Etan R.
Music omnivore, student of LA history, beer snob and amateur father. Working my way through the canon.
A historic home in the posh Oak Knoll neighborhood, designed by the untrained Heineman brothers. PLUS: a visit to Arthur Heineman's Milestone Mo-Tel in San Luis Obispo, the world's first motel!
The Old Mill is Southern California's oldest surviving commercial building. Its millstones once ground grain for the San Gabriel mission, and were later rediscovered by a famous WWII hero.[…]
Across the street from the Blacker House is another stunning home by architect bros Charles and Henry Greene. Completed in 1913, it was the last major home they designed as a duo.
A beloved landmark for travelers, architecture aficionados and culture vultures since it opened in 1939 Added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 13, 1980 I took these[…]
Henry and Charles Greene's Blacker House is a residential work of art wrought with wood, brick and iron – and their prelude to the Gamble House. https://youtu.be/LjPKVCCM5K4 Added to[…]
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel is the grandaddy of LA historic sites. Legend has it that the 44 “pobladores” set out from here the day they founded Los Angeles in 1781. For three years, it was closed to visitors due to the pandemic and a devastating arson. On July 1, 2023, the Mission finally reopened, with a reimagined museum that tells the Mission's complex story of deracination and development.
One of the few reasons to go to downtown Burbank: a streamline moderne masterwork of civic architecture Me @ Burbank CIty HallNRHP plaqueFountain detailBas relief sculpture @ Burbank City[…]
A WPA-era post office building that turns dropping off a package into a trip into California's mission past That's a genuine grin. I love this post office.NRHP plaque @[…]
Once the center of social and commercial life for LA’s huge Japanese community before the internment camps of WWII, Little Tokyo is now a business hub and tourist destination grappling with its difficult history.
Sid Grauman's original movie palace, opened downtown in 1918 – years before Grauman's Chinese, El Capitan and the Egyptian moved the movie industry's commercial epicenter to Hollywood Million Dollar Theater,[…]
The shortest railway in the world, carrying folks 298 feet up and down a downtown LA hill in the same cars since 1901 Added to the National Register of[…]
One of the master architect's four textile-block homes in LA, restored (re-Storered?) to its original glory.
Massive VA complex helping disabled and homeless military veterans since the late 19th century, including historic chapel & streetcar depot In honor of Veterans Day, my family visited the[…]
West Hollywood apartment tower with a storied actor clientele, by architect-to-the-stars Leland Bryant https://youtu.be/DkHcn7vTfe8 Added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 15, 1982 Got $5500 a month[…]
A trio of fanciful, Spanish-influenced courtyard apartments designed in the '20s by the untrained husband-and-wife duo Arthur & Nina Zwebell Celebrating my return to the office for the first[…]
