Art Opening - The World of Naked John

Haphazard Gallery

On Saturday night Larry and I attended the art opening Dennis O. Callwood's "The World of Naked John" at the Haphazard Gallery on Sawtelle Blvd., WLA. Dennis is a well-known photographer and artist. He met the performance artist, "Naked John" in 1994 and started photographing John during his appearances at various art spots and underground punk events all over Los Angeles. 

Naked John and Friend, 1994, Photo and artwork by Dennis O. Callwood

Here is an explanation of Naked John's work by Dennis: 

"John's performances were rather simple. Showing up at events naked, he embedded himself in the festivities with the clothed party goers, pretending not to be aware of his nakedness.  A successful performance depended on the audience either accepting or forgetting he was unclothed.

My interest was sparked by the apparent normalcy of the entire events--not only John's behavior but also the seemingly normal reactions of the audience. They, too, seemed oblivious to his nakedness, or perhaps pretended to be. For me, the juxtapostion of form, visual and emotional tnesion, clothed and unclothed bodies combine for an interesting stew, not to overlook the obliviousness of the audience. My task was to find and capture some small essence of Naked John's world." - Dennis O. Callwood

Naked John with an admirer

Yup! Naked John was in attendance on Saturday, in the flesh! He has aged a bit, but haven't we all. Really, he's tall and nice looking and from this Westsider's point of view, he'd look really great IN CLOTHES!

Dennis O. Callwood

Dennis' collages were large and colorful. I even managed to spot Gus and Tina in one of the pieces!

Rush, Gus and Tina. Photo and Collage by Dennis O. Callwood

Artwork by Dennis O. Callwood

The gallery was packed! People were mingling, drinking wine and generally friendly. I guess having Naked John in the room put everyone at ease. I do love the way Dennis paints clothes!

Vest by Dennis O. Callwood

I cannot guarantee that Naked John will be in attendance, but if you have a chance, check out this show! While you're on Sawtelle you could grab a bowl of ramen too!

Memorial Day

This is a repeat of my post from 2010, with a few minor changes.

Lately, the Memorial Day holiday has been known as the kick-off to the summer. We understand it to be just another day off from work, time for a short vacation, sales at the mall or the family barbecue get-together. 

From Wikipedia, here's the description of the Memorial Day Holiday: Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 31 in 2010). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the Civil War), it was expanded after World War I.

Major George E. Bloom, 1942. It's been 12 years, almost to the day, that Pop passed away.

During the early 1980's I lived on Sepulveda Blvd. near Montana Ave., just north of the Los Angeles National Veteran's Cemetary in Westwood. One year on Memorial Day, I walked with a few neighbors down to the Cemetary to see if one of the military bands was performing. On this particular soldiers' holiday, Boy Scouts had placed small flags on every single grave in the cemetary. There are 116 acres of marble headstones. Westwood is the largest veteran's cemetery outside Arlington National Cemetary in Virginia. Needless to say, all of those thousands of little flags waving in the wind was a sobering, but magnificent sight. There wasn't a band playing that day, just many soldiers and families of military men and women paying their respects.

Today, I plan to take a few minutes and remember the image of the Veteran's Cemetery in Westwood years ago before firing up the BBQ!

The Long Weekend - Vintage Photo Friday

1961. Photo by Alan Hyde. Valley Times Collection. "Relaxing"

Oh! So many choices of things to do during the long holiday weekend! Memorial Day weekend starts for me at 1pm today/Friday! I'm going to try and get most of my errands out of the way today so I can relax and have fun over the weekend. I'll be playing ukulele, knitting, crocheting, BBQ-ing, reading, seeing artwork, riding the rails and generally enjoying Los Angeles!

Here are a few vintage photos from the Los Angeles Library Photo Archives of people enjoying themselves in our beautiful City!

1962. Photo by Jeff Goldwater. Valley Times Collection. "Hootenanny in the Park"

1955. Valley Times. "Knitting with Friends"

1964. Photo by Steve Young. Valley Times. "Gourmet Picnic"

Have a wonderful holiday weekend! See you around town!

