Here are some brief highlights from LAVA's calendar – visit http://lavatransforms.org for full details and new additions. We hope you can join us for some of these Visionary-hosted events.
If you can make just one each month, make it our Sunday Salon from noon to 2pm (next Salon: this Sunday, January 30). This is a regularly scheduled lunchtime gathering held on the last Sunday of each month at Clifton's Cafeteria, and it's where the LAVA will really start flowing, as we get to know each other better over confetti-flecked jello and other delights.
Event: LAVA's Sunday Salon
start time: Sun, 01/30/2011 - 12:00pm - 2:00pm
On the last Sunday of each month, LAVA welcomes interested individuals to gather on the third floor of the historic Clifton's Cafeteria in Downtown Los Angeles (noon-2pm), for a loosely structured conversational Salon featuring short presentations and opportunities to meet and connect with one another. If you're interested in joining LAVA as a creative contributor or an attendee, we recommend Salon attendance as an introduction to this growing community. We also recommend the shortbread.
Special program at the January 30 Salon:
• Back by popular demand, LAVA Visionary Gene Sculatti, outsider artist and pop culture critic (The Catalog of Cool) offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Salon attendees to "develop" the open spaces on his newest fantasy cityscape scroll, Majestic Boulevard. Come live the Jet Age California dream when you stake out a virtual half-acre along Majestic Boulevard and plan the commercial development of your dreams. Maybe it's tiki-themed bowling alley... or a no-tell motel named after your secret crush... or the lone Victorian farmhouse left behind when progress came to town. Interested "developers" are invited to come view the scroll in progress and talk about the possibilities with the artist. Stake your claim, and then follow your development's progress on the LAVA blog between January and June, when Gene will return to the LAVA Salon to unveil the expanded scroll to the lucky "property owners."
ABOUT GENE SCULATTI'S SCROLLS: Since the age of 9, Sculatti, 63, has created imaginary horizontal cities packed with fascinating details that reflect his evolving obsessions: googie signage, soaring bridges, skyscrapers, suburbs, amusement parks and much more. Join us for a rare opportunity to get close to these beautiful and strange artworks, and to hear the artist discuss his inspirations, working methods, and how the scrolls have stayed with him for more than four decades. To learn more about Gene's cityscapes, see photos from the March 2010 Sunday Salon exhibit of Gene's scrolls here, or read Gene's musings here. See a flier for today's presentation here.
• Also back by popular demand, LAVA Visionary Joe Oesterle, author of the just-released Weird Hollywood and the classic Weird California. Joe will be sharing wacky stories from his incredibly odd book tour, featuring a cameo from local cable access legend Skip E. Lowe. He also presents one of the characters from Weird Hollywood, the incomparable Count Smokula, making his LAVA debut with accordion-driven song and a Q&A. The multi-talented Joe Oesterle is a former Senior Editor of National Lampoon, a visual artist, musician and curator of the strange and marvelous. Joe will be signing copies of his new book, and Count Smokula will have CDs for sale.
Clifton's Cafeteria is at 648 South Broadway, near the corner of 7th Street. There are numerous paid parking lots nearby, and the closest Metro station is Pershing Square. Clifton's is online at http://www.cliftonscafeteria.com
Clifton's Cafeteria
648 South Broadway
Los Angeles 90013
Event: The Science and Art of Forensic Investigations: Criminalistics from Test Tube to Testimony
start time: Sun, 01/30/2011 - 2:30pm - 6:30pm
If you’d like to be contacted when another crime lab tour and lecture are scheduled, subscribe to LAVA’s occasional Crime Lab Newsletter. For a sneak peak into Professor Johnson's crime reconstruction lab, here's a video interview with LAVA co-founder Richard Schave.
Click here to purchase your ticket for the Jan. 30th crime lab event. This event is also scheduled on February 13.
Visionary Professor Donald Johnson, in association with LAVA and Esotouric, invites you to participate in a special four-hour event at LA’s regional crime laboratory, on the campus of Cal State LA. Space is very limited and pre-reservation required for this unprecedented opportunity to tour the crime lab, learn from working forensic investigators and educators, and discover the real art and science of crime scene investigation.
“The Science and Art of Forensic Investigations: Criminalistics from Test Tube to Testimony” provides an insider’s view of the scientific investigation of crime, as Criminalistics faculty and graduate students share their knowledge and insight on the theory and practice of forensic science in our criminal justice system. Attendees will also tour Cal State LA’s state-of the-art teaching and research facilities at the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center.
