LA Home Spotlight: The Neutra VDL House Dreamt of Mid-Century Life on a Budget

Featured image credit: Codera23 Even casual fans of modernism need no introduction to Richard Neutra. The Austrian-American architect was integral to the popularization of mid-century designs with his forward-thinking structures peppering Southern California. It was almost as if he were using human progress itself as a building material. To see some of Neutra’s most iconic […]

The Controversial Old Trapper’s Lodge Statues Have Locked Pierce College and a Folk Artist’s Family in a Pricey Stalemate

Featured image credit: Konrad Summers Being a school that got its start specializing in agricultural studies, Los Angeles Pierce College is a greener campus than most. It’s a surreal feeling when you first see its campus farmhouse as you’re rolling across Victory Boulevard. But within an obscure fenced-off grove of unkempt trees, you’ll find something […]

Is Amboy, California Worth the Detour? Inside the Googie Ghost Town That Refused to Stay Dead

Featured image credit: Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons / “Amboy (California, USA) — 2012 — 4” / CC BY-SA 4.0 About 200 miles east of Los Angeles and 100 miles northeast of Palm Springs sits a remote Mojave Desert town that exists out of logic and reason. It was built near a dead volcano, along a highway (that died), with a gas station […]

The Mid-Century Fairytale of LA’s Case Study Houses

Featured image credit: mbtrama It’s not often that we get to witness experiments in architecture while they’re in motion. Yet, that’s exactly the experience case study houses offer. Arts & Architecture magazine challenged notable architects to create affordable homes to address the U.S.’s residential housing boom. With World War II finally coming to an end, […]

The Last Chuck E. Cheese Animatronic Band in the World is Playing a Northridge Residency

Featured image credit: Ben Schumin What a year for legendary bands. New wave icons Devo retired from live performance. Rock gods Kiss called it a day. And now Munch’s Make Believe Band is packing it all in… with one notable exception. Wait, you don’t remember Munch’s Make Believe Band? Surely you’ve had the singular experience […]

Modernism Week Palm Springs Celebrates 20th Anniversary with Magic Line-Up

It seems there isn’t a second that passes in the Coachella Valley when Mid-Century designs aren’t celebrated in some way. Yet, Palm Springs still devotes a “week” to Mid-Century Modern styles. That “week” lasts 10 days this year, but it still doesn’t seem like enough time to pack in every event, tour, lecture, and party. […]