Art Deco relic on San Fernando Road

I always loved this building. From the Eastsider: www.theeastsiderla.com/2015/03/art-deco-relic-on-san-fernando-road-now-going-for-2-3-million/

Parking benefits

American Apparel is providing valet parking for workers, who complained of being late for shifts looking for parking, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. Does American Apparel also offer transit benefits? Or bike parking and showers?

Remembering Baxter Street

Just happened across a March 2003 post from Nathan Masters on Los Angeles Magazine about Baxter Street in Silver Lake. I always enjoyed driving on Baxter especially when going over the crests and not seeing the street below.

Sixteen Books by Ruscha

At UC Irvine Libraries a special exhibit on Ed Ruscha books such as Thirtyfour Parking Lots in Los Angeles. I wish I could go.

History of Parking

From the December Los Angeles magazine, an article with geek level of detail on the history of parking, “Between the Lines” by Dave Gardetta.  While partly a recap on Dr Shoup from UCLA, who made parking cool to study after years in the wilderness (though how many other academics are wandering in the wilderness with the potential to become popular) the article also provides an interesting history of downtown Los Angeles surface parking that would be interesting to compare to other employment centers in southern California or other centers developed elsewhere in the U.S. around the same time. 

This reminds me of a trip to downtown Los Angeles years ago before mobile phones were common.  I was searching the streets wondering why I could find no pay phones or post boxes.  It turns out that both are commonly located at the parking entrance to downtown office buildings, which makes sense since most people visit the buildings by car.

Also of note is the steep topography of downtown Los Angeles that can lead to building entrances on two, three, or four different floors from the street.  Even San Francisco known for being hilly built downtown on relatively flat land.  This too adds to the emphasis on approaching tall buildings from the underground garage.

Urban Patterns

Urban Tomographies by Martin Krieger looks like a great pattern book for the built environment.  Like Ed Ruscha and parking lots or gas stations but more.

Touring Los Angeles

A great way to see Los Angeles with the many long boulevard.  http://mobile.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/travel/14losangeles.xml

How far east does the Westside go? Readers have plenty of answers to a knotty question

How far east does the Westside go? Readers have plenty of answers to a knotty question. 

I always felt Western was a good division since it runs most of the city from the port through downtown (particuarly if you consider Los Feliz and extension to the northern city limit).  I also could make a case for Hoover as the original western edge of the city.