The afternoon begins with an introduction to the field of Criminalistics and the use of physical evidence in criminal investigations, hosted by Professor Donald Johnson, followed by an overview of the academic and research programs in Criminalistics at Cal State LA.
Then, attendees will be provided with additional insight on forensic methods during breakout sessions on Crime Scene Investigation, Forensic Chemistry, and Forensic Biology. The CSI session, hosted by Donald Johnson and Katherine Scriven, highlights tools used by forensic specialists in the field and emerging technologies in CSI. The Forensic Chemistry session, hosted by Isaac Cheney, surveys methods used for the analysis of trace evidence and controlled substances, and current research will be presented on the development of methods to detect narcotic-tampering by health professionals. The Forensic Biology session, hosted by Kristin Honig and Stacy Wilkinson, highlights body fluid and DNA analysis, with a presentation on current research on methods to improve the recovery of semen in rape cases.
The afternoon concludes with a true life--and very graphic, viewer discretion is advised--investigation overview regarding the murder of a family in Los Angeles County and opportunities to ask questions. By the program’s conclusion, attendees will have a basic understanding of the strengths and limitations of forensic methods used in criminal investigations, and a fresh perspective on the real art and science that takes place behind the scenes and the headlines.
A portion of the proceeds from this event supports the research of Criminalistics graduate students at Cal State Los Angeles.
Click here to purchase your ticket for the Jan. 30th crime lab event.
(If you get a "page not found" error message, just refresh the page and it should show up.)
The Forensic Science Center has ample and free parking. The entrance to the building is readily located from the parking lot.
The Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center (Cal State L.A.)
1800 Paseo Rancho CastillaLos Angeles 90032
Event: The New Chinatowns tour
start time: Sat, 02/05/2011 - 11:00am - 3:00pm
Esotouric presents: Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The New Chinatowns: San Gabriel Valley
In the past three decades the communities of Alhambra and Monterey Park, nestled in the foothills of the southwestern San Gabriel Valley, have transformed themselves from sleepy suburban bedroom communities (bursting at the seams from a 1950s housing explosion) to the nexus of a pan-Asian megalopolis spreading east to Diamond Bar and beyond to the county line.
Fueled by immigration from Taiwan, Hong Kong, more recently South East Asia, these communities have found their identity, their economic base, and have come into their own as a new type of American “chinatown.”
Hosted by Richard Schave, THE NEW CHINATOWNS is an entertaining and illuminating historical and cultural bus tour that rolls through Alhambra, San Gabriel, Rosemead and (mainly) Monterey Park exploring significant people, remarkable places and delicious delicacies. Join us as we explore the region's fascinating history, from the land and oil booms of the 1920s, its halcyon postwar days as a suburban outpost for lower middle class Angelenos, the birthplace of the Hula Hoop (Wham-o Industries), to the “white flight” of the 1970s which created the vacuum that facilitated the first wave of migration from China. Among the significant sites on our itinerary:
* The Venice Room (Monterey Park), a groovy grill-your-own-steak bar, still family-run after forty years
.* Browning Realty (Monterey Park), site of the 1920s oil mania and still a family enterprise after eighty-plus years.
* El Encanto (Monterey Park), exquisite showplace of the failed 1920s luxury housing development intended as the Beverly Hills of the East.
* Mission Superhardware (San Gabriel), still run by the Fabriano family after more than seven decades, and previously where Howard Roach built some of the Southland's first television sets.
* Site of the original Laura Scudder potato chip factory (Monterey Park).
* Pioneering purveyors of high quality Asian herbs, teas and notions, Wing Hop Fung, for a tea tasting.
Today Monterey Park is at the crossroads of economic development. After three decades spent fostering independent businesses-fueled by immigrant’s dreams and sweat, the city is looking to bring in big business, which it claims is desperately needed for its tax base. Can this unique and quintessentially independent community survive another identity crisis, another land boom, this time of a distinctly corporate nature?
Special attention will be paid in the route to a compelling side effect of this sociological revolution: the best Asian food in the world is here as well. We will end the tour with a tea tasting at Wing Hop Fung.
This tour is just one on our Reyner Banham Tour Series.
Cafe Metropol
923 E. 3rd. Street
Los Angeles 90013
Phone: 323-223-2767
Event: Casino Moderne
start time: Sat, 02/05/2011 - 7:00pm - 11:00pm
On Saturday, February 5, 2011 the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles presents "Casino Moderne."