Ridin' on the Expo Line

Platform at La Cienega / Jefferson Expo Line Station

Whenever I ride Los Angeles' Metro train, I always think of Steve Delgado singing his song, "Ridin' on the Blue Line," with his band, the Delgado Brothers. Click on the link, it's a great tune that makes me happy.

Click to see larger

I was even happier today when I was able to take my first ride on the Expo Line to my office in Santa Monica! I thought that the 5-level parking structure on La Cienega and Jefferson might be filled, but there were plenty of spaces on the top two levels, even at 9 a.m. I loaded up my tap card, climbed the stairs to the platform and waited with other office workers and students about 10 minutes for the train to arrive.

La Cienega / Jefferson Station, L.A.

The ride to Bergamot Station / 26th Street in Santa Monica was about 20 minutes. It was another 10 minutes to walk up the street to my office at Broadway and 26th. Total time, about 45 minutes. Not bad for a carefree ride without road rage! 

Bergamot / 26th St. Station, S.M.

It usually takes me about 20-30 minutes to drive the 8 miles to work in the morning. Driving back to Mid-City L.A. from Santa Monica at 6 pm is the WORST. Often I'm in the car for over an hour, many times longer. Last night (Wednesday) it took me one hour and 15 minutes to get home, so that's why I decided to take the train today. Wednesday and Thursday are traditionally bad traffic days in Los Angeles, especially on the Santa Monica Freeway.

A Red Car traveling on the Santa Monica Air Line, crossing Motor Avenue before 1956. Photo by Alan Weeks, courtesy of the Metro Transportation Library and Archive

I must say, it was a thrill for me to travel the old Red Car tracks and bridges this morning, especially the bridge that crosses Motor Avenue in Palms. I've seen this bridge all my life, but was never on it!  It must have been wonderful to take the trains all over Los Angeles in the old days!

1912 map of Pacific Electric inter-urban rail system. The Santa Monica Air Line is blue. Courtesy of the Special Collections, Young Research Library, UCLA.

See you tonight on the train!

License to Snap

While driving around Los Angeles I spot all kinds of interesting vanity license plates. My friends snap plates for me too. Here are some good ones:

Good Vibes are always appreciated in L.A. traffic!

Never Give Up! Inspiration while driving

Good For Now. Submitted by roving photographer, Brenda C.

O Her Be! Riffing on "Herbie the Lovebug" movies!

IMDB Me. The ultimate Hollywood License Plate!

Have you seen any hilarious license plates while driving around town? Let me know!

Serendipitous Saturday

Shop Window on Robertson Blvd., near Third St., WeHo

We usually go out to dinner on Saturday night. Last Saturday we wanted to keep it simple and just have a nice Cobb salad. Finding a place for dinner on a Saturday in Los Angeles that's not too crowded is not an easy thing to do. We ended up heading over to Jack 'n Jill's Too on Third Street, just east of Robertson Boulevard, West Hollywood.  We've been to Jack 'n Jill's many times and they have a great selection of salads. We parked on Robertson, about a block south of Third.

As we were walking up the street, we saw this pop-up store with these little statues in the window. The statues looked just like regular people. The name of the Store is DOOB-licated. You can get scanned, then have a 3D printed replica of yourself made. Amazing. We walked inside and got an explanation. Wow! Check out the website. This is a very cool idea.

We continued walking toward Third St. This stretch of Robertson has lots of little restaurants and decorator shops. When we rounded the corner and peered into Jack 'n Jill's Too, there was a note that said they were closed for a private party that night. Argh! We ended up walking across the street to Cafe Angelino for a perfectly delightful Caesar salad and thin-crust pizza. I'd forgotten about this place. The food is really yummy.

