One Shot
Topic: Botanical Studies
Hibiscus in the shadows, Rosewood Avenue at Alfred, just off La Cienega Boulevard, West Los Angeles, Tuesday, 15 August 2006, late afternoon. 
A California Bird
Topic: Oddities
The 1955-1957 Ford Thunderbirds are the "Classic Birds" - the "Little Birds." This is a 1955 Thunderbird from the first year of production, parked on North La Cienega in front of the very pink, retro, Trashy Lingerie store. It all comes together.
A bit of history - The car was shown at the first postwar Detroit Auto Show on February 20, 1954. The first production car came off the line on September 9, 1954. It went on sale on October 22, 1954, as a 1955 model, and sold briskly; 3,500 orders were placed in the first ten days of sale. Ford had only projected building 10,000; eventual 1955 sales were 16,155.
As standard, the 1955 Thunderbird included a removable fiberglass top; a fabric convertible top was an option, although commonly specified. The only engine option was a 292 Y-block V8. The exhausts exited through twin "bullets" above the rear bumper, as was the fashion.
The next year they added the spare wheel mounted outside, Continental-style, and the exhausts were moved to the ends of the bumper. To improve rear-quarter visibility with the removable hardtop in place "porthole" windows were made available as a no-cost option. The hardtop here seems to be from that year.
These cars are important out here. Click here to see the 1955 Ford Thunderbird formerly owned by Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys - restored from the frame up in 1991, with the hood autographed by the Beach Boys. She really did have fun, fun, fun, 'til her daddy took the T-Bird away. Click here to see the restored white 1955 Thunderbird from American Graffiti (1973) - the one Suzanne Somers in a non-speaking part drove here and there in the distance, mysteriously, being the ultimate unobtainable California blond, the platonic ideal of the California Girl. The Beach Boys sang about such girls.
There was no amazing California blond anywhere near this one, Tuesday, August 15, mid-afternoon.
Found on the web - promotional material from 1955 -
Pink Trashy Walls
Topic: Color Studies
A few color studies -
Location:
Trashy Lingerie
402 North La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90048
This is at the intersection of Oakwood, a few books south of Melrose Avenue, and a block north of Beverly Center, the big vertical shopping center where you actually have to pay to park. It's next to the Coronet Theater - now on the main stage, a play called "tick… tick… BOOM!" Make of that what you will.
Late afternoon, Tuesday, August 15, 2006 - the colors are accurate, mostly -
Across the street the walls are red.
Adventures in Backlighting
Topic: Light and Shadow
Adventures in Backlighting
Architecture: Fine Living in Hollywood's Golden Age
Topic: Insider Stuff
Architecture: Fine Living in Hollywood's Golden Age
The establishment alternative paper out here, the LA Weekly, lists it as an LA Classic, and it is the classic Hollywood apartment building from the golden age, and none the worse for wear.
It's the El Mirador Apartments at 1302-1310 North Sweetzer Avenue, West Hollywood. The El Mirador was named for its awesome views of the Los Angeles basin - designed by S. Charles Lee in 1929 for the California Builders of Homes. Lee was a theater designer - Glendale's Alex, Inglewood's Academy, Westwood's Bruin - and this is very theatrical. It's seven stories in a mix of Spanish Colonial Revival and Churrigueresque styles - not bad for a guy who was born and raised in Chicago and graduated from the Armour Institute of Technology. He arrived in Los Angeles in 1922 at the age of twenty-two to open his architectural business out here, and it seems he really got into the Hollywood Glamour thing. He also did the thirties makeover of the Max Factor building in the center of Hollywood.
The El Mirador is an amazing and perhaps rather silly building, but mid-afternoon, Sunday, August 13, the sky was amazingly blue and the lighting right, and the camera was in the car, and there was a parking space open on the street. So here are some details. A full array of shots will be posted this coming Sunday in the weekly Just Above Sunset.
