Today Los Angeles architecture and urban design community lost one of its greatest. I have one of his books on my table, Glitter, Stucco and Dumpster Diving as I write this sad news. 
Today Los Angeles architecture and urban design community lost one of its greatest. I have one of his books on my table, Glitter, Stucco and Dumpster Diving as I write this sad news. Obituary by Alissa Walker @ gelatobaby | curbed la
Image via Gelatobaby Flickr
5 Comments
This is horrible...a great loss for our city and it's enduring cultural legacy.
What am awful post to wake up too... so sad.
At least I have a story about John Chase as "Hollywood Insider"
Ages ago there was a private afternoon screening of BLADE RUNNER at the Academy on Wilshire. I invited Frances Anderton and John to join. Nobody showed up, maybe 25 staff members in that immense theater. Doug Edwards then introduced the film by saying he was screening the directors print that was not released to theaters. This was the infamous lost one without narration and was the second time ever this print was shown, the first was the notorious accidental showing at the Fairfax Theater a few weeks earlier.
Of course we compared the two versions and spoke about the future of Los Angeles as dystopia. At the time Blade runner was seen a benchmark film and even the Local APA screened it as a serious film for planners to view. John wasn't a planner then, just a struggling architect, teacher and writer.
Years later, someone wrote the ULTIMATE BLADE RUNNER BOOK and spoke with awe about this very screening where only "Hollywood Insiders" were present. Yeah right. John Chase the "Hollywood Insider".
Eric Chavkin
From a comment in Curbed La:
"John was the irrepressible leprechaun of LA planning: sowing ludic mischief and democratic hope in an otherwise bureaucratic desert. In the years when much of the city was bunkered in greed and fear, he invited us to dance in the streets and make magic in public space. He would count on us to keep that vision alive."
Mike Davis
U.C. Riverside
Seems like all the fun is disappearing lately.
Only spoke to the man briefly once on the phone, but in an instant you could tell he was full of life.
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