With a nod to the HBO series, "Boardwalk Empire" that is set in 1920 during Prohibition, the ADSLA offers a step back in time. For one magic night, our guests will be able to immerse themselves in living history, vintage style, legal gaming tables and prohibition-era cocktails in the oldest private club in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Athletic Club was founded in 1880 and counts may of old Hollywood's glitterati among its members. The evening begins at 7pm. Enjoy 4 hours of drinking Sidecars, savorying hors d' oeuvres and taking your chances at the medley of gaming tables from Poker to Roulette. 1920s dress in encouraged, but not required.
The ADSLA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that focuses on the celebration and preservation of the architecture, art, music, dance, clothing and elegance of Art Deco.
A portion of your ticket price is tax deductible.
Los Angeles Athletic Club
431 West Seventh StreetLos Angeles 90014
Event: South Los Angeles tour
start time: Sun, 02/06/2011 - 11:00am - 3:00pm
“I learned to drive in order to read Los Angeles in the original” -Reyner Banham, Architecture of Four Ecologies
This provocative Esotouric bus adventure begins downtown and works its way south through Vernon, Bell Gardens, Santa Fe Springs and Downey, and through the past two centuries, exploring some of L.A.'s seldom-seen gems. Turning the West Side-centric notion of an L.A. architecture tour on its head—just like Banham's book did for the historical monograph – the bus goes into areas not traditionally associated with the important, beautiful or significant, raising issues of preservation, adaptive reuse and the evolution of the city. The locations all speak to the power, mutability and reach of the Southern California Dream.
Some of the tour stops are:
Rancho San Antonio (1808). One of the oldest adobe structure in Los Angeles County, it was built by the Lugo family, whose rancho spread all the way to South Gate--the south gate of the property. This fascinating home sits smack dab in the middle of a 65-year-old trailer park on the banks of the Rio Hondo River in Bell Gardens. Between the layers of context at this site is the history of migration and growth in the Southland, from Spanish land grants to the dust bowl to the vast waves of stucco suburbs.
The Clarke Estate (1920). A lost masterpiece by tilt-slab concrete architect Irving Gill, this Mission Revival-inspired dwelling features symbolic leaves pressed into the walls and feels like a time capsule from a simpler California.
Johnie's Broiler (1958/2008). A cautionary tale about historic preservation, this beloved Downey diner with its landmark neon sign was illegally demolished by a renter who wanted to park use cars in its place. The site was barred from further commercial use due to public outcry, and is now being restored as a Bob's Big Boy.
Tropicana Bakery. Downey's most beloved Cuban sandwich and sweet shop, creators of such temptations as the Choco-Flan, the giant cake-and-fruit-filled Florentine cookie, and the Flan/Cheesecake layer cake.
No other city has so fascinated architecture critics and scholars of urban and cultural studies than L.A., that sprawling, self-referential zone of mystery and glamour. British writer Reyner Banham was the first to love Los Angeles for what she was, her ugliness as well as her beauty. In the early 1970s he abandoned his academic preconceptions to revel in this city of freeways, foothills, beaches and suburbs, built on mobility and flux by a series of invaders. Along the way, he discovered extraordinary spaces in neighborhoods that were often overlooked for being too remote, too industrial, or simply occupying invisible "flyover country" beneath the great L.A. freeways.
In this city on the edge of the western dream, nothing was like what came before. Status was no longer communicated through the construction of stone palaces that looked like they fought every step of the journey over the Rocky Mountains, but rather by freeway access and wacky drive-thrus, light, ventilation, organic design and a sensitivity to a built environment— commercial and architectural innovations which would have been unthinkable anywhere and anytime else.
Gone was the unified vision of a city, and yet there was a method to L.A.'s madness. What Banham saw was something far more complicated: behind this urban sprawl was a pattern, almost a language, which could not be understood through old modes of architectural and urban criticism, but which had to be viewed through the organic facts of its own ecologies.
Esotouric guides Richard Schave and Kim Cooper studied under Banham as undergraduates at UCSC, and both were deeply influenced by his work. In Fall 2007, we launched the "Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles" architectural series in tribute to our late professor, who showed us our native Southern California through fresh eyes.
ABOUT REYNER BANHAM: Reyner Banham(1922-1988) was a prolific architectural critic best known for "Theory and Design in the First Machine Age" (1960) and "Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies" (1971). Professor Banham taught at the University of London, SUNY Buffalo and the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he was Chair of the Art History Department.
