his own designed oak furniture; stained windows; patches of water here and there; opening up the interior to the exterior surroundings with rooms openings to gardens and views; etc... The place has been subjected to some renovations and lately restorations since its construction, but I think it looks pretty well the way it did back in the 20’s, including the furniture of the living room, which are in fact beautiful replicates. Lots of personal stories, the owner, the architect, the contractors, and their multitudes of disagreements and battles, etc. – the place ended up costing 3 times the initial $50,000 budgeted for it, and that after Barnsdall’s financial handlers forced her to rein in Wright and his contractors – the docent likes to regal us with (we are 2 people taking the tour! The whole house is open for visit) In the end, Barnsdall did not like the house very much and left a few years after its construction. She left it to the city of Los Angeles to look after it, as a place to be dedicated to the Arts...

The place is built on a vast expanse on top of a hill that offers a 360-degree-view on the surrounding LA landscape and the ocean (“by a clear day” we are told, which does not happen very often nowadays in LA, but then, it must have been a different story). I meandered around the place for a good half hour, taking in the various perspectives on the house and the property, under a nice end-of-afternoon and still warm sun.

On the park grounds that surround the house, a tai-kwan-do class in full practice...

(check http://www.hollyhockhouse.net/index.htm)

See my pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bourlingue/sets/72157617226750522/

Two quotes from Wright that I enjoy:

About Hollylock House, in a letter to Aline Barnsdall:
"Well -- the building stands ...
It is yours for what it has cost you.
It is mine for what it has cost me.
And it is for all mankind ...
Whatever its birth pangs,
it will take its place as your contribution and mine
to the vexed life of our time."

About life: “Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities”!

Annenberg Space for Photography

Annenberg Space for Photography
« Community space » just opened. Dedicated to photography. Located where the Shubert Theatre used to be, in Century City. Great facility.

Inaugural exhibit dedicated to photographers/photography of Los Angeles (“l8s ang3les”): contemporary houses; celebrities of Hollywood; LA youth; war abroad. 8 worldwide known photographers, plus 3 photo-journalists from the Los Angeles Times. Particularly struck by Julius Shulman and Tim-Street Porter’s photos of modern Southern California houses.

Decided to buy Laurence Shulman’s massive 3-volume, coffee-table size, photo retrospective Modernism Rediscovered, published by Taschen, for her graduation gift.http://www.annenbergspaceforphotography.org/index.asp

Last picture above: Los Angeles downtown skyline seen from Hollywood.

Las Vegas - Excess!

I don’t particularly like Las Vegas – sorry for its fans!

Here to learn the state of an industry much bigger – wireless – that is redefining ours (music), I take advantage of the few moments I can get away to (re) acquaint myself with the place. One word comes to mind: excess! And God knows, we are in a recession – if it is happening here, you wouldn’t know it!

Plenty of people walking the streets (people sticking to sidewalks and overpasses to be more exact – this is not exactly the most pedestrian-friendly city; you got to walk long until you find a street-crossing path!) Middle America, Middle Asia. Young America, Retired America. Trash America, Fat America. It’s all here, not necessarily nice to see...

Paris, New-York, Egypt – the Eiffel tower, the Statue of Liberty, the Great Pyramid, all replicated in near-scale models along the famous Strip – it’s a DisneyWorld that, I suppose, gives tourists the comforting impression that “they have been there” (“why bother to go to any of these places – I have been to Las Vegas”!) The Bellagio, with its vast water plan at the front and a stunning lobby, I must admit, for its huge light well as a center piece, covered with multi-color flower-shaped glass decorations; striking – as if Chehuly had inspired the whole thing.

I won’t talk about the casinos, these interminable, cavernous halls that define each hotel I had to go through to go anywhere, populated by the omnipresent noisy, clinking and light-flashing slot machines, and peopled by a human fauna that ranges from the naive, I’m-going-to-make-it, star-struck neophytes, to the jaded, drinking and smoking, button-pushing past-prime players.

