Category: Petra

The architectural landscape of Los Angeles is extremely varied. One can find anything from buildings appreciated worldwide for their high aesthetic value or sheer boldness to areas with structures so boring in their uniformity that one feels driven to tears. These are the two ends of the spectrum; in between one can find anything from the divine to the ridiculous and the weird.

This clearly falls into the latter category:

Yes, I know that this mock-Tudorbethan style was very popular from the middle of the 1920s to the beginning of the 1930s. I also know that this little “village”, a tableau consisting of eight cottages, was built adjacent to the former Disney studios (long gone, now a Gelson supermarket sits on the site), therefore it is part of the film history of the city. Still, every time I pass this spot on Griffith Park Boulevard I have to blink and ask myself: “What did they smoke when they came up with that?”

The only redeeming fact about this architectural travesty (in my eyes at least) is that David Lynch used the cottages in his movie “Mulholland Drive.” They certainly do not appear as quaint or whimsical in this film – I doubt that Mr. Lynch is even aware that these words exist – but as a dark, disturbing and mysterious background to some scenes in one of his finest movies. An architectural nightmare turned into art, at least for a few scenes. That, too, is very L.A.

When I visited Las Vegas for the first time, the Bellagio wasn’t finished yet. Some quick computing – yes, that was 1998. And yes, the Bellagio sits on the site of the former Dunes.

Since then a lot of hotels have gone up at and near The Strip. To name just a few: Mandalay Bay, Palazzo, The Palms, Paris, South Point, Wynn, The Venetian. A lot of older hotels have vanished too, to make room for something newer, larger, more spectacular. The same goes for all of Las Vegas – developments sprang up everywhere; every year there were more houses. especially during the last five years more and more subdivisions crept into the desert and closer to the mountains.

Still, one can leave all that behind and transport oneself into (nearly) untouched landscapes. Just 17 miles west of the Las Vegas Strip there is no more glitter and glamor, no noise, no hordes of people, this very short drive takes one to the conservation area of Red Rock Canyon. There again one has several choices, one can take the scenic drive, stop somewhere and take a hike or turn right shortly before arriving at the visitor’s center and go to Calico Basin Red Springs.

Having been to both the Red Rock National Park and the Calico Basin, I somehow prefer the latter. On driving up to the site one sees houses totally unlike the cookie cutter monstrosities left and right of the highway up to this area:

Even though the structures look quite tiny, actually they are not; they just appear so small against the backdrop of the undisturbed, massive environment.

Then comes the first surprise:

Green? In the Mojave Desert? Oh, it gets even better:

Red Springs is indeed an oasis, with three springs carrying water all year round, turning the barren looking land into this island of green.

One might wonder how such a tiny amount of water can keep a whole oasis alive – but that’s all that is needed, some water, constantly flowing, to turn the desert into a small paradise.

The difference can be seen here from top of the ridge dividing the oasis from the surrounding desert:

This is truly an oasis to recover from the glittering city a few miles away.

What better way than to spend the first weekend of summer somewhere really warm? Like Las Vegas?

A first idea of what is in store one can get from the huge thermometer in Baker at 4 PM.

Those who like even more heat turn left off the I-15 into Death Valley. There they laugh at 111 F. The less hardy ones continue on towards the last ridge of the Mojave National Preserve,

over the pass and down, down into the Ivanpah Dry Lake. Even though it is dry, it is popular for sailing – land sailing that is. With 35 square miles there’s a lot of room for that particular sport.

On the other side of the lake Nevada begins, easily recognizable from the casinos of Primm.

Then it is just another short hop of 50 miles and time for some fun. Most people go for the gambling – some go for the food. There are several great places in Las Vegas to celebrate the first day of summer with some friendly former inhabitants of Maine.

Eat, drink and be merry and forget that at 10 PM it is still 98 F outside. After all, in Death Valley it is still hotter and lobsters turn red at 212 F.

Imagine this: It’s the beginning of the 1960s. You are a young aerospace engineer. Your father-in-law has given you a lot in the Santa Monica Mountains above Mulholland Drive, with a spectacular view and a 45 degree slope. You want to build a house there, but everybody tells you that this is impossible. Your budget is limited. What do you do?

Leonard Malin (who was the young man) found help in architect John Lautner. Lautner already had a reputation as the best architect for the most difficult building lots. I can just imagine those two getting together, with Mr. Malin stating: “I have the lot. I have $30.000. I want to live there. Do what you want. And, by the way, the end result does not need to look like a house.”

Okay, I made that last sentence up. But he could have said it, because the house, better known today under the name “Chemosphere,” looks like this:

Imagine living there. What fun.