As we were walking back to our car on Robertson, we saw this group of kids hanging out next to a vacant lot that was surrounded by a chain link fence. One guy was twisting balloons and attaching them to the fence. We stopped to watch. The kids were from Echo Park, all wearing black, of course. The balloon sculpture was finished off with some spray paint and we started talking to the artist and his entourage. The artist signs his works "@balloonski." They told us about a pop-up art show they were going to across the street. We joined them.  Nice kids!

@balloonski - Balloon Sculpture, Robertson Blvd., WeHo

The first floor of this gallery has some almost traditional artwork by one artist named #marketprice. The whole gallery is called Market Price. Yeah, it's a pop-up. Everything is temporary these days. 

Pop Up Gallery, 315 So. Robertson Blvd., WeHo

My favorite piece was "Killing Time," oil and acrylic on linen, 44" x 60". It's Freddy Krueger sitting in that "Nighthawks" diner that Edward Hopper made famous. Hahahaha!

"Killing Time" by #marketprice 

We ventured upstairs where all the people were. There was music blasting and lots of young people mulling about. 

The two artists featured are twin brothers. This series of paintings were all painted from screen shots of porn videos by the likes of Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton and more. Looked to me like the twins added a few of their own body parts to the paintings! Here's one of the less x-rated pieces:

I wish I'd gotten the name of the painters. It's an Instagram/Twitter world. Everything is spur-of-the-moment, just like our serendipitous Saturday in WeHo!

The Triangular Building

For the month of May I've been participating with a few of my friends in an online photo prompt exercise called FMS Photo A Day. Every day a new word is listed and we are supposed to post a photograph depicting the specific word. I've been trying to relate my photos to the City of Los Angeles. To see the daily photos on Facebook and Instagram, just search these hashtags: #FMSphotoaday #photoadaymay.

Today's prompt is TRIANGLE. Combining the word and the City of Los Angeles has been challenging. I have lived here all my life and have always been particularly interested in the 
architecture of this City. At first I thought about traffic triangles. 

Pandora's Box Riots, 1966. Uncredited Snapshot

The most famous traffic triangle in my memory was the one where Pandora's Box Nightclub in Hollywood was located, Sunset and Crescent Heights. This was where the nearby residents complained about all of those "hippie" teenagers hanging around and a curfew was enforced by the LAPD.  Rioting ensued. News cameras rolled. Movies were made. A famous triangle in Los Angeles. 

Then, I began to think more architecturally. I've seen a number of A-Frame buildings in town, most famously The International House of Pancakes. A few of these still exist as pancake houses. Many of the original buildings have morphed into other restaurants, including Roy Choi's A-Frame Restaurant in Mar Vista.

A-Frame Restaurant, Mar Vista. Formerly IHOP

There are also a number of A-Frame shaped churches in Los Angeles. This beautiful building jumped into my mind! There's a sweet A-Framed church right across the street from one of my favorite taco stands, Chabelita's on South Western Avenue. Yes! I looked up the address of the church and found out that it is called the Triangular Church of Religious Science. Perfect! A Triangular shaped building along with a triangle name!

The Triangular Church of Religious Science. 1938 South Western Avenue, L.A.

Naturally, I was interested in finding out who the architect was of this beautiful mid-20th century building. The only reference I could find was on the Berkeley Square Neighborhood website. Apparently the building was designed by architect Albert Butts in 1960. I could not find any other substantial information about the architect online. I must dig deeper! I absolutely LOVE the design of this building! The Triangular Church moved here from their former home at 52nd St. and Wadsworth in South Los Angeles. There is more history about the Church, it's origins and current membership here. 

I thought about the triangle shape and realized it may represent the Holy Trinity. I'm sure there are other interpretations.

Logo for the Triangular Church of Religious Science

I like this theme.  I'm going to look for more triangle-shaped buildings in Los Angeles this weekend!

KAL - Completed!

Ellen's Completed "Leighton" Hat

A KAL is a Knit-A-Long. This is when many people tackle the same pattern and knit it at the same time. They often compare methods, notes, etc. while knitting the common object. My West Hollywood Stitch 'n Bitch group elected to have a KAL with knit designer, Brenda Castiel's "Leighton" hat.