The Monorail is a novelty – not around last I was there in the 70’s. Quite convenient to go around town – stops being defined by the hotels they service (the one thing though, once you enter the first hotel at any station exit, you are lost as to where to go to get to the other establishments announced in the Monorail for that stop – so you walk and walk until you get to the front entrance, and then look up for the other hotel signs!) While being shuffled from one place to the other, you learn a few things over the Monorail PA system: In 2005, there were 20,120 conventions held here, attracting 6.5M participants, to which, to have a total count of visitors, you have to add some 33M others who came here just for fun – a stunning 40M visitors in a year! We learn that there are 6000 people coming to settle and live in Las Vegas every week; the city’s population mushroomed from 200,000 people in 1970 to 1.8M now! And other tit-bits: the average visitor spends in a stay 13.4 hours gambling some $660 – but who’s counting as the voice over the P.A. adds ironically!)

The good thing, if you are a fan of the Cirque du Soleil, there are 5 permanent shows in Vegas – 5! Went to see “Love”, an homage to the Beatles done in true Cirque-signature fashion, with lots of color and flying Lucy-in-the-Sky type of woman figures. Stunning! Less impressive is “Zumanity” with its erotic, titillating show, of near-naked, athletic bodies, male and female, doing tricks in water and in the air, with the benign contribution and support of the crowd. Should have gone to see “Kà”...

Loads of restaurants nested away in hotels - each with their celebrity chef, competiting for patrons. Went to Il Mulino of New York with an American colleague at his suggestion; excellent of course, but again, too much all around!

Will be back only if necessary to keep on top of this wireless industry that is so recasting ours!

Tremblant, au printemps!

Profitons de notre « visite trimestrielle » dans le « haut du pays » (entendons-nous : Ottawa et Mont-Laurier!) pour faire un peu de ski. Quand on n’a, à proximité de Toronto, que la colline de Blue Mountain à se « mettre sous la dent », ou plutôt sous les pieds, on ne rate pas l’occasion de faire un saut à Tremblant si on est dans le coin! Seul ski de l’année hélas!

En matinée brouillard au sommet. L’ami André, confortablement installé à Tremblant il y a déjà une bonne dizaine d’années sur les bords du lac Ouimet, se joint à nous. Quelques descentes du côté Sud, question de se faire les jambes. Cynthia prend sa leçon – bien sûr l’avis d’un « expert » vaut toujours mieux que celle d’un partenaire jugé par trop impatient! En profitons, André et moi, pour aller du côté Nord – beaucoup mieux, la Lowell Thomas en particulier. Granuleuse mais en abondance.

Le soleil, de la partie en après-midi. Ski de printemps à son meilleur. Quelques bonnes descentes, toujours du côté Nord, avant d’aller rejoindre Cynthia au bas de la pente, en empruntant la Nansen, longue et lente qui longe la montagne, plus par curiosité je dois avouer, la piste étant celle où la semaine précédente l’actrice Natasha Richardson s’est infligée un traumatisme crânien fatal dans un accident difficile à comprendre tellement la pente est douce…

Le Mont-Tremblant a évidemment bien changé, depuis le temps où j’y skiais dans les années soixante, pour le mieux à bien des égards – entretien des pistes; remontées mécaniques; etc. – mais au prix d’une commercialisation qui en a réduit le charme rustique des années passées. Ce qui inquiète cependant, c’est que, le centre de ski étant engagé sur cette voie, il semble que les nouveaux propriétaires – Fortress Investments, un groupe d’investissement privé a acheté et privatisé Intrawest – ne s’intéressent maintenant qu’à exploiter le centre, sans y investir davantage dans l'entretien et le développement. Question probablement d’en tirer le plus de profits, avant de revendre au plus offrant dans quelques années; stratégie de sortie typique…

Les terrasses du « village » en bas de pente sont bien remplies, de skieurs et de flâneurs, occupés à boire et à prendre les derniers rayons chauds d’un soleil sur son déclin. Terrasses trop remplies – optons pour un retour chez André, pour jouir tout autant du soleil mais sur sa terrasse, surplombant le lac, tout en dégustant un blanc bien rafraîchissant… Prélude à un bon dîner – une bavette accompagnée d’un excellent rouge espagnol – pas suffisamment corsé cependant au goût de notre hôte – avant de nous retirer pour une bonne nuit de sommeil, dans le calme laurentien!

