Consider the Sparrows . . .

... which I never did as a kid.

These pictures were taken at the house that once belonged to my grandmother, back in the 60s. I don't remember black-throated sparrows back then, just anonymous little gray-brown birds that we ignored.

But look at the rich colors of these birds! They are gorgeous. I don't know how I could've ignored them.

Of course, the black-throated sparrows might be a far more recent colony, not descendants of the birds that flitted around when I was grammar-school age.

These sparrows live in a veritable bird-condo: two rather short but full cedar (or cedar-like; I know even less about identifying flora than I do about fauna) bushes in a neighbors' yard, right next to the cinder block fence. As at left.

There are dozens hidden in those dense branches. They usually come out and go in one or two at a time, but sometimes ten at once will burst out and zoom across the yard like little bullets, to land on an eave and chitter.

This guy cooled off in a wading pool--quite sensibly, if you ask me. So he's nice and wet.

This has very little to do with the history of Los Angeles, I suppose, because sparrows rarely figure in the history of big cities and counties. But it's the best I can do on a hot day, and I write that without apology.

Go sparrows!

Beverly Hills Mosaic Re-Installed

"This month, for the first time in thirty years, a Millard Sheets mosaic is being installed."

 

So begins a KCET Departures editorial by guest author Adam Arenson--a name familiar to anyone interested in mosaics in Los Angeles, as he's the expert on Millard Sheets.

"This month" referred to April, so the installation is old news--but who cares?

Originally installed along a motor court (is that a fancy word for parking lot?) at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in 1971, it honors both the old Camino Real and the spirit of hospitality inherent in the phrase "Mi casa es su casa," which Sheets said was his theme.

The mosaic was carefully removed in 1987 and donated to the city of Beverly Hills, according to Arenson's article. And after 25 years in storage, it now ornaments the parking structure of the Beverly Hills Civic Center, so visitors to the library or Kelly's Coffee can enjoy it.

I am indebted to Flo Selfman for the pictures. Flo is president of IWOSC--the Independent Writers of Southern California, and knows of my interest in LA History, so she sent these to me.

State of the Art Recording--1940

Courtesy of Shorpy.com, here is a 1940 photo of Artie Shaw and Lana Turner in their Beverly Hills home. The caption reads: "Lana Turner and Artie Shaw with audio recording system in their Beverly Hills Home." Possibly rehearsing a movie script. Photo by Earl Theisen for the Look magazine article "Lana Turner and Artie Shaw at Home."

Shorpy has been running a lot of Look photos lately, and I think it's because the Library of Congress has received or at least revealed a huge cache of them on its website. Lots of shots from the 40s and 50s of celebs at home and on the set.

My mom had a suit very much like this; I've got a picture of her in it when she visited my dad at a Colorado Army base in 1942.

A Gentleman and a Mosaicist: Hanns Scharff's Eagle at USC

How is it Monday again? I'm not ready!

But I do have this fabulous mosaic I learned of last week, at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

The mosaic is thirty feet in diameter, and was installed in the lobby by Hanns Joachim Scharff, I think in the early 1980s--just after a new wing was built to house the new Annenberg Center.

Mr. Scharff has a fascinating background: during World War II he served as an interrogator for the Luftwaffe, interviewing Americans who had been imprisoned or shot down in Germany. But he is remembered as a civilized gentleman, not one who made threats or indulged in scare tactics.

After the war, he worked with the US Air Force on survival techniques for pilots who were shot down. There's even a book on him by Raymond Tolliver: The Interrogator: The Story of Hanns Joachim Scharff, Master Interrogator of the Luftwaffe (Schiffer Military History). Now how many mosaicists can you report that of?

Scharff was held as a POW at the end of the war--by the Soviets. Since he faced being shipped off to Siberia and hard labor, American officers helped his escape from Soviet section of Germany and he became an interpreter, working for the US. The family's ancestral home, where Scharff was raised in the 1930s, wound up in East Germany and the Scharffs lost their estate.

His first big commission in Los Angeles came in 1955, when Nieman Marcus showed his mosaics in their store. Sharff moved here the next year.

