I hope you are doing well, at the end of another month in which the world-at-large seems extremely off-kilter.

Meanwhile, the City of Angels is making another step (back) into the future, with the opening next Friday, May 8th, of three subway stations, at Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax, and Wilshire/La Cienega. They mark the continued extension westwards of the D-Line from Union Station, soon to reach the VA Medical Center in West LA. 

This has been a long time coming. There have been numerous hurdles on the path for the underground D-Line, formerly known as Purple Line, since it was first conceived in the 1960s as part of the remaking of the extensive rail network that connected the region until it was replaced by freeways. Take for example the great methane crisis; a 1985 explosion caused by leaking gases at a Fairfax District Ross Dress 4 Less led to years of lawsuits from Beverly Hills' city and school district blocking the proposed "Subway to the Sea."

Two carpenters working on the subway. Photo by Ken Karagozian

To coincide with the opening, “the meandering history of rail-building ambition beneath the Wilshire corridor” has been beautifully recounted in Wilshire Subway: The Making of the D Line Subway Extension, a new book by India Mandelkern, also author of Electric Moons: A Social History of Street Lighting.

The book is part history and reflection on what Mandelkern describes as “the persistent civic obsession with the subway,” mirroring “the story of Los Angeles, its long uphill struggle to reinvent itself, and the way it reckons with its buried past.” It comes with an Intro from former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who memorably pushed for the Wilshire subway when other electeds still opposed it.

Jennna Dorough Carpenter works underground. Photo by Ken Karagozian

Mainly, though, the book is a celebration of the men and women who have been toiling underground, building the infrastructure for the trains. Their story is richly illustrated with majestic black and white photos by Ken Karagozian, son of an engineer who has spent more than three decades descending into LA's underworld to document the rebirth of the rail system. He focuses his lens on the "lattices of rebar, smooth walls of concrete, gargantuan cutterheads that look like dinosaur vertebrae," writes Mandelkern, and "the laborers themselves, whom he captures in proud, heroic poses that echo classical antiquity."

Mandelkern has mounted an exhibition of Karagozian’s photos at Miracle Mile gallery 1301PE. All are invited to the launch and a booksigning this Friday, May 1st, at 6150 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles CA 90048. Mandelkern will also sign books on Tuesday, May 5th at Chevalier's Books in Larchmont Village.

La Brea Track Cross Over Looking East. Photo by Ken Karagozian

Fighting the Future, and Reframing It

LA's “uphill struggle to reinvent itself” persists, however. One of the obvious corollaries of mass transit is lots of people living close to it, free of a car, as is the norm in major cities. But building taller, more plentiful multifamily housing close to bus and train stops routinely meets pushback from surrounding neighborhoods. So state legislators passed SB 79 last year to override local rules with state-mandated upzoning close to transit stops.

This has led to a new problem of "Local jurisdictions and stakeholder groups that otherwise support transit... expressing resistance to rail and bus rapid transit projects," explains Santa Monica Daily Press. That prompted State Senator Maria Elena Durazo to introduce a new bill, SB 1361, designed to shield new stops from SB 79. Although the bill has been somewhat modified, per Streetsblog, it still has support from those who believe that "local opposition to housing density is translating into threats against major transit investments." Yikes.

Frame The Future poster

Figuring out how to get people excited, not fearful, of growth in L.A. underlies Frame The Future, a poster and manifesto design competition launched by Friends of Residential Treasures and community partners including KCRW (that I’ve mentioned several times in these pages). Now, the results are in and 60+ submissions exhibit ambition, frustration, and lots of creativity around new ways of inhabiting tomorrow's LA.

This Wednesday, April 29th, from 5:00–7:00 PM, The Ebell of Los Angeles will host a celebration. Come see all the posters, learn who won, meet some of the jurors and designers, and hear a dialogue about the takeaways from the posters (that I'll moderate). Also, sip wine inspired by the designs, curated by none other than Wilshire Subway author India Mandelkern, who has another life as a sommelier. RSVP for this ticketed event here. And use a special KCRWDNA code to get $10 discount.

Design Things To Do

Top Pick: sister dreamer 

The David Geffen Galleries at LACMA may be getting the biggest fanfare, but some ten miles southeast, at the corner of Western Avenue and 75th Street, sits another important new art and architecture monument — the unique and lovely sister dreamer lauren halsey’s architectural ode to tha surge n splurge of south central los angeles. This public sculpture park on a corner lot was created by artist Lauren Halsey, with Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND) and collaborating designers, as a gathering spot and living celebration of the friends and figures in the community where her family has resided for a century.

sister dreamer, photo by Frances Anderton

sister dreamer comprises eight Hathoric columns, eight sphinxes, and a cube, inscribed with faces, symbols, place names, and other imagery associated with Black South Los Angeles. This "amazing artwork," says historian Alison Rose Jefferson (author, Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era), "draws on influences of Afrofuturism, Los Angeles and ancient Egyptian iconography" — and funk; George Clinton/Parliament Funkadelics performed at the opening. The creamy colored concrete and limestone installation manages to feel both utterly contemporary and timeless, but sadly is scheduled to be here only through September 2027. Check it out, and read more about its origin story in the LA Times and in Carolina Miranda's Art Insider.

