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Case Study House No. 20 – Photographed by Julius Shulman – Home of Saul Bass

September 4, 2014 by Vickie Lester

I went to see this house in Altadena when it hit the market in the 1990s. Innovative materials in the fifties hadn’t stood the test of time, but the bones of the house, designed by Buff, Straub, and Hensman, were incredibly beautiful. The house was built for the graphic designer, Saul Bass of the amazing movie title sequences… .

Categories: Animation, Architecture, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Gardening, History, Hollywood, Humor, Life, Los Angeles, Movies, Music, Photography, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: Alfred Hitchcock, Altadena, Animation, Architects, architecture, behind the scenes, Buff Straub Hensman, Case Study House 20, Classic Movies, comedy, design, director, film, graphic design, history, Hollywood, humor, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Julius Shulman, Los Angeles, movies, North by Northwest, photography, Saul Bass, title sequence

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CHRISTMAS TREE LANE – PHOTOGRAPHED BY HOWARD BALLEW

December 1, 2013 by Vickie Lester

In Pasadena last spring, a bevy of music-lovers went to the railroad station to greet Maestro Arturo Toscanini. Bulky Photographer Howard Ballew was on hand to cover the arrival for Hearst’s Los Angeles Herald & Express. Said Wilfred L. Davis of the Southern California Symphony Association, eyeing Ballew’s camera: “Are you going to photograph Mr. Toscanini?” Ballew retorted, with the politeness of his trade: “None of your business.” TIME MAGAZINE Feb. 11, 1946 I think this reporter just called the […]

Categories: Art, Christmas, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Film, Friendship, Gardening, History, Hollywood, Humor, Los Angeles, Movies, Music, Photography, Relationships, Travel • Tags: Altadena, Arturo Toscanini, Christmas, Christmas tree lane, Christmas trees, decoration, foothills, Hearst's Los Angeles Herald & Express, Holidays, Howard Ballew, lights, old auto, photographer, San Gabriels, Southern California, tradition

1

1937 – EDWARD KAUFMAN HOUSE – DESIGNED BY RICHARD NEUTRA

March 13, 2013 by Vickie Lester

Categories: Architecture, Blogging, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Film, History, Hollywood, Life, Photography, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: 1934, 1937, Altadena, Architect, architecture, art deco, bathtub house, Beard House, design, director, Edward Kaufman House, film, Gregory Ain, history, Hollywood, Housing Development, Josef Von Sternberg, Los Angeles, Marlene Dietrich, modern, movies, Old Hollywood, photography, residential design, Richard Neutra, San Fernando Valley

2

1934 – BEARD HOUSE – GREGORY AIN AND RICHARD NEUTRA DESIGN

March 13, 2013 by Vickie Lester

Categories: Architecture, Art, Blogging, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Film, History, Hollywood, Life, Los Angeles, Photography, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: 1934, Altadena, Architect, architecture, art deco, bathtub house, Beard House, design, director, film, Gregory Ain, history, Hollywood, Housing Development, Josef Von Sternberg, Los Angeles, Marlene Dietrich, modern, movies, Old Hollywood, photography, residential design, Richard Neutra, San Fernando Valley

9

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS IN THE SAN GABRIEL FOOTHILLS

December 17, 2012 by Vickie Lester

1928 Altadena:

Categories: Christmas, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Film, Friendship, Gardening, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Movies, Photography, Travel • Tags: 1928, Altadena, Christmas, Christmas tree lane, Christmas trees, decoration, foothills, Holidays, lights, old auto, San Gabriels, Southern California, tradition

1

CHRISTMAS TREE LANE – ALTADENA – 1920

December 17, 2012 by Vickie Lester

In Altadena a long time ago…

Categories: Christmas, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Film, Friendship, Gardening, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Photography, Travel, Weather • Tags: 1920, Altadena, Christmas, Christmas tree lane, Christmas trees, decoration, Holidays, lights, old auto, Southern California, tradition

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It’s a good night when @kfullermendez calls me from the east to herald a moonrise over the west. #goodnight #supermoon #sweetdreams @heybillkuhn @antiquegoddess