Réveil matinal, agrémenté par la visite dans la salle de bain de la chienne Cléo, un jeune Labrador plein de vitalité! Copieux déjeuner, et puis en route pour Mont-Laurier.

Barcelona, Barcelona!

For more pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bourlingue/sets/72157616363827182/

Barcelona invokes two things for me: Gaudi and the Spanish Civil war. Both phenomena are well known to most, and certainly have captivated my interest for long.

Gaudi, because of his extravagant architecture and extraordinary realisation; he has fascinated the rest of the world, at different times and for different reasons, the Japanese in particular in the 60’s and later on (see the 2 “witness” films that Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara shot, the first, a 16mm amateurish film he did while visiting with his artist father – some scenes at Salvador Dali’s home are particularly taking – the second some 25 years later, retracing his steps http://www.criterion.com/films/536 )

The Civil War, because of the heroism shown by the Republicans, the legitimate “owners” at the time of the “right to rule”, in fighting Franco, the usurper, and his fascist allies, Germany and Italy; for the sympathy they aroused abroad and the support of the “International Brigades” who fought side-by-side with them, to their final defeat. Barcelona captures best the spirit of this unequal fight (this is when and where Bethune came to introduce to the world the idea of taking blood to the wounded right to the front, in a delivery truck.)

This time around in Spain, and for the first time in Barcelona, the history of Barcelona itself is bringing something new. Both fascinations acquired a new dimension, that of history. For Gaudi, it is “Modernista”, this artistic and intellectual movement at the end of the 19th, beginning of 20th century, of which he was very much a part, that was the response to the industrial ascendance of the city, and the long suppression of Catalonia’s culture (http://everything2.com/title/modernista). For the Civil War, it is the political history, marked by an incredible exuberance in social and economic ideas that preceded and indeed led to the war – thanks to a (rush) visit to the “Museu d’Història de Catalunya” (http://www.en.mhcat.net/) nearby in La Barceloneta district.

A quick note on local restaurants. Two examples that illustrate Barcelona’s emergence as a gastronomic destination, which we sampled and highly recommend: Comerç, 24 (http://www.comerc24.com/) with its avant-garde chef, Carles Abellan, a follower of Ferran Adrià, chef of the legendary El Bulli, (rated as “the best restaurant in the world” in 2006 and 2007 by some 500 international critics! Outside of town and no temptation: it is closed for the season); and Cinc Sentits, with its new Catalan cuisine and tasting menu, run by Catalan-Torontonian siblings, the talented chef Jordi Artal, and his sommelier sister Amèlia (http://www.cincsentits.com/en/index.htm) . For something truly of the Catalan tradition, we went to Set Portes in La Barceloneta, where we could not resist, for a last meal in Barcelona, the tasty and melting-in-your-mouth suckling pig! (http://www.7portes.com/castellano/index.htm)

Local wine indulgence: Gran Vina Sol, Miguel Torres, a Chardonnay, (http://www.torres.es/eng/asp/nv_ficha.asp?Cod=21&Ficha=Producto)
and La Calma, a Chenin Blanc, (http://smswine.com/pdf/press/lacalma.pdf)
both from the Catalan wine region, Penedès.

La Casa Batllo

La Casa Batllo (the Catalans say “Batdjio”)

For more pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bourlingue/sets/72157616363827182/

Took an hour at the end of the day (one of the good things in Spain is that museums and other attractions tend to stay open late) to go and visit this remarkable accomplishment by Gaudi. A private home remodelled for its new owner, textile industrialist Batllo, in the first decade of the 20th century (between 1903 and 1905 to be exact). Never seen anything like this: all in curves, the sea being the inspiration behind every bit of design: the stairways, the walls and ceilings, the windows (even their handles) and, most stunningly, the facade and the roof. It is soft architecture, where there is not a single straight line, except perhaps the floor which is levelled. It’s a building that wants to tell a story, that of the sea, that of St-George, the patron saint of Barcelona, slaying the dragon.

