photographer George Mann
WHAT: With "George Mann's Lost Los Angeles," 3-D photography experts and
Bunker Hill historians (and one former resident) discuss L.A.'s most
beguiling lost neighborhood and the other iconic and offbeat Los Angeles
locales photographed by one-time Vaudeville star George Mann (1905-1977).
Event celebrates the donation of a portfolio of Mann's Bunker Hill photos to
the Los Angeles Public Library.
WHERE: Mark Taper Auditorium, Central Library, 630 West Fifth Street, Los
Angeles, CA 90071
WHO: LAVA The Los Angeles Visionaries Association and the On Bunker Hill
time travel blog in association with the Los Angeles Public Library Photo
Collection and Photo Friends presents Susan Pinsky and David Starkman (Reel
3-D), Richard Schave (Esotouric), Nathan Marsak (On Bunker Hill) and Gordon
Pattison (Bunker Hill resident)
WHEN: Wednesday, November 14, 6-7:45pm
COST: Free, but space is limited. Arrive early to ensure a seat. 3-D glasses
will be provided.
PARKING: For rates and lot locations, see
http://www.lapl.org/central/
LINKS: Event info - http://www.lavatransforms.org/
George Mann on the On Bunker Hill blog -
http://onbunkerhill.org/
LOS ANGELES- George Mann just might be the most important Los Angeles
photographer you've never heard of. His color scenes of the lost Victorian
neighborhood of Bunker Hill, taken just before it was demolished fifty years
ago in a misguided urban renewal project, have astonished fans of L.A.
architecture and history through a series of exclusive posts on the On
Bunker Hill time travel blog and a recent exhibition at Gary Leonard's Take
My Picture gallery.
Now LAVA - The Los Angeles Visionaries Association, On Bunker Hill, the Los
Angeles Public Library Photo Collection and Photo Friends are delighted to
announce an evening celebrating the photographic work of the late George
Mann (1905-1977) as it was meant to be seen: in jaw-dropping Kodachrome 3-D.
George Mann's rediscovered color images of mid-century Los Angeles are
astonishing, and a must see for anyone who loves the city and wants to know
it better.
The free presentation of "George Mann's Lost Los Angeles" takes place in the
Mark Taper Auditorium of the Central Library on Wednesday, November 14, from
6-7:45pm. Space is limited, and early arrival advised.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM:
"George Mann's Lost Los Angeles" is hosted by LAVA co-founder Richard Schave
and based around the remarkable 3-D projections of Mann's vintage Kodachrome
3-D slide photographs, overseen by Susan Pinsky & David Starkman (Reel 3-D).
They will give an introduction to the technical aspects of the 3-D
photography and projection process, share the curious story of how they
purchased most of George Mann's custom motorized 3-D viewing machines after
the photographer's 1977 death, show off a vintage King Vitamin cereal box
(for which Mann was the model) and explain their current work with the
George Mann Archives to digitize and improve the appearance of Mann's
vintage 3-D transparencies before projecting them using twin projectors
aimed at a silver screen for a result that is brighter, clearer and
altogether more magical than was possible when George Mann shot his photos
in the 1950s and 1960s for display in standalone viewing devices. Attendees
will be captivated as they see a lost Los Angeles live again in three
dimensions. 3-D glasses will be provided.
Accompanying the projected images, historians Nathan Marsak (On Bunker Hill
blogger and author of "Los Angeles Neon") and Richard Schave (Esotouric)
will provide lively and informed narration on the images of Los Angeles in
the 1950s and 1960s, and Bunker Hill native son Gordon Pattison will share
personal memories of his beloved old neighborhood as it is recreated, in
vivid Kodachrome 3-D, half a century after it was demolished by bulldozers.
Join LAVA for an evening celebrating the rediscovery of one of Los Angeles'
most important photographers, and the extraordinary places that captivated
him, as George Mann's 3-D photographs are projected to the public for the
very first time. The event celebrates the recent donation by the George Mann
Archive of a portfolio of Bunker Hill prints to the Los Angeles Public
Library.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:
SUSAN PINSKY & DAVID STARKMAN (Reel 3-D) discovered the excitement of 3-D
photography in 1976 and have been enjoying every aspect of it ever since.
They published a 3-D hobbyist newsletter "Reel 3-D News" from 1978 to 1980.
Requests from subscribers unable to find necessary supplies for 3-D
photography led to the production of their "3-D Catalog," which later
evolved into a business of selling 3-D supplies and literature called Reel
3-D Enterprises, Inc. Reel 3-D operated full-time from 1984 to 2004. Since
then Reel 3-D has been selling wholesale to businesses around the world.
3-D information and references to 3-D supplies sources may still be found on
their web site www.reel3d.com. They are active 3-D photographers. They are
both Associates of the Photographic Society of America (APSA). Both are past
presidents of the Stereo Club of Southern California (www.la3dlclub.com).
Both have been on the board of directors of the Photographic Society of
America, the Western Photographic Collectors Association, the Stereo Club of
Southern California, the National Stereoscopic Association, and the
International Stereoscopic Union. They have been an official Stereo Pair
since they were married in 1977 (dimensionally documented in View-Master and
Stereo Realist formats to prove it!), and continue to enjoy pursuing and
sharing this wonderful extra dimensional hobby. In addition to making shows
with their own 3-D photos they have worked on many shows which are
compilations of recent or vintage images by both known and anonymous
stereographers, and putting them into a 3-D projectable format for large
audience enjoyment.
