Aug '14 - Oct '14
Leaving Los Angeles, August 5, 6:00am, PST
A towncar waited for me outside of my gate at 6:30am. It’s the first time I’ve ever taken a towncar but a friend had suggested it and said it was less than taking a taxi, so they were called and scheduled to pick me up. I believe the driver was from eastern Europe, and he reminded me of a tough mobster as he sat on his phone texting while I tried to hurry up and leave. I stalled briefly and looked out the window. I soaked in the island of towers off in the distance and the palm trees sticking up from the streets that surrounded it.
Once I got into the car, the faux flowers in a small pewter vase stuck on a small dash, and the small tray of sweets (which I immediately took an orange flavored piece) wrapped me up in the eccentricities and character that I love so much about LA. And that I’m looking to find in New York. On the way to LAX, I watched the hum of houses and lowrise commercial buildings blending together in the valley as we drove.
Entering New York, August 5, 6:00pm EST
I got into JFK a little before 6pm and sat on the tarmac waiting for the plane to taxi in. Right before we landed I looked out the window and saw the rivers and wetlands and thought of the Rebuild by Design competition on the lower east side of Manhattan where designers like BIG, OMA, and OLIN proposed solutions of landscape infrastructures and ecological barriers. The designs were a reaction to the devastation from Hurricane Sandy. It reminded me of the constant pressure of nature and urban living that Los Angeles continually pushes. Although the natural disasters in LA are drought and cars.
After I picked up my bags from baggage claim, I walked over to the train which took me to Jamaica Center. This connected me to the E train taking me into Manhattan and my temporary apartment in midtown. I didn’t get housing through the school lottery so I’m still looking for an apartment. At least I’m not the only one as I’ve found out through email chains with other people in the CCCP and UP programs. The school offers ‘housing help seminars’ at 4pm each day except Fridays so I’m planning on stopping by in the next day.
My stop after a transfer to the 6 train was Grand Central station. I got out and walked with my bags a few blocks away to stay in an apartment on the 20th floor. Toto, we’re not in LA anymore.
Rebuild by Design links:
A blog that records my two years in the Critical, Curatorial, and Conceptual Practices of Architecture Program at the GSAPP. Posts will explore the program, New York's architecture and urban design and has the potential to envelope the west coast as well. Having spent the last 6 years in L.A., my intended thesis will look at the the west coast (and hopefully the school will give me the objective distance I need!).
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