Pershing Square 1920

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Title Insurance and Chamber of Commerce Photos

Here's a free event for vintage photo buffs: On Saturday, July 21, at 2 pm in the Doheny Library of USC, the California Historical Society and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce present . . .

. . . a special viewing of some of the unique old pictures like the one at right--which was taken in front of a bicycle shop in Monrovia in 1887. Are the ladies not daring and stylish? And the men--could you not write volumes about them?

The pictures are from the 20,000 separate photos in the collections of both the Chamber of Commerce and  Title Insurance and Trust Company.

Although the event (a reception, as well as viewing) is free, they ask folks to make reservations. Go to the event link above.

Quilts in Long Beach

The International Quilt Festival, long a Texas event, now has a summer show in Long Beach!

On July 27-29 you can see these wonderful quilts at the Long Beach Convention Center. The fee is $10 for a day.

Last year, Long Beach drew over 15,000 people and had 300 booths. For 2012, there will be special exhibits of "West Coast Wonders"--quilts designed to interpret the beauty of the Pacific Coast area. And collections of prize winners, international entries, and several more. You can look at this multipage pdf to see the list and some examples of the quilts.

The quilt at left will be in the Textured Treasures exhibit. The artist is Brenda Gael Smith, and the quilt is titled Pohutukawa Taonga. Read about how the quilt developed and what it means here.

Modern quilts are an eloquent artistic expression, comparable to mosaics, imho. This year, a special exhibit will feature realistic and abstract black-and-white quilts.

Antique quilts--historic quilts--are important and iconic pieces of Americana in the same way that authentic Civil War uniforms or armaments are. Again, my opinion.

This 1890 quilt at left--from the Festival's website--is signed by Amanda M. No idea who she was, but it doesn't matter. Amanda, and possibly her friends, poured hundreds of hours into creating a quilt that would not only keep someone warm over the winter, but add beauty to a home.

One special exhibit at the show will be a collection of Log Cabin quilts.

Los Angeles City Officials from 1850

This is one of the earliest dated photo I could find of Los Angeles at the public library site. It's circa 1869, and shows the Plaza from a hill.

Julian Chavez--for whom Chavez Ravine is named--was elected to Los Angeles' City Council on July 3, 1850, and resigned only 8 weeks later. I don't know why. Fifteen years later, he was elected to the City Council and served for a year on several committees. He continued in public service into the 1870s.

He's one of over 40,000 individuals who have been elected or appointed to work for our city over the past 162 years.

That's the kind of information you can find out on the City Officials Historical Database, now online. Dates of elections, what kinds of committees we had back then--boring to some, invaluable to others.

If you like this kind of research, check out the Database's Reference page, which has links to all sorts of sites. This Introduction Section and a User Page explains how to use the database. Compiling lists of all the city's office holders started in the 1930s, under the New Deal.

Weird to imagine that such records didn't formally exist before then. Did we simply rely on memory? Private grants allowed this project to go online.

 Guess where I was for the last week? Two hints: Touring the nation's capital on a Segway is tremendous fun. Being caught in a storm while on a sightseeing boat in the Potomac at night is not.

Peck Park Mosaic Almost Done!

The mosaic near the pool at Peck Park is almost done!

In fact, it will be complete by Thursday, July 12, when everyone is invited to come to the dedication in the evening: 6 pm to 8 pm.

At this dedication--where there will be games, food, drink, and performances by synchronized swim teams and the San Pedro Ballet, as well as a 50/50 raffle--we are all asked to contribute $5. But that's optional.

Still, who could refuse five bucks to help defray the cost of materials for this beautiful mosaic that artists and volunteers have spent many weekends bringing to life?

Man, I wish all public art came so easily! But it takes dedicated, giving, and talented people. I hope everyone comes out to show our appreciation and support for this work.

These pictures do not begin to capture the panels of sea creatures.

The backgrounds have bits of mirror and specialty tiles hidden in them. Some tiles--like the leaves of the kelp--are specially designed by artist Julie Bender, with unique textures added. No two leaves are alike. A close up is at left.

I blogged about this mosaic in March and in April. You can read more about Julie Bender's work and see pictures of some of the benches she's designed at BenchesbyBender.com--I love the ocean wave bench, if anyone wonders what to get me for Christmas.