Today, his studio is called Scharff and Scharff, and his partner is his daughter-in-law, Monika Scharff.

Mosaics Inside and Out at WestA

The West Angeles Church of God in Christ sits at Crenshaw and Exposition Boulevards in Los Angeles--and it is full of mosaics.

Construction began on the Karelian granite building in 1999, and the first service there took place in 2001. The church--as in congregation--is much older than that, though. WestA's website says it was founded in a storefront on Vermont in 1943, by C. E. Church, Sr. Well, what else could he have done with such a name?

The West Angeles Church moved to West Adams in the 1950s.  Pastor Charles E. Blake took it over after Church's death in 1969; at the time it had 50 members and most of them didn't want Blake as their pastor.

Today, the congregation numbers 22,000, all Blake supporters. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Stevie Wonder and and Samuel L. Jackson, Angela Bassett, Magic Johnson, and Denzel Washington (the last two contributed $5 million to build the Crenshaw-and-Exposition structure) are among them.

The church first moved to what is today called the North Campus in 1981--it has a beautiful mosaic out front too, as you can see at right. The North Campus is at 3045 Crenshaw, just two blocks away from the main building.

Monika Scharff of Scharff and Scharff designed the mosaic on the North Campus, and she later did the interior mosaic for the new church (below).

The church kept growing and expanding. The current building cost $60 million to erect, seats 5,000 people, and has a 5-level parking garage, according to one source.

Inside the new church is a stunning mosaic made up of 700,000 pieces of stained glass. Again, it was designed by Monika Scharff.

You can see more examples of her work here, . . . I just realized she also did the gold-and-red mosaic cross of St. Peters By the Sea, a Palos Verdes church that I blogged about in 2011. Scharff's website shows the cross before it was mounted in from of stained glass windows, but it's definitely the same cross. I'm guessing she did not have anything to do with the windows, though.

I hope she does not mind that I copied one of her own pictures of the mosaic.

CHS Events in SoCal

June 1st is Nick Gabaldon Day in Santa Monica. Free surf lessons for all!

I'm not making that up.

The Black Surfers Collective will be at the Santa Monica beach from noon to midnight on June 1st, along with Heal the Bay and other groups. At the Inkwell, free surf lessons from 10 am to 1 pm (you must reserve in advance!)

Other activities are planned in the area and at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium to celebrate the life and legacy of the man considered to be the first African American surfer, Nick Gabaldon.

He died in 1951, but before that was a fixture of Santa Monica's Inkwell--the only area of beach open to African Americans back then.

Gabaldon went to SMHS and was killed while surfing--while doing what he loved, iow. He was 24 years old.

Here's an earlier post about him and the Inkwell.

Also--there'll be a screening of a new documentary on Gabaldan that day.

I was beginning to think that the California Historical Society had abandoned the Southland, deciding that real California History could not exist south of San Francisco. Fortunately, this is not the case.

Other events for next month:

• A preview of Western Art at the Autry Museum, all day on June 14th. Members of the Autry or the CHS get to see "Art of the West" before it opens to the public.

• A special performance on the life of Chief Justice David S. Terry, June 25 at 5:30, at the Reagan State Office Building, 300 S. Spring. More details here.

David Terry was California's Chief Justice in the late 1850s. While holding that position, he stabbed one Sterling Hopkins in the neck with a bowie knife. Hopkins lived and Terry was acquitted of charges. He later killed a State Senator in a duel outside of San Francisco--I think he was still a judge then too. He left California to fight on the side of the Confederacy in the Civil War.

Should be an interesting evening.

Boiler in a Craftsman Home

Just a quickie:

When a new owner took over a beautiful Victoria Park (West Adams) Craftsman less than ten years ago, there were five ancient boilers in the basement.

The new owner replaced them with this (obviously) strapped water heater, but I find myself wondering--as most Los Angeles area homeowners would, because we knew the changes we've had to make as earthquake safety regulations are passed--five ancient boilers standing on their wrought iron legs on the cement floor?

Were they original? (the house was built in 1911)

Were they ever strapped and secured? Did anyone ever check?

