Andi Edgett -- Genius Loci: My LA: Where Contradictions are Comfortable

storm trooper credit to Chris Hutchison

Arcadia/Utopia: The Final Meditations

Walking along the uneven cobblestone streets with a taco in hand, Angelenos visit this historic monument by the hundreds everyday. The street is lined with 27 historic buildings and the essence of Mexican culture -- mariachi beats linger on visitor's ears. Unlike the rest of Los Angeles's growing Downtown, this street market is the oldest part of the city where several vendors make it a point to not accept credit cards, as to keep withe the tradition of a personal touch . . . . Though a place of festivities, fiestas and restaurants now, there was a time when a serious restoration was in need, and that's where Harry Chandler came in . . . . Olvera Street is a place where the oldest of Los Angeles meets the newest of California tourism and Mexican pride . . . . "

Olvera Street -- Jessica Fernandez

"Even for Broadway, in the heart of Downtown L.A. where Spanish villas resided next to Victorian mansions, the Bradbury building stuck out as something different, something "other.' IN the early 1890s, mining millionaire, Lewis Bradbury commissioned architect George Wyman to design the monument, but Wyamn refused until he received a message from his dead brother telling him to take the project. Keeping with the Angeleno style of borrowing from many cultures, countries and styles, the Bradbury building draws inspiration and material from France, Belgium and Mexico. Wyman cited his inspiration for the architecture as life as he imagined it in the year 2000....I will explore the history behind the Bradbury Building, its use in modern cinema and detail how the building's old-fashioned style is exactly what has kept in in use for the last 120 years."

The Bradbury Building -- Andi Edgett

Even now, walking down Abbot Kinney Bouleveard, one gets a glimpse into the quirky, artsy past that has characterized the seaside town of Venice. Named after it's founder, Abbot Kinney was originally developed as an extension of the bohemian Venice Beach lifestyle. Once can get a sense of this free-spritied lifestyle walking down the street which is still dotted with numerous art galleries. There are still the family-owened businesses with water bowls sitting out front for customers to stop by with their pets, showing that Venice still remains a "dog town." However in the past few years, Venice has begun to shift toward a Beverly Hills-esque sophistication . . . . The collision of old and new is what make Abbot Kinney a perfect example of Arcadia and Utopia combined into one

Abbot Kinney -- Megan McMurtrey

While Disneyland, in Anaheim, is not technically part of Los Angeles, the development of this theme park has had direct correlation to the city of Los Angeles during its entire existence. For instance, the Walt Disney Company originated in Los Angeles and still has its major offices in Burbank. But for this piece, I hope to explore how Disneyland and its neighboring park, Disney's California Adventure (DCA), have been places for tourists and natives to experience idealized aspects of the city in a controlled environment. In DCA, an entire "land" of the park is dedicated to Hollywood while many other areas pay homage to the entire city. . . It can be argued that the Arcadia here is the real elements of Los Angeles that are depicted while the Utopia is the hyper-reality that Disney has successfully created.. . . "

Disney's Los Angeles -- Reilly Wilson

" . . . Angels' Fligtht and the Grand Central market are still downtown making it a place where old/new and invented/naturally beautiful collide"

-- Angels' Flight -- Jackie DiBiase

(images: eric chan, jim winstead, mousetalgia, lifesuperchanger via flickr creative commons; abbot kinney, via caviarand cashmere.com)

Voice -- The Road to Hollywoodland

HOLLYWOODLAND

The idea of “Hollywoodland” has always seemed to evoke fond sentiments and nostalgia of Los Angeles’s previous life. The name itself seems to say it all: Hollywoodland. Not just a destination on a map, but a ‘land’, creating a sort of mythology behind it. But the Hollywood we know today seems to differ from the Hollywoodland that once was. The famous letters remain resting on a hill, yet the ‘land’ no longer exists. Even though this four minor letters have disappeared, more developments have taken its place. Rather than the depiction of an isolated Hollywoodland hills at the end of a dirt road, today we find the Hollywood sign to be surrounded by shops, tourists and vehicles. This all takes away from the simplicity of where this sign once was viewed from.

The Hollywoodland sign in the picture represents the idealized Hollywood, perhaps what was even planned for. It could be a destination for many yet still maintain a professional amount of simplicity. It appears to be a desirable place where you can leisurely walk and take the surroundings of a city that is still in the cusp of development. Where only two vintage cars took residence, you would now found vehicles of all sizes lined up for rows. Where patches of grass once were you may find a coffee shop or tourist kiosk. The Hollywoodland that was once a “city on a hill” for many has now become engulfed by itself. Yes, the final four letters were lost to an accident, but it seems to be symbolic in a sense – four letters down, how many to go until Hollywood is indistinguishable from how it was first intended? Many may continue to view Hollywood as it stands today, four letters short, without really acknowledging the way the city once was.


TINSEL TOWN
The iconic image of the “Hollywoodland” sign represents both a sophistication that never existed and an attitude that still permeates the area today. Originally an advertising gimmick for the expensive new track of houses on the nearby Hollywood hills, the sign has become such an important part of L.A.’s identity that public donations were gathered in the mid-2000s when it was announced that the letters needed either a facelift or removal since they had deteriorated to the point of danger. “Hollywood,” as the sign now reads, stands out a brilliant white against the green hills that are its backdrop.
Both the word and the sign itself have an image that is hard to define. To most non-California natives, Hollywood is a magical city in Los Angeles where starlets both work and play. They imagine that the sign announces the border of this city where movies are made and the elite are privileged enough to live. The reality is very different. Hollywood is not a real city – it is as fake as the sets of the movies filmed on lots nearby. “Hollywoodland,” the housing district the sign originally announced, has made way for newer and flashier properties in the true L.A. fashion that even the grandest is not grand enough. Though the majority of films and TV shows credited to Hollywood are actually filmed throughout the vast Los Angeles County, the sign will stand for the ability to sell an image, and idea begun by the L.A. boosters in the late 19th century and perfected today by countless talent agents.
-- Andi Edgett