[Beaudry]

Originally Posted by GaylordWilshire

jericl cat

The singlemost important book in my library of Los Angeles history remains Reyner Banham's seminal 1971 Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies. Like everyone else of a certain age, movies and television piqued my interest in faraway California, and mythologized the state, L. A. in particular. I've now been there many many times, often specifically to explore its architecture, I've read dozens and dozens of histories of it, and, of course devoured every photograph of its history I could find--the myth still trumps reality. Anyway, among the Banham book's illustrations is a small photo (similar to the first one here) of the now-vanished Crenshaw Motors Ford, at 5311 S. Crenshaw until recently. (The dealership closed in early 2007 after 70 years, the building demolished more recently. Last I heard a Tesco market of some sort is to be built there.) Being automotively minded, I went down to Crenshaw and 53rd soon after the book came out (naturally checking out the Dahlia location on Norton Street on the way) and took my own pictures, now gone missing. Some years later I acquired a '56 Ford, which I still have...my automotive and L.A. obsessions merge in its license plate frame, which you see here. (On another trip I asked the nonplussed Crenshaw Motors parts department for some of their license frames--they were plastic, but I had the graphics reproduced and put them on a more vintage metal frame.)

jericle cat

labeez



If you havven't already, the next book you read should be Banham's:
http://www.amazon.com/Los-Angeles-Ar...520219244#noop

Banham, absolutely. Have you seen this?

http://trickledown.wordpress.com/201...angeles-video/

And yeah, I miss Crenshaw Ford. Its neon worked (pretty well) up until the time of its recent demolition.


los angeles neon (book)