Big & Small Birds at Peck Park

Are these merlins, or peregrine falcons? After looking at images on Google, I think maybe female harrier hawks? Here is a close up of the same photo.

Beautiful day at Peck Park in San Pedro, overlooking the Port of Los Angeles.

Of course, once these birds took off--one at a time--the ever-present crows that populate that park swarmed and chased them away.

Here is another picture. My guess is that the birds were 14-15 inches long.

And below right is a picture of a black phoebe--birds that I cannot ever remember seeing until recently, but which now seem to be all over.

Santa Monica Freeway, 50 Years Ago

There are so many 50th anniversaries this year, of Marilyn Monroe's death, the only successful escape from Alcatraz (did they or didn't they survive?), of the Rolling Stones, the Chieftains, and the Beach Boys' existence, the James Bond movie franchise, Walmart's founding--but here's one I came across in Proquest: On June 21, 1962, the section of the Santa Monica Freeway between the Harbor Freeway and Hoover Street opened--eastbound only.

Fer you young'ns, the Harbor Freeway is the 110, while the Santa Monica is the 10.

There was still no eastbound connection from the Harbor Freeway. Officials hoped that both east and west lanes as far as Vermont would open by August.

And in fact, here is a picture from the LAPL's Herald Examiner photo collection of the opening ceremony for that stretch, on August 16, 1962. The dignitaries and speakers are not identified.

The Harbor Freeway, btw, filled in a gap between Torrance Blvd and Pacific Coast Highway in 1962 as well (it already had a portion from PCH to San Pedro.)

Millard Sheets' Rose Parade Mural Installed

It's been two years since I blogged about the 50-foot-wide Rose Parade Mural that once enriched the Home Savings and Loan in Pasadena. That building is long gone and the mural has been moved several times.

As Laura Monteros reports in The Examiner, the mural will be installed at Pasadena City College this summer.

I'll have to think of an excuse to visit. It'll be in the Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium lobby.

Fledgling Red Tail Hawk

Is she not beautiful?

No history tie-in here. Just a fledgling hawkette who hasn't quite figured out takeoffs yet.

No one saw her land, but she rooted herself in one spot and spread her wings to look even bigger and scarier whenever anyone got near.

The lovely people from South Bay Wildlife Rehab will reunite her with her parents by putting her in a tree near the nest (we know where that is). The baby stands over a foot tall, but weighs only two pounds--which I'm told is a very healthy weight.

I'm also told that downed hawks is pretty common this time of year. All the babies are getting ready to take that first flight, which can be tricky.

Hawks look big enough when circling overhead or perched in a tree a hundred feet high, but I'm always stunned when I see one close up. They are just so powerful-looking. This fledgling will not get bigger, probably--I did not know that they didn't learn to fly until they were this size.

The Torrance Main Library on Torrance Blvd. has a display of some stuffed local wildlife, including an adult red-tailed hawk. Happened across it a couple of weeks ago when attending a free talk on likker in early America by food historian Richard Foss--a very entertaining hour. He even brought a rum cake for the audience!

Mosaic Monday II: Manhattan Beach

Today's second post is on the oceanic or beachy mosaic at 13th and Morningside in Manhattan Beach. I'm told this little place--concreted, with benches and plants--is called the 13th Street Square Park, or 13th Street Square Performance Space. Or even 13th Street Behind Metlox Plaza. Hard to get information on a place with so many names!

It's actually the northwestern plot of that shopping plaza that was built on the old Metlox Pottery site, which operated in Manhattan Beach from 1927 to 1989.

 Wikipedia has a writeup on Metlox, here.  The Our South Bay ezine had an article with pictures about Metlox in their 2011 summer issue.

Turns out the name was a blend of "metallic" and "oxide": two components of glazing pigments.

And...holy cow! Metlox made all my Mom's ivy-patterned serving dishes! I did not know that. (This dish and hundreds of other examples of Metlox wares are for sale at TheFind)

Originally, Metlox was part of Proutyline Products. For a long time, it was the biggest manufacturing concern in the city. But Metlox filed for bankruptcy and closed, leaving a 3 acre lot contaminated by the lead used in making their pottery. In the 90s, it was cleaned up. Only recently--within the past 8 or 10 years--has a trendy shopping center with grassy areas and fountains opened on the spot.

Who designed this mosaic? If I learn the answer, I will add to this post!