Philippe's
1001 N Alameda St.Los Angeles 90012
Event: The Science and Art of Forensic Investigations: Criminalistics from Test Tube to Testimony
start time: Sun, 02/13/2011 - 2:00pm - 6:00pm
If you’d like to be contacted when another crime lab tour and lecture are scheduled, subscribe to LAVA’s occasional Crime Lab Newsletter. For a sneak peak into Professor Johnson's crime reconstruction lab, here's a video interview with LAVA co-founder Richard Schave. This event is also scheduled on January 30th.
Click here to purchase your ticket for the Feb. 13th crime lab event.
Visionary Professor Donald Johnson, in association with LAVA and Esotouric, invites you to participate in a special four-hour event at LA’s regional crime laboratory, on the campus of Cal State LA. Space is very limited and pre-reservation required for this unprecedented opportunity to tour the crime lab, learn from working forensic investigators and educators, and discover the real art and science of crime scene investigation.
“The Science and Art of Forensic Investigations: Criminalistics from Test Tube to Testimony” provides an insider’s view of the scientific investigation of crime, as Criminalistics faculty and graduate students share their knowledge and insight on the theory and practice of forensic science in our criminal justice system. Attendees will also tour Cal State LA’s state-of the-art teaching and research facilities at the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center.
The afternoon begins with an introduction to the field of Criminalistics and the use of physical evidence in criminal investigations, hosted by Professor Donald Johnson, followed by an overview of the academic and research programs in Criminalistics at Cal State LA.
Then, attendees will be provided with additional insight on forensic methods during breakout sessions on Crime Scene Investigation, Forensic Chemistry, and Forensic Biology. The CSI session, hosted by Donald Johnson and Katherine Scriven, highlights tools used by forensic specialists in the field and emerging technologies in CSI. The Forensic Chemistry session, hosted by Isaac Cheney, surveys methods used for the analysis of trace evidence and controlled substances, and current research will be presented on the development of methods to detect narcotic-tampering by health professionals. The Forensic Biology session, hosted by Kristin Honig and Stacy Wilkinson, highlights body fluid and DNA analysis, with a presentation on current research on methods to improve the recovery of semen in rape cases.
The afternoon concludes with a true life--and very graphic, viewer discretion is advised--investigation overview regarding the murder of a family in Los Angeles County and opportunities to ask questions. By the program’s conclusion, attendees will have a basic understanding of the strengths and limitations of forensic methods used in criminal investigations, and a fresh perspective on the real art and science that takes place behind the scenes and the headlines.
A portion of the proceeds from this event supports the research of Criminalistics graduate students at Cal State Los Angeles.
Click here to purchase your ticket for the Feb. 13th crime lab event.
(If you get a "page not found" error message, just refresh the page and it should show up.)
The Forensic Science Center has ample and free parking. The entrance to the building is readily located from the parking lot.
The Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center (Cal State L.A.)
1800 Paseo Rancho Castilla
Los Angeles 90032
Event: Route 66 tour
start time: Sat, 02/19/2011 - 11:00am - 3:00pm
Esotouric’s “Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles” tours each explore themes of industry, infrastructure, architecture and the built environment.
In this third installment in our ongoing architecture series, we explore California's Mother Road and the building of its dream. The dream manifests at the turn of the 20th century as we explore how the climate was sold, the growth of the citrus industry and Tuberculosis hospitals. Then come the programmatic roadside architecture of the 1920s and 1930s and postwar V-8 visions fueled by gasoline and good climate (too bad you can't run an engine on it).
The Reyner Banham tour series is dedicated to revealing greater L.A.'s infrastructure, history, the built and natural environment, transportation corridors, drive-ins, attractions and oddities.
This tour will focus on the built environment along the Mother Road with an emphasis on old and historic alignments of Route 66 as well as signage.
Highlights of the Route 66 tour include:
E. Wald Ward Farm. Purveyors of fine preservatives and other delicacies. We will visit the barn store of this venerable Sierra Madre citrus family which has been in business of producing and selling the highest quality preserves from their orchards since 1918. We will tour the orchard and hear more about the history of this family from 4th generation member, Jeff Ward. Please peruse their price list and call ahead with your order!
Aztec Hotel. Though really Mayan in decoration, this 1924 Robert Stacy Judd-designed gem in the San Gabriel Valley's crown is becoming the place again to get your kicks. Judd's buildings in Southern California were an important influence on Frank Lloyd Wright's Mayan houses.
The McNeil & Vosberg Residences (The Feuding Slauson Sisters of Azusa). A hidden gem of Azusa lore, and family dynamics. It also serves as a reminder of the fragility of ecologies to the incessant crush of progress.
