Santa Monica: Preservation of a Regional History

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Given my penchant for seeking out some wild and crazy events going on around the greater LA area (did you read my piece about Lucha VaVoom?), it might surprise you to learn that I love hanging out in libraries and exploring local archives. That’s why a workshop on preserving Santa Monica’s history caught my eye.

Musical Theater Museum Struggles To Preserve Archives

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As I drove around town this afternoon, I heard a fascinating and moving story on the NPR program All Things Considered about an LA based museum / archive that seeks to preserve the history of the American Musical. Run for 30 years out of a duplex by a gentleman named Miles Kreuger, this non-profit organization is struggling to raise the necessary funds to preserve and properly display its incredible collection.

A Conversation with Documentarian Jason Cohn on Charles and Ray Eames (Part 2)

Late last year I had the pleasure of speaking with Jason Cohn about his latest film project called Eames: The Architect and the Painter, which is set to air in Fall 2011 on the PBS show American Masters. A condensed version of the second half of our conversation is published below. If you missed the first half, which was published on February 15th, you can find it here.

I’ve known Jason for over 30 years and have followed his career with a lot of interest. When I started Curating Los Angeles (CLA) last Fall, I knew I would interview him at some point about his work, since as you’ll learn below, he is as fascinated by Los Angeles as I am and appreciates the many ways that the city has nurtured creative energies and impulses in a wide variety of fields.

Architects and Architecture of Los Angeles: From Adobe to High-Rise

The Los Angeles Historical Society and the History Department at the Richard J. Riordan Central Library are co-sponsoring three lectures on the theme: Architects and Architecture of Los Angeles: From Adobe to High-rise. Three local experts will deliver lectures that focus on distinct time periods between 1871 and today.

A Conversation with Documentarian Jason Cohn on Charles and Ray Eames (Part 1)

Late last year I had the pleasure of speaking with Jason Cohn about his latest film project called Eames: The Architect and the Painter, which is set to air in Fall 2011 on the PBS show American Masters. A condensed version of the first half of our conversation is published below. You can find the second half here.

I’ve known Jason for over 30 years and have followed his career with a lot of interest. When I started Curating Los Angeles (CLA) last Fall, I knew I would interview him at some point about his work, since as you’ll learn below, he is as fascinated by Los Angeles as I am and appreciates the many ways that the city has nurtured creative energies and impulses in a wide variety of fields.

Los Angeles Public Library Virtual Resources – History at your Fingertips

The Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) is an incredible resource for anyone interested in southern California history. Like most people, however, I don’t have the time to visit the library in person whenever I want or need to research a particular topic or find that amazing historic photo of some person, place or event.
To help address this problem, the library has made a concerted effort to make its vast collections more readily available to the public through an ambitious digitalization project. It has also put portions of select library exhibitions online for those who were unable to see them when originally on display.

Now Open at the Getty – Brush & Shutter: Early Photography in China

Earlier this year, several of the leading art and photography shows in Los Angeles, including photo l.a. and LA Art Show 2011, featured galleries dedicated to Asian art, exposing visitors to the latest visual art trends in countries such as China, Taiwan and Korea, among others. Now comes an exhibition called Brush & Shutter, which is focused on the origin of photography in China and curated by the Getty Research Institute (GRI), a local institution known for the breadth and depth of its photography collection and dedication to advancing the understanding of the visual arts.