Architecture

#242: King Edward Hotel (Skid Row)

#242: King Edward Hotel (Skid Row)

December 8, 2024
Architecture
The King Edward Hotel was one of four hotels designed by John Parkinson along a three-block stretch of 5th Street in the early decades of the 1900s. It's home to the infamous dive bar the King Eddy Saloon, and housed a subterranean speakeasy during Prohibition – still intact, a century later.
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#240: E.A.K. Hackett House (Pico-Union)

#240: E.A.K. Hackett House (Pico-Union)

November 19, 2024
Architecture
The E.A.K. Hackett House is an intact example of a "transitional craftsman" home, bridging the Victorian and craftsman eras of LA architecture. It once housed a prominent figure in LA's religious life. AND: there's a mysterious research conundrum about its provenance...
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#233: Highland Park Masonic Temple

#233: Highland Park Masonic Temple

September 13, 2024
Architecture
Built in 1923, this handsome brick and terracotta building witnessed 60 years of ritual and fraternity as the Highland Park Masonic Temple. Since 2017, it's housed the music venue the Lodge Room and an adjoining restaurant, Checker Hall. All the original Masonic symbols are still intact, and EVERYWHERE.
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#231: Villa Carlotta (Altadena)

#231: Villa Carlotta (Altadena)

August 23, 2024
Architecture
Villa Carlotta is a fine example of architect Myron Hunt's residential work, and one of Altadena's first homes designed for electricity from the get-go. It was built for Francis R. Welles, who oversaw European operations for Alexander Graham Bell's telephone company for over 30 years.
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#212: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House (East Hollywood) 

#212: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House (East Hollywood) 

June 8, 2024
Architecture
Completed in 1921, Hollyhock House was Frank Lloyd Wright's first LA commission, and a departure from the prairie style that made him famous. This was one part of a planned theater complex for oil heiress Aline Barnsdall. And while their grand vision was never carried out, the house still stands as one of Wright's most significant buildings.
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#211: Washington Building (Culver City)

#211: Washington Building (Culver City)

June 2, 2024
Architecture
The wedge-shaped Washington Building is one of the few remaining structures from downtown Culver City's heyday in the 1920s. It was commissioned by Charles Lindblade, a real estate developer who, alongside Harry Culver, built Culver City in the 1910s through the early 1930s.
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#209: Charmont Apartments (Santa Monica) 

#209: Charmont Apartments (Santa Monica) 

May 17, 2024
Architecture
Santa Monica's Charmont Apartments were designed in a unique combination of Spanish colonial & art deco styles by Max Maltzman, one of LA's first Jewish architects. It was lovingly rehabilitated after sustaining damage in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
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#202-206: Whole Bunch o’ Bungalow Courts, pt. 2 (Pasadena)

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

April 24, 2024
Architecture
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.
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