Thursday, September 4, 2008

Hollyhock House Lecture Series: Thomas Hines on modern architects and their Hollywood clients


Oh, to be a Hollywood player c. 1925-1950, when you had the pick of modernist masters like Richard Neutra, Lloyd Wright and Irving Gill to design and build your LA manse or signature office building. On Sept. 3, author and UCLA professor Thomas Hines spoke on the connection between mid-century Hollywood creatives and execs and LA's famed modernists in an inaugural lecture sponsored by Hollyhock House. Among the highlights: a discussion of Richard Neutra's aluminum-clad house for film director Josef von Sternberg that was demolished in 1971 (Dion Neutra advised a film of the demolition is available on the Neutra website); a look at Neutra's also long gone, classic international-style office building for Carl Laemmle in Hollywood; and a tidbit I didn't know: Lloyd Wright designed those eternally sinking mastodons caught in the La Brea Tar Pits. A second lecture from writer/filmmaker Thom Anderson is scheduled for Oct 1, also in the Barnsdall Gallery. In this month's Los Feliz Ledger special Arts section I highlighted the lecture as well as profiled famed street artist Shepard Fairey, Machine Project and a locally made film called "The Scenesters."

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