NATHAN MARSAK, GORDON PATTISON AND RICHARD SCHAVE are contributors to On
Bunker Hill (www.onbunkerhill.org), part of the 1947project series of time
travel blogs. NATHAN MARSAK is a Los Angeles historian, preservation
advocate, and is perpetually restoring his Highland Park home. He is the
author of "Los Angeles Neon." His forthcoming projects include a book on the
American mortuary, and something involving all those postcards he's
collected. GORDON PATTISON is a third generation resident of the lost
downtown neighborhood of Bunker Hill. His family's iconic mansions, The Salt
Box and The Castle, were the last two Victorian properties left standing
after the Community Redevelopment Agency seized the hill and evicted 9000
people in the largest eminent domain action in American history. The Salt
Box and The Castle were recognized as landmarks and moved to Heritage
Square, where they were promptly consumed in a fire set by vagrants. With
his wife Kim Cooper, RICHARD SCHAVE runs the eclectic tour company
Esotouric, offering bus adventures into the secret heart of Los Angeles that
celebrate writers (Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, Charles Bukowski, John
Fante), architecture, true crime and Southland spirituality. He is host of
the quarterly LAVA literary Salon, leader of LAVA's Flaneur & The City
series of free downtown walking tours, and a stalwart preservation advocate.
ABOUT BUNKER HILL, the ON BUNKER HILL blog and GEORGE MANN:
Bunker Hill in the 1870s was early Los Angeles' most distinguished address,
an enclave of grand Victorians, gorgeous gardens and clear-skied views out
to Catalina and beyond. By the 1910s the wealthy had moved on, and the
Hill's mansions became rooming houses. Up on the Hill, life moved at a
different pace. Writers Raymond Chandler, John Fante and Charles Bukowski
came and were captivated by the place. Painters Leo Politi, Kay Martin and
Millard Sheets made its rotting hotels and sad-eyed residents the subject of
their art. And down at City Hall, planners schemed about how Bunker Hill
could be declared a slum, its old houses pulled down, its people moved
along, leaving a blank slate where skyscrapers could grow. By 1970, Bunker
Hill was a field of dirt. In 2008, the time travel bloggers of
1947project.com turned their attention to Bunker Hill. Over a year, the blog
grew into a house-by-house survey of the great old downtown residential
neighborhood that was demolished to create the high rise district that
shares its name, but none of its charms. The blog's contributors, including
authors, historians, librarians and tour guides, delved deep into historic
archives to uncover the most fascinating tales of more than a century of
life on Bunker Hill. 1947project is the brainchild of Kim Cooper, pop music
historian ("Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth"), tour guide (Esotouric bus
adventures) and preservation activist (Save the 76 Ball). She was joined ON
BUNKER HILL by author Nathan Marsak, LAPL history librarian Mary McCoy,
Esotouric's Joan Renner, LAPL Acting Senior Librarian - Photo Collection
Christina Rice, Esotouric's Richard Schave and author John Toomey.
George Mann's Los Angeles photos were discovered in his archives by
daughter-in-law Dianne Woods in 2010. While researching the images, she
found the On Bunker Hill blog, and offered to let the blog feature Mann's
Bunker Hill images, online and in archival prints for sale. Since then,
Mann's family has also shared with On Bunker Hill some of the short films he
made featuring fellow Vaudevillians like The Three Stooges and W.C. Fields,
and dozens of photos of landmark Los Angeles restaurants.
Born in Santa Monica in 1905, by his early 20s George Mann was a vaudeville
star as the hilariously taller half of the comedy dance team Barto & Mann.
Of their east coast debut, "Zit's Theatrical Newspaper" raved "Ten minutes
before they went on at the Palace last Monday afternoon nobody thought very
much about Barto & Mann; ten minutes after they came off stage, the whole
Broadway world was talking about them." As Vaudeville faded, Barto & Mann
joined the Broadway cast of "Hellzapoppin" with featured billing from 1938
through 1942. The team split up in December 1943.
In his post-performance life, George Mann turned his imagination to
entrepreneurial enterprise and professional photography, which brought him
to Bunker Hill. In the late 1950s, when the neighborhood's days were known
to be numbered, he arrived atop the peak with his camera to document some
representative scenes, returning in November 1962 for additional shots.
These long forgotten color images of old Bunker Hill were originally
displayed in 3-D viewers of Mann's own design, which were leased to various
Los Angeles restaurants, bars and doctor's offices. Mann would swap out the
photo selection every two weeks, so if these evocative scenes of Bunker Hill
weren't available, one might peep at Calico Ghost Town, Catalina Island,
Descanso Gardens, Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, Pacific Ocean Park, Watts
Towers or Palm Springs.
In his Bunker Hill set, created to distract anxious patients and hungry
tourists, George Mann captured a seldom seen side of this lost Los Angeles
neighborhood: the gracious avenues and genteel decay, the old people, their
cats and their gardens, abandoned newspapers, vacant lots, the shadows and
the sunlight. We are in his debt.
To see George Mann's rediscovered Los Angeles photographs and learn about
his fascinating career that took him and his diminutive sidekick Dewey Barto
(real-life pop of TV's "Rhoda's" mom Nancy Walker) from the stages of west
coast vaudeville to the Great White Way, visit all the On Bunker Hill blog's
George Mann pages at http://onbunkerhill.org/
See Barto & Mann dancing in "Broadway Through A Keyhole" (1933)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
For more info about ON BUNKER HILL, please visithttp://www.onbunkerhill.org
Explore lost Los Angeles history on these upcoming Esotouric bus adventures:
Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles (10/27); Charles Bukowski's LA (11/3); Blood
& Dumplings crime bus tour (11/4); Pasadena Confidential crime bus tour
(12/1); Eastside Babylon crime bus tour (12/2); Weird West Adams (12/8);
Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice (12/15)
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