“These stories seem at times to be stories of a long-lost world when the city of New York was still filled with river light, when you heard the Benny Goodman quartets from a radio in the corner stationary store, and when almost everybody wore a hat. Here is the last of that generation of chain smokers who woke the world in the morning with their coughing, who used to get stoned at cocktail parties and perform obsolete dance steps like “the Cleveland Chicken,” sail for Europe on ships, who were truly nostalgic for love and happiness, and whose gods were as ancient as yours and mine, whoever you are.” . I picked up a sweet #volume of short stories in the new year, continuing my #love affair with fictional Manhattan. . . . . . #stories #manhattan #nyc #johncheever #bookbliss #bibliophile #exploretocreate #empirestatebuilding #architecture #streetscape #citylife #literature #author #writer #bookstagram #bookstoread #cityscape #skyscraper #bluesky #writerslife #thestoriesofjohncheever

Traveling SW I promised @heybillkuhn I’d take pictures... Over breakfast in the dining car I learned how to bet the horses. Sharing a meal with people I’ve never met is now one of my favorite things to do. . So relaxing watching the country roll by, thinking about what to make for Christmas dinner back home. #Pavlova? #ChocolateMousse? For recipes check out the link in the profile. . . . . . #trainstation #exploretocreate #artofvisuals #waiting #portrait #citylife #architecture #homewardbound #urban #dawn #interior #graphicdesign #art #lifeisbeautiful #journey #style #friends #everyonehasastory #itsinhiskissbyvickielester #amwriting another #hollywood #novel

Sometimes places look #enchanted — because they are. This town sends me. There’s a little free library in front of the police department, #design students everywhere you turn, early risers who stroll around the park, and #bookstores like @thebookladybookstore where you can browse and talk for hours — discovering #treasures. All that and I had a eureka moment working on my manuscript. Where am I @williee64 ? In #Savannah! Thank you @heybillkuhn for giving us a proper introduction 😘. . . . . . #bibliophile #books #amwriting #library #exploretocreate #historichome #federalarchitecture #architecture #december #hollywood #novel #author #southerncharm #style

It’s the #morning before #Thanksgiving in #Savannah and I found lady bountiful on my #walk to the market. It’s #bright and beautiful and last night on the #movie set they made it snow — glorious fluffy frosty stuff — which I can’t share pictures of, but I can share stories and a #recipe for a #delicious #dessert, link in the profile. . #goodmorning! . Am #onlocation with my #beloved #writing another #Hollywood #novel.

“Eloise, if you keep touching those rocks we’ll never get to the park...” So said an exasperated mom to an exploring toddler, exceptionally layered against the cold, as the wind cut down 72nd street. She was dressed for an expedition but this LA dame certainly wasn’t... However, I did get to bask in some #maxfieldparrish blue. #thankyou @kfullermendez . . . . . #centralpark #cityscape #exploretocreate #nyc #bluesky #pond #fredericklawolmsted #design #garden #urban #autumninnewyork #fallingleaves #water #artofvisuals #eastside #manhattan #citypark #westcoastmeetseastcoast #autumncolors

“I felt better knowing he was only a bus ride away, a straight shot down Fifth Avenue; and in the night when I woke up jarred and panicked, the explosion plunging through me all over again, sometimes I could lull myself back to sleep by thinking of his house, where without even realizing it you slipped away sometimes into 1850, a world of ticking clocks and creaking floorboards, copper pots and baskets of turnips and onions in the kitchen, candle flames leaning all to the left in the draft of an opened door and tall parlor windows billowing and swagged like ball gowns, cool quiet rooms where old things slept.” . And yes, I will be journeying east from #losangeles with a traveling companion that weighs a little more than my computer, but ever so much more engaging. . . . #bookstagram #bookquotes #bibliophile #reading #thegoldfinch #newyorkcity #novel #goodreads #literature #dickensian #shelfie #library #bookish #author #bookworm #painting #design #shadowandlight #artofvisuals #exploretocreate #october #autumnmood #flashofdelight #nothingisordinary #wordswilltakeyouthere

The wind knocked the power out in the dark of #MondayMorning and at first light I turned to coffee and #EdithWharton. “I read the other day in a book by a fashionable essayist that ghosts went out when electric light came in. What nonsense!” All Souls’ and After Holbein, short stories in the #spooky #Halloween #spirit. Ah, and what do you know, the whir of electricity and we’re back on the grid. . . . . . #shelfie #bookstagram #author #writersofinstagram #bookworm #bookshelf #bibliophile #library #ghosts #goodmorning #goodreads #october #autumn #pumpkin #painting #homedecor #artofvisuals #postitfortheaesthetic

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