I met this gray-haired woman. I lit her cigarette and she asked me what I was doing there? I said I just wanted to meet some architects and learn where I could go to school.
"She said, okay, 'If you have a car, tomorrow go to this place in Santa Monica called SciArc, it's a new school. Ask for Ray Kappe and tell them that Esther McCoy sent you.'
— kcet.org
KCET just sat down with Archinect senior editor Orhan Ayyüce for an interview about his Turkish roots, the arrival in Los Angeles, and his unlikely introduction to the world of architecture.
22 Comments
Way to go, Orhan!
Great stories, Orhan.
It's a good, meandering story, but do we really get to know this Orhan Ayyuce? What's his favorite color? Or does the hat have story as well? Everyone forgets about the hat.
Perhaps chapter 4 will answer these, unless next installment is a prequel.
... I hope a future profile will focus on abracadabra, FAIA.
Fred, that is my most definitive and revealing profile.. Because the stories didn't travel well into Archinect v.3 I am considering a newly edited and updated book.
How enjoyable to get an intimate but straightforward view into the bits of Orhan's story we Archinecters (at least those who have been paying attention) have been able to glean over the years!
I understand what you mean about the ugly American really being beautiful. Like an endearing friend who annoys but is so truthfully him/herself that you excuse the annoying parts and enjoy the silliness.
Sadly, I think the ability to have an adventure like Orhan's is harder in today's connected world.
nice orhan. especially like the photo
Orhan,
Thanks for telling your story.
I was born and raised in America in cowboy hat and indian country. When I went off to the Boston Architectural Center in 1972, I had a check in my wallet for the sale of a steer, which my father had given to me to pay my first semester school tution. Other than that I had a few bucks I had saved from installing overhead garage doors. I was fortunate that I had friends where I was able to crash until I found work and was able to scrape together enough for a studio apartment. I recall being the outsider in Cambridge, pushing shopping carts in a parking lot every night I wasn't at school. I had a friend of a friend give me a lead on the job. You know they made you wear tie to work, just to push shopping carts. I hated the fricking job, and as soon as I secured a job working in an architectural office as a go-for, I was out of that place as fast as I could run. Life has been a wild crazy ride and there are few things I would change about it because I have always been "LIVING".
i've been to LA only once (and the US generally). i loved it; (California), i was dancing with the hippies on venice beach. satan was there, so was a giant Pan-tree, an elderly woman who dreamt of being a ballerina...it was fabulous. Beautiful, and the scattered verdancy, the unravelling flowing of suburban with urban. just a very special place, the bits i saw at least. now, if it was only in a different kind of country: the laws, the homeless, the money....I loved LA much more so than NY. But if only one didnt need a car....
that was beautiful, orhan.
i'd love to see l.a. with you as a guide. i'm guessing it would be nothing like what i've seen on past visits.
Some of this stuff is probably all relative. What I mean is that there are probably many Americans who would feel more free in a foreign country than in America. Perhaps if they went to Turkey, for example.
Actually, having said that, those Americans probably would feel more free even in Orhan's LA but I they would struggle to see it.
Yo!
beautiful, Orhan!
awesome orhan.
i think it's beautiful to consider that Orhan is the purest definition of what it is to be real American; to know that i have not met this man, yet at the same time, if i ever found myself in LA, and needed anything, no matter the situation, Orhan would be there, with hand extended to lift me up. that, is what it means to be an American.
Beta, I am always delighted to show L.A. to people who really want to see the city differently. I still have not been to Universal City, Hollywood fame museums etc... but have some interesting routes showing many issues with the city architects and urban designers find interesting.
If I am around and have the means, I would be more than happy to host you guys and drive around. If you know the vicinity, this city always has something worth seeing in five minutes drive from any point. Of course, this puts a special emphasis on who is narrating.;.)
"And I was also lucky enough to be introduced to basic values of typical Americans with decorated polyester pants. That meant honesty, generosity, hospitality, courage and bravery. These are great people"
Love this quote!
fantastic.
Orhan, I may actually take you up on that finally, this summer. If you're available!
This is a lovely piece, and thought-provoking re: the differing goals (and therefore, experiences) of different types of immigrants. My family falls into your category, Orhan, so I appreciate the subtleties of your description.
hmm..''"basic values of Americans"? "real American"? americanist pagnol-isms.
i also visited Portland, Oregon, D.C and NY. Portland looked like it would be an excellent setting for a vampire film. Washington DC was ... well, its a better to live in but there's something uncharismatic about it (yes including the white house and the surroundings). Lots of professionals. Manhattan, oh i liked the idea of walking all over the grid, interesting...but for that hyper urban experience, i prefer London, there are pockets, not everything is laid so bare under Man. But i loved the part by the hudson river.
why i write all this irrelevant stuff? because California is just so different. the difference on the west coast between being in Portland as a person with some brown, some yellow, some red flecks in his skin pigmentations amidst these white white white people many of who are wearing fleece and may give you weird looks for not looking like someone from the twilight films ( excluding the werewolves - who, being native indians, belong more primordially to the land and, yet, who exist on the civic fringes of society being more animalistic and "natural" i.e.) ...and in LA ....huge difference. perhaps the nice thing about LA is that people are not so anal about what it is to be Americans in the first place.
and you forget that the turks are used to building and living within empires. relocation for them is a totally different matter from that of your average pink cheeked joe the plumber. while basha orhan might be casting his story in an americana mould for you to understand, the story might very very well be understood in a completely different way.
I like that; Orhan Pasha even though I was named after Orhan Gazi.;.)
My ultimate goal/dream would be the writing of 21st century Seyahatname.
wonderful story, orhan!
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