Graffiti is awful and usually degrades any environment. But here is an interesting New York public art installation using the medium, technology and even the letterforms of graffiti.
We Hate Graffiti, but…
Category: Outdoor
Favorite Signs No. 1
We don’t have an Eiffel Tower or a Golden Gate Bridge, but Los Angeles does have one of the most famous signs in the world. First deployed in 1923 by a real estate developer as HOLLYWOOD LAND, the remaining sign of nine 45’ high letters is recognizable around the world… Read more »
The Levytator
A new design in escalators elevates moving-stairs from humdrum shoelace-catchers to the unique and useful stair of the future. Designed by Professor Jack Levy at the City University of London, these stairs are no longer restricted to boring, straight verticals. They curve and twist along any course you choose. This link to… Read more »
Modern Romance
For lovers of Mid-Century Modern architecture, Palm Springs is a Mecca, showcasing many buildings from the movement’s great architects. Richard Neutra, E. Stewart Williams, Albert Frey and Donald Wexler are a few who helped shape this California desert community’s early architectural development. For those interested in a crash course in… Read more »
Election Ephemera Blight
We’ll vote for you if you agree not to degrade the landscape with trashy signs. Littering is illegal; so is installing non-permitted signs. So why do we put up with this tacky and environmentally demeaning visual clutter all over our country every election season? These (17!) particularly egregious examples are… Read more »
Name Your Boat
You don’t need to be a sailor to appreciate the wide variety of colorful names painted on the sterns of nearly all private boats. They come in a range of flavors from the poetic (Windsong, Pacific Tide) to the aggressively descriptive (Prowler, Island Hopper) to the girlfriend with two names… Read more »
Best-known Gateway in Los Angeles?
Okay, it’s really in Santa Monica. But as an entrance to a unique and energetic place — the pier — in a colorful seaside city, this 1940’s commercial archway has become an inadvertent regional icon.
New York City’s Capital Offenders
The Federal Highway Administration has ordered NYC to replace all of their existing street signs from those with all capital letters to ones with upper-lower case letters. So “BROADWAY” will soon read “Broadway”. Clearview will be the typeface of choice on the new signs. Upper-lower case typography is much more legible… Read more »
No AfterGlow
Santa Monica held its second biannual nighttime art extravaganza, GLOW, Saturday night but the results were underwhelming. Of the twenty light-based installations scattered on and around the Santa Monica Pier, only three or four appeared to resonate with the huge wandering crowd. Most of the displays suffered from one or… Read more »
NoHo Photo
There are many things about cities that make them memorable to us; shopping centers, restaurants, museums, parks or simply good friends. The city of North Hollywood has many notable qualities but nothing makes it more memorable to me than their city gateway. With so many EGD studios in Los Angeles,… Read more »