The first ever Arroyo Seco music festival took place this past weekend in Pasadena. Put on by Goldenvoice, the entertainment group behind Coachella and FYF among others, this inaugural two-day event saw the likes of Tom Petty and the Alabama Shakes take the stage. Amidst the music, Archinect... View full entry
For those of you in the Los Angeles area, you are already aware of the Arroyo Seco Weekend music festival, taking place in Pasadena this weekend. The festival is a new event hosted by the same people that run Coachella, Desert Trip, and other amazing art/music/culture events. For this inaugural... View full entry
Christopher Hawthorne, in keeping with his exploration of the ever evolving urban identity of Los Angeles, reached out via the L.A. Times to Michael Maltzan to see if the architect had any ideas about transforming L.A.'s freeways from noisy polluting agents into civic amenities. Maltzan has... View full entry
Usually, you go to these fast casual things and you're in and out in a minute...In all of the commercial projects that we do, the reason that we do them and the reason that we probably get hired to do them is that we are interested in this idea of making a joyous space for everyday activities...
It's not so much about the brand name being reinforced everywhere as much as it is to provide this urban amenity living room.
— Barbara Bestor, on KPCC
Most people don't rave about the interior design in the average Jamba Juice. But Barbara Bestor and her practice might have changed that in the expanded Old Town Pasadena location they recently revamped. Bestor chats with KPCC's Alex Cohen in this 8-minute conversation about the new “Innovation... View full entry
Despite the themes of the video, nothing was shot in New Orleans...The concept and quick turnaround required Tobman and the rest of the crew to convert [the Fenyes Mansion in Pasadena into a] fitting Southern Gothic set...A Beaux Arts mansion commissioned by and built for Dr. Adalbert Fenyes and his wife Eva Scott Muse Fenyes in 1905, there was nothing really Southern about architect Robert D. Farquhar's design — Curbed
If you're still bumpin' the Queen Bey's latest hard-hitting single, get a glimpse of the history behind the Fenyes Mansion in Pasadena, where parts of the song's impressive music video were filmed.More music-related goodness on Archinect:LA mayor Eric Garcetti slow-jams 101 freeway closure... View full entry
Recognized by Wright as the earliest 'Usonian' house, La Miniatura is also the first residence to utilize Wright's highly inventive textile block building system. — architectureforsale.com
After hitting the market in 2013, La Miniatura (aka The Millard House, 1923) was originally listed at approximately $4.5MM. The final sold price hasn't been made public, but the house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is located in Pasadena's Prospect Historic District –... View full entry
Wanting to stretch one's fascia, the wood wanting to expand, and the people inside being very minute in comparison with the wood's needs. It's almost as if the house itself is turning and emptying out all the residue of the people, wanting just to be free, free of the people, free of... the spoilage is the word that I'm getting, I just want to keep pushing out further and further and further, and as I do my own body just feels much much more relaxed. — Asher Hartman
Aside from being an emblem of the Arts and Crafts movement and an historical landmark, it turns out the Gamble House in Pasadena, California is also haunted. Or, so it would seem according to performance artist Asher Hartman, who communed with former generations of Gambles in his "psychic reading"... View full entry
Randell Makinson, a forceful advocate for preservation of the rambling Greene & Greene bungalows that came to be seen as graceful emblems of early 20th century California, has died. He was 81. — LA times
Randell Makinson is an important force of the architectural preservation community not only for Los Angeles but for California in general before there was LA Conservancy and preservation boards. An authority of Greene & Greene Architecture who has written 5 books on their work and also... View full entry
The 4,230-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bath home—currently on sale through Crosby Doe Associates for $4,495,000—offers a rare opportunity to lay claim to a unique piece of Wright history. The house, located in Pasadena, California, was originally built for book dealer Alice Millard for $17,000. Wright once said, "I would rather have built this little house than St. Peter's in Rome." — online.wsj.com
Burden's Small Skyscraper (Quasi-Legal Skyscraper), was intended to be "a modern day log cabin" that "two guys with a donkey could put up, and when the neighbor calls the building inspector, the guys can take it down again," he told LA Weekly back in 2003.
Burden's loophole (it's now closed) eventually led to the design of an aluminum-framed structure built in 2003 with the help of Linda Taalman and Alan Koch of Taalman Koch Architecture.
— blogs.laweekly.com
Art Center, often ranked among the nation’s top design schools, announced Tuesday that it has spent $7 million to buy a former U.S. Postal Service mail distribution center next to its existing satellite campus in south Pasadena, and has hired the Los Angeles firm Michael Maltzan Architecture to do master planning and design work. — latimesblogs.latimes.com