sister dreamer, photo by Frances Anderton

Quick Picks

I've had a soft spot for IKEA since visiting its earliest store in Sweden during a childhood vacation, where my parents bought me a plush dog (that I named IKEA) and a pair of flower-painted clogs. This was years before the cheap and cheerful home decor company became a global behemoth of "fast furniture." Now a smaller-format, "urban store concept" takes the space formerly held by HD Buttercup at Helms Design District, promising an emphasis on nifty storage options and other products for the young person living in small spaces, along with a sustainably minded “as is" section. There is a soft opening this Wednesday, April 29th, followed by a grand opening and block party on Saturday, May 2nd. 

IKEA brings an edit of its cheap and cheerful stock to Helms Design District. Photo by Frances Anderton

Also, at Helms Design District, on April 30th, 6:30 PM–8:30 PM, new SCI-Arc director Winka Dubbeldam will give a talk, hosted by Cal Poly SLO/LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design, about her work running the experimental school and her NYC-based firm Archi-Tectonics.

The 1972 "photographic poem" California Sun Signs and the landmark Sun Tunnels project by the late Nancy Holt, noted earth, land, and conceptual artist, are part of Nancy Holt: Light and Shadow Poetics, currently installed at the Schindler House, itself a poetic play of light and shadow. On Thursday, May 7th, starting at 6:00 PM, join the conservator Rosa Lowinger (below) for a talk about her experience working on Holt’s Sun Tunnels and other site-specific artworks.

Rosa Lowinger at one of Nancy Holt's "Sun Tunnels." Photo courtesy Rosa Lowinger

On Saturday, May 9th, the MAK Center at the Schindler House will host a fundraising Architecture Tour, featuring five houses by R.M. Schindler, Raphael Soriano, and Lloyd Wright.

FORT: LA's Architecture Uncorked! is back on Saturday, May 9th with the usual fun-packed evening of architectural trivia, a conversation between me and trailblazer Elaine René-Weissman on "Great Architecture by the Great LA River, capped by a Rosé to match the River Spirit selected by the sommelier par excellence India Mandelkern.

Lake Verea, Dark Rooms_Frey House II, Us As Eyes, 2024

If you happen to be heading to the desert, drop by Palm Springs Art Museum to see Lake Verea: DarkRooms and Other Games, curated by Mimi Zeiger, opening on May 9th. Photographic artists Lake Verea (Francisca Rivero-Lake and Carla Verea) offer up a fresh take on the typically sun-kissed Palm Springs houses by capturing landmarks — including the Kaufmann House (Richard Neutra), and Aluminaire House and Frey House II (Albert Frey) — in the light of the full moon.  

There is a rich textile arts community in Los Angeles, and you can see work by two of its practitioners at Material Remembrances, an exhibition at LAUNCH Gallery on 170 S La Brea Ave. "Abstracted imagery referencing historic places and personal memory," by Cameron Taylor-Brown and Aneesa Shami Zizzo, "explores the human desire for storytelling through fiber art." The show runs until this Sunday, May 2nd.

Aneesa Shami Zizzo, Primal Heart, 2020 

What I'm Digging

Watching... This is a Gardening Show, hosted by actor-comedian Zach Galifianakis, a longtime green-fingered enthusiast. He has "made a snarky, crafty show that makes gardening seem like the most important thing a human should be concerned with," notes hubby Robin Bennett Stein. "But first he roasts upon a bonfire of bathroom humor all our collective self-importance." Each episode is an oddball collage of goofy interviews with kids and farmers, delightfully illustrated agricultural history, and light lessons on how to grow apple trees, tomato plants, and more, all to make the case that we need once more to be an "agrarian" society.  

Still from This is a Gardening Show. Courtesy Netflix.

Applauding... apartment investor Cameron Hassid and a team of architectural preservationists for coming to the rescue of the 1928 Jardinette apartments designed by Richard Neutra in the International Style. I interviewed Hassid and historian Dr. Barbara Lamprecht about the trials and triumphs of this rehabilitation for this month's edition of The Good Developer, at FORT: LA.

Cameron Hassid and Dr. Barbara Lamprecht, at The Jardinette. Photo by Frances Anderton

What I'm NOT Digging

The Infrastructure of AI

There is much that uglifies our cities and despoils the land, but it seems hard to top the data centers being built to power AI — faceless mega-boxes chugging vast amounts of electricity and water to service technology that may render us obsolete, while eviscerating the flora and fauna in their path. This report highlights just one small community trying to hold back the tide, when they find six sprawling data center campuses have been planned for their town, Archbald, Pennsylvania (pop. 7000), taking up 14 percent of the land. No wonder Galifianakis, above, is nostalgic for the agrarian life! 

Image from The Daily Note facebook page.

Well, that's it for this week's newsletter. Please send your design news, questions, and comments to francesanderton@gmail.com. Get back issues here. And remind your friends to sign up for the newsletter here.

Yours with very best wishes,

Frances