You can easily take the hour and more if you can, helped with the audio-guide that comes with the price of the entry ticket (Euro 16.50), meandering in the house, and going from one unique room to the other, from one floor to the other via the stairwell of a central atrium with walls covered of undulating blue ceramic. Until one reaches the roof which in itself is fascinating where chimneys –or are they rather ventilators – all covered with ceramic of a myriad of color are turned into a bunch of medieval chevaliers – they could have inspired the makers of The Lord of Ring movie – and an add-on “bump” at the front that looks like the trunk part of the body of a dragon, with scales and spine made of ceramic, right on top of the facade. Fascinating! Must have taken a lot of courage and desire to be different on the part of the owner to accept such an unconventional and unorthodox construction – to his benefit as he is likely remembered and known today, at least to the outsider, only because of his association to Gaudi’s work! (http://www.casabatllo.es/)

Colonia Güell

For more pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bourlingue/sets/72157616363827182/

Today is a day off, so aimed for breakfast at the Cuines Santa Catalina, a restaurant adjacent to the wet market of the same name in Sant Pere (Mercat de Santa Catalina; www.mercatsantacatalina.net). Misled to believe that the restaurant opens at 8 when in fact it does not until 9 (thank you Wallpaper City Guide!) Plenty of other places in the market though, so that I got my cafe con leche and light ham sandwich anyway. The market sits in a plaza that seems to have been expanded, and the structure that covers the market is another landmark of Barcelona – a very colourful, mosaic-like, wavy roof the size of the market (best to be appreciated seen from the heights of the neighbouring buildings, which I could not get!) built as part of a redevelopment of the neighbourhood initiated by Enric Miralles and finished by his wife after his death. A walk nearby in the chore of the old city on the other side of via Laietana for a quick appreciation of the Cathedral - under renovation – and of the old royal palace built on top or within what was a Roman establishment.

Then off to Plaça de Espanya, to take the train (a twenty-minute ride) to Colonia Güell. Because, of course, of Gaudi’s crypta there, the first step towards a church that was never completed. Worth seeing though as this represents an astonishing accomplishment, where the seemingly distorted structure – all in curves and irregular forms – is the result of a revolutionary architectural technique. Gaudi was not “doing plans”, at least in the first place, he did models; and he did them first by assessing the sureness of his wild design through a system of hanging strings, vertically and horizontally, to which were attached bags of lead loaded proportionally to the weight of the columns and arches they were meant to represent, to gauge how the thrust of the building would be transferred to its foundations. It`s called a polyfunicular model. The church was meant to be done on a smaller scale than churches and cathedrals built in town (certainly as compared to his monumental undertaking, the Sagrada Familia, which he did not live to finish – actually they are still working at it!), but how much more delectable! A jewel of architecture and decorative arts! Known by some as Gaudi’s most accomplished, if unfinished, work.

The history behind Colonia Güell is quite interesting in itself. This is a “company town”. Eusebi Güell, a textile entrepreneur, decided to move his operations outside of politically and socially troublesome Barcelona, in its vicinity, and to build an estate (apparently a common thing at the end of the 19th century) around the factory (innovation: it was powered by steam rather than by a stream of water) where the workers and their families lived. Güell though wanted an original and perfect estate, and called upon a clutch of “Modernista” architects to build it – houses, the school, other public buildings – and that included naturally Gaudi for the church (construction of the chuch was stopped in 1914 when Güell’s business took a turn for the worst, and was never resumed). The estate continued to grow until the textile factory closed in 1973.

I like the anecdote, as reported in the fascinating BBC/Robert Hughes documentary on Gaudi, (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074nvw): a depressed Gaudi would have one day confided to Güell that sometimes he felt that only he and Güell appreciated his architecture; to what Güell would have responded: “you should not be under any illusion, I do not like it either!”