Thursday 25 March 2010
Thursday 11 March 2010
Thursday 4 March 2010
Breakdown for Transportaion Reimaging Assignmet
Concept #1 Subway Station - Mural
- Creation of a modern mural system uniting LA
- Juxtaposition of the subterranian with the bypassed landscapes
- Gold Line goes underground, bypassing Boyle Heights
- The creation of panoramic murals that siplay boyle heights in it's actuality
- Final output:
- A single or series of images representing the proposed above ground imagery over underground actuality
- A simulated proposal to the LA Metro Arts
- Research:
- current LA metro art
- international subway art
- photographic exploration of Boyle Heights
Concept #2 Bus Line - Tattoo
- Concept for a bus line through Boyle Heights with iconic imagery from LA history
- The streetcar motif is 'skin deep,' tattoo imagery which redresses the bus
- Bus lines in Boyle Heights dressed with imagery of the original trollies that ran through Boyle Heights
- The modern transportation set against the nostalgic LA Red Car system
- Final output:
- A single or series of images representing the proposed 'tattoo' redressing of the LA Metro bus system in Boyle Heights
- Research:
- current trend in city bus redressing
- information on specific lines of transportation relating to Boyle Heights
- the history of those lines of transportation
Concept #3 Streetcar - Graffiti
- Street art of the murals of Boyle Heights painted on the streetcars of old Boyle Heights
- The history of Boyle Heights painted with the reaction to the history of Boyle Heights
- Boyle Heights past and present
- Final output:
- A single or series of images of streetcars dressed with the murals and graffiti of modern Boyle Heights
- Research:
- look at the murals and graffiti of Boyle Heights
- history behind the imagery
- research the specific streetcars utilized
- Craig, DJ, Bryce
Reflection Of Hollenbeck Park, Boy Heights, California
My trip to Hollenbeck Park in Boyle Heights was an interesting look at what was before and what is today. Before going to the location I researched the park and it’s rich history while at the Los Angeles Public Library on our field trip. The park was opened in 1892 and donated by John Edward Hollenbeck who became the namesake after his monetary and land donations to the city of Los Angeles. The park had appeared to change dramatically over the course of the years and is no longer the picturesque Victorian era park that it had originally been conceived as. Long gone was the cast iron Victorian bridge and European style. While the original bridge that spanned the man made lake was taken down, a replacement came in 1970 made of wood and concrete. The park is spread over nearly 21 acres of land and is a lush sanctuary away from the chaos and stress of the surrounding urban area for people and animals alike.
The park was also much larger than I had originally expected. Its lake became the centerpiece and the park’s shape took on an elongated oval shape with the lake stretching nearly from one end to the other. The park’s overall typography was bowl shaped creating a sort of refuge from the streets and the noise of the freeway that runs along the western edge of the park. While walking the path around the pond I noticed just how much wildlife called the park home. There were many species of ducks, geese, and various other water birds. The birds seem to enjoy the space just as much as the people and is probably an easy source of food for them when people come to feed them. Tall old trees dot the perimeter of the park with a miraculous hanging Oak stretched out over the water toward the middle of the lake. Its roots taking hold firmly as the tree hung precariously over the waters edge.
While in the park I observed the people who visited the space. There were teenagers at one end standing on the bridge cracking jokes and exchanging laughs, couples laying on blankets kissing under the shade of the tall trees, and an elderly Hispanic gentleman who seemed to have a particular attachment to one of the geese. He walked back and forth along the edge of the water calling the goose by name and led him from one side of the pond to the other. The goose and the man seemed to be close friends and he was even able to intense the goose to come out of the water to say hello.
As I continued walking I observed him from afar, a mother and daughter walked by in astonishment that the man was able to commune with the animal. The old man insisted that the child say hello and meet his good friend. As the girl approached nervously the old man assured her that she would be ok and that the goose was very friendly. The goose appeared to study the child for a brief moment then continued to approach her cautiously, the child laughed and then ran behind her mother for safety, peeking out from behind her legs at the goose. The old man began to chuckle slightly as the woman thanked the old man and continued walking along the pond with the child holding her mother’s hand stile grinning eagerly at the goose then up at the old man.
