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'Architecture of the Sun: Los Angeles Modernism 1900-1970' Thomas S. Hines fleshes out the heroes of L.A. architecture with a smart look at their most important buildings.


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the new farewell mills gatsch hyperbolic-paraboloid roofed snack stand at lk tbh.

snack stand

Its walls are made from concrete block the color of wet cardboard, and the mortar that holds them together seems to have been squeezed straight from a tube. You won't see a single window when you arrive at the Trenton Bath House, never mind a conventional front door.

The New Jersey summer camp that commissioned this little pool house from Philadelphia's Louis Kahn didn't think much of the results. Kahn finished the building in the scorching summer of 1955, and was immediately fired from the project. Then, the European and Japanese tourists started showing up.

The spartan pool building that Kahn created for the Trenton Jewish Community Center isn't the sort of architecture you fall in love with at first sight. It's too plain and too cerebral, especially in an age when judgments are often made from photographic eye candy. The Trenton Bath House is a building that hides its wisdom in cool, shadowy corners, and is best experienced in person.
the bathhouse was featured at its most dilapidated state in the L Kahn 2003 documentary my architect made by kahns son. its a corker! glad the reno is finally complete.

this is a little disconcerting: "The architects also contributed one of the missing pieces that Kahn didn't get to design properly: a snack bar. Similarly modest, its walls are built from concrete block, but of a newer vintage. Its cedar roof flutters up like a butterfly wing, in contrast to Kahn's downward pitch."

video tour

the bath house homepage

the other bath house homepage


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notes on anvil! the story of anvil

although the film reads sweetly natural bordering on naive, i suspect the (spoiler alert) victorious ending was in place from the start with the emotional ups and downs leading up merely allowed to play out. that is, its all a tactical career intervention by the films producer/director (hollywood insider and original uk uber-fan) sacha gervasi. thus a career resurrected an injustice corrected. for instance: the rock star interviews, the lawyer in prauge, the influential japanese fan, the record producer signing on (for a fee) and finally the huge show in japan all results of the director making key phone calls. "hey, its sacha gervasi. i'm doing a documentary on anvil ...blah, blah, blah and we really need you on board." still, its a worthwhile film and a good watch (you laugh, you cringe, you cry). and its nice to see an injustice, if not fully corrected, at least nudged in the right direction. a quick check of their website indicates two festival bookings in the next couple of months. ImI ImI


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