Brenda's Sample Hat, Slouchy Version

This is a good pattern for a KAL. There have been lots of discussions about circular needles, double point needles, various colors and weights of yarn used and more. Brenda added a few surprise stitch patterns in this hat to maintain our interest. 

My hat, in progress

Some people are making the hat longer for a "slouchy" version. I decided to make a beanie-sized hat and add a pom-pom on top to coordinate with the contrasting stripe color. Check out my Ravelry project page for details.  

Sweet Georgia Yarn, Queensland Katmandu Aran Tweed, Mystery Beige Wool

I like this pattern and will definitely make it again! Thanks, Brenda.

2016 Potholder Swap

My 2016 Potholders

The Potholder Swap has been on hold for a year or two. The ladies from Massachusetts that ran the swap decided that they were just too busy to host.  One year, the Annual Dishcloth Swap ladies (of which I am an honorary member) hosted the Potholder Swap. Whoa! We had an amazing response, and YES, it was a LOT of work! I don't blame the Massachusetts crew for passing on their duties. This year, we have hosts from Texas handling all the swap details. You still have plenty of time to join in the fun. Check out the group page HERE. Three potholders are due on June 13th. You really must read all the rules though so you're not disqualified. 

I toyed with a few different patterns, but settled on a modified version of the Granny Mandala crossed with a few rounds from the African Flower motif. I crocheted the backs of each potholder in simple rounds of double crochet for maximum coverage and heat protection.

My potholders measure 7 inches across. I used a size "G" crochet hook, kitchen cotton and crocheted around a plastic ring on the last round. I can't wait to see which three different potholders I receive!

This one is my favorite

"From Cows to Concrete"

We attended a book signing on Saturday at the Workman and Temple Family Homestead in the City of Industry. The book, "From Cows to Concrete," by Rachel Surls and Judith Gerber, tells the story of "the rise and fall of farming in Los Angeles." What better place to illustrate the lost farms of Los Angeles than smack dab in the middle of the City of Industry at the Workman and Temple Family Homestead! This historic piece of property was once part of a vast agricultural area, now surrounded by factories, light industry and freeways.

Photographer Larry Underhill, Angel City Press's Paddy Calistro, Book Designer Amy Inouye

The authors showed slides of some of the many illustrations from the book and told an abbreviated story about the origins and demise of farming in Los Angeles. L.A. was known as wine country before tract homes, factories and civilization took hold.

After refreshments and the presentation, we were guided on a private tour of the Workman and Temple gardens and homes.

The original adobe home, built in 1841 has morphed into an 1870s modified Victorian home for the Workman family. It is typical of it's era with smaller, high-ceiling rooms and a generous front porch. 

The modest Workman Family Home

We were led to the Temple family home called La Casa Nueva (the new house). This expansive home in the Spanish Colonial Revival style was built between 1922 and 1927. 

La Casa Nueva, Temple Family Home

It's loaded with beautiful architectural craftsmanship, including carved wood, ceramic tile, decorative wrought iron and stained glass windows. Being raised among Spanish Revival homes of the 1920s and 1930s, I always appreciate good examples of this type of architecture. This house is a beauty, inside and out!

The Dining Room at La Casa Nueva

Stained Glass Windows in the Entryway

Spanish Tiles surround the fireplace

The tiled floor in the breakfast room is so FAB!

Outside La Casa Nueva, at the end of the garden was a tee pee styled building. Our guide informed us that this was used as a study for Mr. Temple. I want a tee pee in my backyard!

Every Garden Needs a Tee Pee!

This historic site is often used for photo opportunities. We spotted a Quinceañera party, posing for photos at the Gazebo!

It was a perfect day for an L.A. field trip! The Homestead Museum and grounds are free to visit. They offer many events and lectures throughout the year. To read more about the Workman and Temple families, check out this link.