Fairmount Cemetery, a remote and fascinating Civil War-era hillside burial ground.
This four hour tour will include a complimentary coffee and cookies stop in the early afternoon.
We recommend bringing a sandwich from Clifton's or a bag lunch as well. Please note: comfortable walking shoes recommended. One of our shorter tour stops takes us over slightly rugged ground, and less agile passengers may prefer to remain on the bus.
Cafe Metropol
923 E. 3rd. Street
Los Angeles 90013
Phone: 323-223-2767
Event: Boyle Heights tour
start time: Sun, 02/20/2011 - 11:00am - 3:00pm
Join guest-host Sean Carrillo, NYC-based filmmaker and Boyle Heights native, and Esotouric's Richard Schave for a four-hour bus adventure through L.A.'s fascinating and poorly understood Eastside. Follow Sean on a voyage back to the old neighborhood, to find out if you really can't go home again, and what happens when you try.
Sean's and Richard's tour is a quick score of reds and ripple, or maybe a bennie and a toke. We'll roll down Whittier Boulevard, the Chicano Sunset Strip, where hustlers once roamed the sidewalks to the beat of Thee Midnighters blaring from hundreds of tricked-out rides, to the history-drenched intersection of Brooklyn (aka Cesar Chavez) & Soto, which has been spilling out of its top and up over its jeans for generations. This eternal community hot spot teems with the ghosts of Wobblies, Brown Berets, celebrated muralists, political activists and a pre-teen Mickey Cohen shaking down customers to buy his newspapers, and it's just one of the powerful sites on this tour of a neighborhood whose legends are too often oral, and whose heroes slip too easily into obscurity. We're pulling out the memory maps to spread tales that deserve a wider audience.
Over the decades the place has changed a lot, so we tackle the elusive question: What's the measure of a neighborhood? In 1947, deli man Ben Canter declared it was pickled beef, bragging that his Boyle Heights restaurant produced 7,000 pounds of pastrami monthly (while his upstart cousin on Fairfax moved scarcely half that). Masa is now the index for the community, and steamy tamales are comfort food for a whole new generation of Eastsiders.
Moratorium, blowouts, Ruben Salazar, Aida Handler (suspended from Roosevelt High in 1931 for "un-American" activities), Msgr. Ramon Garcia, All Nations Cultural Center, schmaltz (chicken fat) and schmeck (heroin), knishes to menudo, shortdogs of T-bird wine and the bottle of Manischewitz mama kept for company, from the sacred and the sacrilegious everything is fair game and given in the spirit of "con safos" (that means with respect, ese).
It's a journey from innocence to experience, with a focus on the ever-evolving quest for authenticity, and a myriad of political upheavals and social changes which have played out over the generations. It's the Eastside as you've never seen it before, and a very special Esotouric bus adventure recommended for anyone with a passion for Los Angeles, and a thirst for the unheard stories of the city.
The tour begins with special guest Michael Risner, who will give a show and tell presentation on the archives of a local Boyle Heights-based Japanese-American photographer which he accidentally rescued from Craigslist and certain destruction. There are well over 100,000 individual photographs in this rescued archive, with images from weddings to funerals, baby portraits to community events. Risner will explain his plans for preserving and displaying the archive while showing off some highlights from the collection. To learn more about Michael's discovery, see this L.A. Weekly feature or the video from his presentation at LAVA's Sunday Salon.
Clifton's Cafeteria
648 South Broadway
Los Angeles 90014
Phone: 323-223-2767
Event: LAVA's Sunday Salon
start time: Sun, 02/27/2011 - 12:00pm - 2:00pm
On the last Sunday of each month, LAVA welcomes interested individuals to gather on the third floor of the historic Clifton's Cafeteria in Downtown Los Angeles (noon-2pm), for a loosely structured conversational Salon featuring short presentations and opportunities to meet and connect with one another. If you're interested in joining LAVA as a creative contributor or an attendee, we recommend Salon attendance as an introduction to this growing community. We also recommend the shortbread.
Special program at the February 27 Salon to be announced closer to the event date.
Clifton's Cafeteria is at 648 South Broadway, near the corner of 7th Street. There are numerous paid parking lots nearby, and the closest Metro station is Pershing Square. Clifton's is online at http://www.cliftonscafeteria.com
Clifton's Cafeteria
648 South Broadway
Los Angeles 90014
Phone: 323-223-2767
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