The LA Red Car and other useful information
Pacific Electric Railway (aka the LA Red Car)
Electric trolleys first traveled in Los Angeles in 1887.The Pasadena and Pacific Railway was an 1895 merger between the Pasadena and Los Angeles Ry and the Los Angeles Pacific Ry (to Santa Monica.) The Pasadena and Pacific boosted Southern California tourism by living up to its motto "from the mountains to the sea."
During this time, by consolidation of many smaller railroads, the Pacific Electric Railway was established by railroad and real estate tycoon Henry Huntington in 1901. Only a few years after the company's formation, most of Pacific Electric stock was purchased by the Southern Pacific Railroad, which Huntington had tried and failed to gain control of a decade earlier. In 1911, Southern Pacific bought out Huntington except for the LARy, the narrow gauge street car system known locally as Yellow Cars, and SP also purchased several other passenger railways that Huntington owned in the Los Angeles area, including the Pasadena and Pacific. This resulted in what was called the "Great Merger" of 1911.
Major 1920s PE business was "taking the Red Car" for inland folks, such as in the Pasadena area, to the beaches at Santa Monica, Del Rey, Manhattan/Redondo/Hermosa Beach, Long Beach in Los Angeles County and to Newport Beach and Huntington Beach in Orange County. On weekends, extra service beyond the normal schedules was provided, particularly in the late afternoon when everyone wanted to return at the same time. It was good times for residents of the region and good times for profits for the PE as this was the Roaring Twenties. Comedian Harold Lloyd highlighted the popularity and utility of the system in an extended sequence in his 1924 film, "Girl Shy" where, after finding one Red Car too crowded, he commandeers another and drives at breakneck speed through the streets of Culver City and Los Angeles.
After the Great Merger, Henry Huntington retained the narrow gauge Los Angeles Railway company. LARy provided local streetcar service in central Los Angeles and to nearby communities. These trolleys were known as the "Yellow Cars" and actually carried more passengers than the PE's "Red Cars" since they ran in the most densely populated portions of Los Angeles, including south to Hawthorne and along Pico Boulevard to near West Los Angeles to terminate at the huge Sears Roebuck store and distribution center (which was the L.A Railway's most popular line, the "P" line). The Yellow Cars' unusual narrow gauge PCC cars, by now painted MTA two-tone green, continued to operate until the end of rail service in 1963 to the Sears complex on Pico Boulevard.
There were several years when the company's income statement showed a profit, most notably during World War II, when gas was rationed and much of the populace depended on mass transit. Huntington's involvement with urban rail was intimately tied to his real estate development operations. At peak operation toward the end of World War II, the PE dispatched over 1000 trains daily and was a major employer in Southern California.
Pacific Electric carried increased passenger loads during World War II, when Los Angeles County's population nearly doubled as war industries concentrated in the region attracting millions of workers. Aware that most new arrivals planned to stay in the region after the war, local municipal governments, Los Angeles County and the State agreed that a massive infrastructure improvement program was necessary.
The Gold Line
In 2004, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) began work on the Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension of its Gold Line through Boyle Heights. MTA had planned to run the line at grade level along 1st Street, but community opposition concerned for the potential loss of affordable housing led it to instead route the line through the district as a subway before it emerges as a standard grade-level light rail line in East Los Angeles. (this route was planned as part of the Red Line subway before 1998) The Eastside Extension opened on November 15, 2009.
Some streets in City Terrace and Boyle Heights are wide, and you can tell that the old streetcars ran down the center of these streets. They called the streetcar the "dinkie" on the line that ran along Evergreen St. and City Terrace Dr. because of its small (30 ft.) car run by one motorman/conductor, but there were several streetcar lines that would take you all over town for seven cents.
- Craig, DJ, Bryce
Wednesday 3 March 2010
Writing assignment II: Due next week March 11, 2010
LA Past Lives: Boyle Heights
Writing assignment II: Due next week March 11, 2010
A 3 pages analysis and reflection on two chapters from Reyner Banham’s Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies in relation to your individual/group
Project.
Chapter 4: the Transportation Palimpsest (pp. 57-76)
In this section of the book, Banham examines how the freeway system and particular highway intersection affect the city. Read the chapter and relate it to the research material and ideas of your own work.
Chapter 5: Ecology II: Foothills (pp. 77-92)
In this section, Banham articulates the presence and topology of the hill as having a unique determination of how neighborhoods, such as Boyle Heights, are both conceived in their urban planning and experienced as vernacular places. Read the chapter and relate it to your research and main focus.