Etan Does LA - Exploring Los Angeles history, one landmark at a time

#202 – 206: Whole Bunch o’ Bungalow Courts, pt. 2 (Pasadena)

#202 – 206: Whole Bunch o’ Bungalow Courts, pt. 2 (Pasadena)

April 24, 2024

Pasadena was the birthplace of the bungalow court, a unique form of multi-family housing that flourished between 1910-1930. I visited all 30 Pasadena courts on the National Register – batch #2 includes craftsman, colonial revival, English cottage-style and a truly transportive example of a Tudor revival bungalow court.

Inside Richard Neutra’s Jardinette Apartments (East Hollywood)

Inside Richard Neutra’s Jardinette Apartments (East Hollywood)

April 14, 2024

Get a peek inside Richard Neutra's modernist landmark Jardinette Apartments to see how the restoration efforts are progressing.

#201: Beverly Hills Post Office (Beverly Hills)

#201: Beverly Hills Post Office (Beverly Hills)

April 7, 2024

For a Depression-era federal building, the Beverly Hills Post Office is an unusually opulent one, clad in Italianate masonry and terracotta with a lobby awash in marble. After serving Beverly Hillers for over 60 years it was transformed into the beloved Wallis Center for the Performing Arts in 2013.

#200: Lloyd Wright House and Studio (West Hollywood)

#200: Lloyd Wright House and Studio (West Hollywood)

March 31, 2024

This distinctive Mayan-inspired home is where architect Lloyd Wright lived and worked for over 50 years. It was built in 1927 during an important transitional phase that found him flourishing as an independent designer after years of collaborating with others – including his dad, Frank Lloyd Wright.

#194-199: Whole Bunch o’ Bungalow Courts, pt. 1 (Pasadena)

#194-199: Whole Bunch o’ Bungalow Courts, pt. 1 (Pasadena)

March 24, 2024

The bungalow court is a style of multi-family housing that places multiple small dwellings around a central courtyard or walkway. This style of housing flourished in LA between 1910 & 1930, especially in Pasadena, but many of them have been demolished. Here are six of the 30 remaining Pasadena courts on the National Register.

#193: Azusa Civic Center (Azusa)

#193: Azusa Civic Center (Azusa)

March 18, 2024

Government & Politics

The Azusa Civic Center is a trio of Spanish colonial buildings, built in 1928 with an update in 1975. As it’s grown and evolved, the Civic Center has stayed at the center of the city’s civic life, but also helped Azusa remember its past.

#192: Doctors House (Glendale)

#192: Doctors House (Glendale)

March 9, 2024

The Doctors House is a rare Victorian home in Glendale once occupied by four doctors, a silent movie star and two families of Croatian immigrants. After facing demolition, it was saved by the Glendale Historical Society and moved to Brand Park. It now operates as a house museum.

#191: Gartz Court (Pasadena)

#191: Gartz Court (Pasadena)

March 1, 2024

Built in 1911, Gartz Court is the second oldest bungalow court in Pasadena, and the oldest one still in its original configuration. Gartz stands apart from Pasadena's many surviving courts for its architectural pedigree, its 1/2 craftsman 1/2 Tudor style and its surprising preservation history.

#190: Warner Grand Theatre (San Pedro)

#190: Warner Grand Theatre (San Pedro)

February 17, 2024

The Warner Grand Theatre is a 1931 art deco neighborhood movie palace in San Pedro, designed by prolific theater designer B. Marcus Priteca. Formerly part of the Warner Bros. chain of theaters, it's now owned by the City of Los Angeles.

#189: John Lautner’s Walstrom House (Beverly Glen)

#189: John Lautner’s Walstrom House (Beverly Glen)

January 23, 2024

John Lautner's Walstrom House from 1969 is a deceptively simple treehouse of a home. It's just 1400 square feet and almost entirely made of wood and glass – worlds away from his big-budget concrete experiments of the '60s, more in line with his compact wood-clad homes from the '40s. But there is plenty of Lautner's spatial inventiveness here, and a sculptural quality to every part of the building.

#188: Campo de Cahuenga (Studio City)

#188: Campo de Cahuenga (Studio City)

January 14, 2024

In the shadow of Universal Studios is a crucially significant site for California history: Campo de Cahuenga, where in 1847 Andrés Pico & John C. Frémont signed a treaty ending California hostilities in the Mexican-American War. While the original adobe where they met was demolished ~1900 the site has yielded important archaeological evidence about the many eras of people who lived and worked there.

#187: Aloha Apartments (Hollywood)

#187: Aloha Apartments (Hollywood)

January 8, 2024

The Aloha Apartments were built in 1928 as a hybrid apartment building/hotel. There were a few starlets that lived here, but most of the Aloha’s tenants were middle-class professionals. It's a great example of how the housing market was changing to meet the needs of all the different kinds of people flowing into Hollywood during the 1920s and ‘30s.

#186: Rose Bowl (Pasadena)

#186: Rose Bowl (Pasadena)

December 31, 2023

For over a century, the Rose Bowl in Pasadenahas played host to some of college football's most-watched games (plus: the world's biggest flea market!). And while it's earned its place in sports lore many times over, the Rose Bowl also has a fascinating, evolving history as a work of architecture.

Top 10 Los Angeles Landmarks I Saw in 2023

Top 10 Los Angeles Landmarks I Saw in 2023

December 29, 2023

In 2023, I visited 69 LA landmarks on the National Register of Historic Places. Here are my top 10, with links to my full writeups on each of them.

#185: Holmes-Shannon House (Victoria Park)

#185: Holmes-Shannon House (Victoria Park)

December 24, 2023

Embodied in this opulent craftsman home are the history of the Victoria Park neighborhood, the legacy of the eminent architects Train & Williams, and the fascinating backgrounds of financier Nellie Shannon, her husband Michael (the first traffic cop in LA) and their son Michael Francis, who once served as Grand Exalted Ruler of the Elks.