Esoteric Survey

Robert J Ellenberger for Calfab Furniture Company. Los Angeles, 1950 F Carlton Ball and Tatsuzō Shimaoka  Two more for the cup collection.

William Chappelow at his Tryyn Gallery in Guatay, CA.  Bill is an amazing craftsman who specializes in wood kitchen implements. He's been at it since the early 1970s and his work is included in the Smithsonian permanent collection. Tryyn is a medieval term meaning "coming from the tree". The gallery is located in the mountains just 30 minutes east of San Diego in the tiny town of Guatay, which is on Historic Highway 80. The form and grain of the wood guides what the final piece will become.  Each piece is designed for a very particular use. I spent a lot of time reading the tags before selecting mine. Cream of wheat is one of my favorites.  Bill in his workshop, which is located behind the gallery. Bill's prefered machines are Walker-Turner band saws from the 1930s. He uses more than 250 types of wood in his work. As an avid environmentalist, he uses every scrap. At one point he was even using the sawdust in...

Horton Plaza by Jon Jerde opened in 1985. It was a big deal. Downtown San Diego was dead and this postmodern mall was an attempt to revitalize the heart of the city. It's considered a postmodern architectural icon, as well as redevelopment success story. Jerde referred to the style as "Festival Marketplace".  His design for the shopping center was based on Ray Bradbury's essay "The Aesthetics of Lostness". Anyone who has been there, knows what this is all about. There are curved walkways, mismatched levels, one-way ramps, sudden drop-offs, colonnades and cul-de-sacs, all around a central courtyard.  Six buildings that were were on the National Register of Historic Places were demolished to make way for the 6 block shopping center.  In true San Diego style, many of the demolished buildings were recreated as stucco renditions. The Knights of Pythias Castle was one of the victims. Image: San Diego History Center (via SD Reader ) The de...

I stayed local this weekend and it rained.  A side table is all I picked up. At least it's nice.

The Mutual Housing Association Site Office (1947)  by A. Quincy Jones, Whitney Smith and Edgardo Contini. The Mutual Housing Association concept began with four musicians who, in 1946, wanted to share an acre of land and a swimming pool. At one point, the association had 500 members. Mutual Housing Association was formed as a nonprofit entity. All of the members of the co-operative owned shares and would be entitled to a housing site. After looking at various properties around Los Angeles, they settled on the rolling hills of Brentwood. They purchased 835 acres for $400,000 and the sites for homes were estimated to cost between $11,000 to $25,000. A. Quincy Jones, Whitney Smith and structural engineer Edgardo Contini were selected to design the community.  Source: Arts & Architecture Here's a map for reference. The site office was the first building constructed and was essentially a full-scale mockup. Although not an actual house, the basic str...