houses, houses, and more houses

This is the long overdue post I've been meaning to compose for ages now.

First, I'll report that when I returned from my trip east, I drove past that scary facade/house demolition/reconstruction site. The tattered facade was gone and replaced with new plywood or something (obviously I know little of the technical stuff about the building arts). So they weren't saving it. Why not knock it down with the rest of it? I guess we'll never know. Anyway...

My trip included a day visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater in rural western Pennsylvania. You can see some of my photos here. I'm no Julius Shulman, but I try.

In case you're blissfully unaware, Fallingwater is one of the most famous pieces of architecture in the world. It's probably the most famous non-royal house. And with good reason. Allie thought the color scheme was ugly. That didn't bother me. What surprised me actually was how Art Deco it was. There are some fabulous thirties elements, which you don't expect. Wright's work sort of has this timeless quality to it since he refused to admit he was influenced by anyone else's work. Then again, Philip Johnson called him our greatest 19th century architect. Stylistically Wright's work looks more "traditional" (whatever the hell that could mean... basically, he liked to use natural materials because he believed that his buildings should grow from the ground), but the more reading I do on Wright, the more I'm convinced he was indeed very modern in ideology.

That leads me to my final report. I visited the Ennis House in the Los Feliz hills upon my return! I take all my tourists to see this massive FLW house, but I finally got to go inside. At work I've been writing a historic context statement on the building, and it generally makes sense to visit the places you write and research about (especially if they're local). This of course was very cool, particularly since I'd already done so much research on the house that I knew what I was looking at. The most surprising thing about the house is how small it actually looks inside. Wright usually used very low ceiling heights, but this one has soaring 22' ceilings, compared to his usual 6'4" (he was 5'8"). But between the exterior massing and the many interior photographs I've seen, the house actually looks smaller than any of these would suggest. Still pretty thrilling.

Molière

On Thursday I dragged my butt to Westwood to partake in the L.A. Film Festival. I absolutely had to see Molière because of this:


That's a photo Allie took in the Paris Metro so that we wouldn't forget that we saw this poster in every single Metro station when we were there. I think we also saw the trailer in front of the two movies we saw while there. The movie opened in France on January 31. Then when I saw a trailer recently announcing it was an official selection of the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival I had to investigate.

I loved it. It's the Shakespeare in Love for Molière. And that Romain Duris... Oh baby, I'd run away with him even with that hideous mustache and hippie 'do. The movie was clever, amusing, and well acted. I'd call it perfect if it didn't use the past framing the present bit. We don't need to see that he writes plays many years later using the experience we watch in the film. I don't know anything about Molière, but I could tell the movie was supposed to be like one of his plays. That quibble aside, thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended (you know, when it's actually released in this country on some tiny scale).

ratatouille

I can't remember the last time I saw an animated movie in the theater. But there I was--at 10 a.m. this morning in a theater filled with people and their little children--watching the delightful Ratatouille. This is not a kid's movie. The story is probably a bit much for most of them, and its execution through mostly dialog (including Remy's narration) probably leaves them wondering what the hell is going on.* But I loved it! It's clever, it's self-affirming, and it's absolutely beautiful. It looks like Paris and the French-themed music adds to the flair.

I have one major quibble. It's not a fatal flaw, but one that left me scratching my head. Why are two (early, I might add) scenes involving guns in this movie?! In case you didn't realize you were watching an American movie set in Paris, a big ol' shotgun announced that pretty quickly. Seriously, what the hell were they thinking?! Not only is this not very realistic, but my god, do we need to put this stuff in a movie that millions of children are going to watch? Hell, I'm plenty old enough, and I don't want to see that. Trust me, the gun business was not a crucial plot element. Brad Bird, dude, what were you thinking?

The movie left me with a major craving for a baguette and almond croissant (my favorite delights in Paris). Oh, and it made me think of the Trader Joe's ratatouille I haven't had in ages...

Go see it!

* I was surprised by how unproblematic a theater full of children was for me. But the little girl sitting next to me fidgeted like crazy and an hour into the movie told her mother she was bored. She asked at least once for clarification on something that was said quickly. I could see how it would baffle her. But hey, at least they didn't dumb the movie down.

i know, i know...

I'm long overdue for a proper blogging session. I'll do it soon, I swear.

In the meantime, I thought I'd get started by saying that today would be my mother's 55th birthday. She died a month shy of her 48th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Mom.

my eyes are still blue

On Wednesday night I took a redeye from LAX to BWI. Oh that sucked. I had never taken a redeye to the east coast before. Nor do I ever want to do it again. I just can't sleep on planes. And to make it worse, we were sitting on the plane ready to leave on time and then a flight attendant made an announcement that we can't go anywhere because security is at a standstill and our pilots haven't arrived yet. So we took off about an hour and a half late. Even after two Tyenol PMs, all I could do was intermittantly doze.

The highlight of the trip? I saw Alton Brown in an airport bookshop while I was walking around before my flight.

Nothing too exciting to report yet. Allie flies home from England tonight. I'm going to be domestic and make her my famous french toast in the morning. Aren't I a nice sister?

historic preservation?

I've linked you to my most recent Picasa photo album. It's a doozie.

Last Saturday, Andrew and I went to the Cha Cha Lounge.* In our effort to find parking, we stumbled upon this house under (de)construction. I just couldn't believe it. I vowed I'd go back and photograph it.

Fearing even the tattered facade would be gone soon, I went back the next day with David on our way to the Hammer Museum (awesome exhibits now on display...go, it's free all summer!). Anyway, it seemed to still be in tact, so I took these photos. David also noticed that they didn't just "preserve" (what the hell is going on with the bottom?!) the facade, but also chose to keep a cool spiral staircase. Unfortunately, the photos just don't do the site justice, and even having been there, it's hard to tell what's going on.

I encourage a fieldtrip. The former duplex is on Edgewater Terrace at the intersection with Deane St. in Silver Lake, just off Silver Lake Blvd. I haven't been back since last week, but I'll try to check on it periodically. It could be leveled now.


* The only cool thing about that place is the color photo booth. We took some (unintentionally) hilarious photos in there.