Since the house was bought and sold several times over the years, and since it was only given historical landmark status very recently, this puzzles me. But in a good way, because obviously nothing bad happened due to the boilers, and they do present an interesting piece of history.

I'll write more on this house later, when I've had a chance to look up more facts about the original owner.

Friendship Park Mosaic

It's actually the Friendship Pond mosaic, but it's at Friendship Park in San Pedro. On Mother's Day, this place had the best views and the most welcome breezes in town.

So it's not too arty, but it was an unexpected little surprise, just outside the Nature Center in the park--where you can see snakes, toads, tarantulas, lizards, and more (oh, joy!) as well as skeletons and a stuffed owl and raccoon.

The only tricky part of visiting this place is that the access road (just off 9th Street, just west of Western Avenue) is closed off at sunset each night.

Deane Dana was the County Supervisor when the Nature Center was built, and when this mosaic was installed--hence the dedication in the right lower corner. This is actually the Deane Dana Friendship Park and Nature Center.

And the views--of the entire Port of Los Angeles, north to the San Gabriels, and of Rancho Palos Verdes, are beautiful. We watched bunnies and ground squirrels, circling hawks, and noisy finches and crows. Plus saw a lot of couples dancing without music.

My Poor, Neglected Blog...

Running down stories and events about Los Angeles history used to be a nice respite from other activities--but lately, I've been planted in front of the computer doing research all day, so more research no longer qualifies as a break.

Instead, today my break was a walk at Peck Park with the dog, where I listened to a few lonely crows (at least, they sounded lonely), took pictures of lizards that didn't turn out, and one of the port that did.

I can, however, point to some new accomplishments:

• Best review ever (well, the sort I dream of) from the Historical Novel Society for my novel, Death Speaker

• A new Chicken Soup book with one of my stories, coming out May 21: Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers: 101 Motivational Stories for Writers - Budding or Bestselling - from Books to Blogs

• Entering the design / layout / feverishly-rewrite-and-fill-in-gaps phase of my new book, The Boomers Book of Christmas Memories. That is what's keeping me glued to the internet, running down facts and dates and looking for pictures. 

The release date for the Boomer Book will be in September. And if anyone has a pictures of their bicycle from the 1950s or 1960s--with or without you in it, as long as the pictures is yours to control--I will give you a free book if you let me use it (with thanks and attribution, of course!)

If you're interested in Boomer trivia, check out my newish blog at Boomer Book of Christmas.

USC Tile Mural / Mosaic

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books was last weekend! And a fat lot of good that announcement does if you missed it. But it explains, at least, why I was at USC on Sunday, where I was able to take this picture.

I'd heard there was a mosaic by Jean Goodwin Ames titled "Youth and Science" in Zumberge Hall, right on Trousdale. And so there is, though I think I'm stretching the definition a bit to call it a mosaic.

But what the heck. It is tile, and it is signed "Jean Goodwin 1937" at the bottom.

If you'd like to know more about Jean Goodwin Ames and her husband, Arthur Ames, who worked on commissions for New Deal agencies during the Depression, and later with Millard Sheets, and who left lots of public art both in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, and other areas, the Smithsonian interviewed them for their Archives of American Art. The transcription is here.

Jean Goodwin Ames was born in Santa Ana, went to UCLA and USC, and taught at Claremont Graduate School and Scripps College from the 1940s. Total California girl! This tile mosaic at Zumberge Hall was her master's thesis.

In the Smithsonian interview, she says that the couple's first mosaic project--two mosaics--was in Santa Ana at Newport Harbor Union High School, before 1936. The school was just six years old then; here's a history.

The two mosaics--one for girls, by Jean, and one for boys, by Arthur--were installed around the Inner Quad. They were removed and reinstalled in a new building a few years ago.

I just went looking for pictures of the high school mosaics and found them at Adam Arenson's site--a familiar name if you follow this blog, or mosaics in Los Angeles. I'm posting only one small picture--the one done by Jean. To see the larger version or the second mosaic, titled "Three Fishermen," visit Adam Arenson's page.

His post about the Ames is very interesting. A particular picture of an outdoor church mosaic was so familiar--and I realized I used to walk by it almost every day when I lived in Claremont.