WEST LA: The 405 Freeway widening project may be way behind schedule and over budget, but hey, a bright spot: 1.7 miles of the new northbound carpool lane, between the 10 and Santa Monica Boulevard, will open this Friday (everyone will be allowed in for now, not just carpoolers). The main point of the project–source of Carmageddon–is to add 10 miles of new carpool lane. The new plan is to open the new lanes in installments; 1.4 miles up to Wilshire will open next month, and the northernmost stretch should open “later this year,” according to County Supe Zev Yaroslavsky’s website. Sadly, “The middle segment, where most of the delays have occurred, is slated to open in 2014.” [ZY, image via]
SILVER LAKE/RUSTIC CANYON: All the preservation-crazy folks (modern house owners, architects, enthusiasts) are invited to a workshop tomorrow with Cal Poly Pomona Professor Lauren Bricker, which includes tours of both the Neutra VDL Research House in Silver Lake and the stunning house Ray Kappe built for himself in Rustic Canyon. A whole bunch of experts will be on hand, including Kappe, architect Leo Marmol, and Kyle Normandin of the Getty Conservation Institute, and excitingly, “Particular attention will be placed on issues associated with roof systems and reinforced concrete.” All the information is here. [Curbed Inbox]
Curbed National has gotten a look inside a tiny modern house built for the 2013 Designer Dollhouse Showcase, which will debut at the Beverly Hills Hotel next week–this specimen was designed by interior designers Jaime Rummerfield, Ron Woodson, and Chris Barrett, with landscape designer Stephen Block. (There will also be houses from Waldo Fernandez, Estee Stanley, fashion designer Monique Lhuillier, and many more; the houses themselves, which range from Georgian to Contemporary, were designed to scale by Richard Manion Architecture). In the video tour, Barrett says “our inspiration really comes from Southern California … the light, the colors.” The 10 dollhouses in the show will eventually be sold through One Kings Lane, with proceeds going to the UCLA Children’s Discovery and Innovation Institute at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA.
· Here Now, Tour the World’s Loveliest Miniature Showhouse [Curbed National]
In this jaunty little tour of Hollywood, Bob Crane of Hogan’s Heroes (and other more private films) fame, provides narration of a helicopter flight over Hollywood and its studios taken by Kitty, a pretty visitor to Los Angeles. We never knew Grauman’s Chinese Theater was surrounded by a sea of parking lots. And our favorite moment: “Oh, there’s Hollywood’s newest skyscraper, the Capitol Tower…”
· LOST LOS ANGELES – Bob Crane’s Hollywood [YouTube]
HOLLYWOOD: After a little unfortunate stallage, the Los Angeles Beautification Team has finally opened its new Urban Forestry and Youth Center on North Cherokee. (The LABT is a nonprofit that does stuff like graffiti abatement, tree planting, and mural installations.) The new HQ was designed by Gruen Associates partner Larry Schlossberg, who donated his work, and is full of sustainable touches, like an “open space design allows air and light to flow into the building, helping to minimize the energy used for illumination and air conditioning” and an “integrated water conservation system that will contain all rainwater, directing it to the water table and not to the sidewalk and LA’s storm drain system.” [Curbed Inbox]
CIVIC CENTER: Now that Grand Park‘s becoming a star, make sure you can say you knew it when–the LA Forum and Design East of La Brea are hosting a nighttime tour of the park tomorrow, with Tony Paradowski of Rios Clementi Hale Studios, which designed the 12-acre site. We hear there will be glowsticks. [Curbed Inbox]
HANCOCK PARK: Our pal Woody of Houses of Hancock Park reports back from the weekend open house at the French manor belonging to director Mark Waters (The House of Yes, Mean Girls), and the listing of course is keeping a few secrets: “The staged photos show the bones really well. It’s a huge estate. I don’t think they really captured how spoiled the daughter is. She has a bedroom (the pink room) AND a playroom (the purple room), each with its own bathroom. The girl’s bedroom has this weirdly staged table and two seats that look they’re from some talk show set. The Joan Rivers show part deux. She also has a doll house outside which any maid would be perfectly happy to move into. The guest room has a bidet which should have been in the listing. And there’s a landline next to the shower which is the most convenient inconvenience ever. It was a pretty busy day–the house was always full.” [Curbed Inbox]
BALDWIN HILLS: Do you heart garden apartments (think Boyle Heights’s Wyvernwood, Venice’s Lincoln Place, Baldwin Hills’sVillage Green)? Would you like to? Are you so lucky to live in one? The LA Conservancy is hosting a free workshop at Baldwin Hills Elementary and a self-guided tour of the neighboring Village Green this weekend–the event will launch their new LA Garden Apartment Network, “which will foster the preservation of Los Angeles’ historic garden apartments.” All the info’s here. [Curbed Inbox]
The City Hall lawn cracked open its gates last week for a private debut of the freshly madeover green space (banner week for Downtown parks: part of the huge new Grand Park also opened). The 1.7-acre City Hall park, which lines three sides of the building, was trampled by democracy last fall during Occupy LA‘s two-month-long encampment (which included hundreds of tents, a library, some food service, a meditation tent, and security). After the city raided the camp, it closed off the lawn and began a thorough renovation. While there’re still grassy areas on the First Street side (the city needs a place to hold press conferences), good luck finding a spot to sit (let alone set up a tent, not that that would be legal) along Spring Street or on the Temple side (during Occupy it was known as “Manhattan” or “Westwood”). The LA Times reported that “there are two places in the park — on the Spring Street and 1st Street steps of City Hall — where activists will be allowed to demonstrate.” Meanwhile, the chain link fence is going to stay up for “at least the next few weeks, a move meant to remind people that it closes at night,” according to the Daily News. The park is open from 5 am until 10:30 pm or the achievement of economic justice, whichever comes first.
· City Hall Lawn Archives [Curbed LA]
We’re cutting out a little early for a summer Friday. Have a cool afternoon, everyone, and we’ll meet you back here tomorrow for weekend coverage.
KOREATOWN: Ridiculous amenity alert! Solair, the big condo complex at Wilshire and Western, recently opened a Live Here Lounge–it was designed by Susan Manrao to host new buyers and events, and includes “the first celebratory champagne toasting chamber” (a signing room with built-in Miele wine refrigerators), as well as an 800 pound bronze chandelier. The lounge “takes a page from Philip Johnson’s Glass House” and “cantilevers over an urban cityscape.” [Curbed Inbox]
DOWNTOWN: Broadway’s 101 year old Palace Theatre got a big restoration last year (“Artisans and craftsmen peeled back years of alterations and wear and tear to reveal the beautiful theatre hidden underneath.”) and the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation is showing off the work in a behind the scenes tour tomorrow. The contractor and other workers will be there to talk before and after. All the info’s here. [Curbed Inbox]
WEST LA: The 405 Freeway widening project may be way behind schedule and over budget, but hey, a bright spot: 1.7 miles of the new northbound carpool lane, between the 10 and Santa Monica Boulevard, will open this Friday (everyone will be allowed in for now, not just carpoolers). The main point of the project–source of Carmageddon–is to add 10 miles of new carpool lane. The new plan is to open the new lanes in installments; 1.4 miles up to Wilshire will open next month, and the northernmost stretch should open “later this year,” according to County Supe Zev Yaroslavsky’s website. Sadly, “The middle segment, where most of the delays have occurred, is slated to open in 2014.” [ZY, image via]
