Ansel Adams’ ‘lost’ LA photos to go on display at drkrm and LA public library.
http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2012/01/ansel_adams_lost_la_photo.php
OldStuff
3
Apr 11
X-15 Art Imitates Life
Which one is from real life? And which one is the still from MGM’s X-15 film.
Real Life
Movie
This week’s quiz involves NASA’s experimental manned space plane, the X-15. One of these photos is from the Dryden Flight Research Center archives.
Check back tomorrow for the answer.
1
Apr 11
My First V-8 (part one)
In the late spring of 1995 I was returning from my freshman year of college. At 19, I’d made good marks and even gotten on the dean’s list my first semester. So, when I returned from New England after that first year I had earned some credibility with dear-old-dad and figured I might be able to convince him to help me squeeze in to the cheapest V-8 muscle car.
Ford, at the time, had just redesigned the body and suspension of the Mustang, sticking the label SN-95 on this new platform. In the preceding decade, the previous Mustang had a low-end body trim for the V-6 (LX) and a nicer one for vehicles equipped with the 302 cid pushrod small-block V8 (GT).
The bigger, nicer, V8 body style was much heavier than that which was designed for the V6 models. But, there was one options package you could get that used the lighter V6 body style, but with the big V-8′s suspension, brakes, drivetrain and powerplant.
It was the vehicle that was sold to the California Highway Patrol as a Police Interceptor.
It was the LX 5.0.
When the fourth generation Mustang was introduced Ford served up the same concept. The V-8 model class was now known as the Mustang GT; for two years its new lightweight cousin was in a class by itself, separate from the LX, GT and SVT Cobra: it was called the Mustang GTS.
And 24 hours after taking it home, I christened it in what was really the only way appropriate – a drive up to San Francisco on US 101.
28
Mar 11
Home Junction
The LA Public Library has only one photo entry for "Soldiers Home" that seems to depict the slum that once existed where the 405 and the 10 intersect.
If you’ve used Google Maps in a major metropolitain area, you may have noticed one or two “neighborhood labels” that seemed bizarre and new to you even though you know the area quite well.
Here is a link to Home Junction on Google Maps.
As best as I can determine, some of these names go back to the 1960s. The reason I think that is because of a little area in west Los Angeles that on Google Maps is labelled Home Junction.
If you look at the intersection of the Santa Monica freeway and the San Diego freeway (I-10 and I-405 respectively), Google Earth has a little label for the area and that label says “Home Junction.”
In fact, if you drive around the area where National crosses under the 405 there is one of those weird blue City of LA signs denoting that you are in a “named region” of the city. It also says, “Home Junction.”
Home Junction? WTF is that? I like to think I know the west L.A. area quite well — between the different neighborhoods and their historic origins — I find that stuff interesting. Palms, Sawtelle, Mar Vista, Rancho Park — it’s my albatross.
So, what I’ve pieced together is this: the junction was so named because it was the meeting point between the spur line and the main trolleyway that once connected Santa Monica with downtown Los Angeles. The spur line connected to the Veterans Administration facility via a little street called Sawtelle. Back then the VA was called “The Old Soldiers’ Home”, hence, Home Junction.
9
Mar 11
Encino Nike Missile in 1961
Encino Nike Site in 1961
Found this in LA Public Library from 1961.
Link to photo page here: http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/FullRecord?databaseID=968&record=2&controlNumber=78802
18
Nov 10
The Iconography of John Milius’ Red Dawn, Volume I
Mechanized warfare in the American midwest
You’re forty miles behind enemy lines, smack dab in the middle of World War III.
Yes, that’s actually a line from the movie.
The iconography of John Milius’ 1984 alternate reality classic Red Dawn – a.k.a. the first movie ever given the MPAA’s PG-13 rating – is some of the most powerful visual imagery of any film made in the eighties. Sure, the dialog, lighting, and editing leave a lot to be desired. But the storyboarding, plot, and set design do a lot to make up for it. Milius goes on my list of evil geniuses for his ability to convey a concept with a camera.
A Background on John Milius
His writing credits include the screenplay for Apocalypse Now. He coined Dirty Harry’s catchphrase, “Go ahead, make my day.” He also wrote the USS Indianapolis scene in Jaws.
Oh, and he’s the basis for John Goodman’s Walter Sobchak character in theBig Lebowski. No biggie.
The full gallery is at the end of this post.
This movie has Leah Thompson (the mom from Back to the Future) and Jennifer Gray (who would later star across Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing). And Patrick Swayze.
It’s Charlie Sheen’s feature film debut. And it’s got C. Thomas Howell of Soul Man fame.
So, basically, this is more of a brat pack movie than most of the more famous ones.
Red Dawn stunned me when I first saw it. I was nine years old. Don’t worry; by that age I was already seeing a shrink. As a child, I was obsessed with the likelihood of nuclear war. I do believe that I deliberately sought out information on such subjects. Hence my fascination with this movie. Nothing got my attention like a cinematic depiction of World War III.
Take this quote, for example.
You think you’re tough for eating beans every day? There’s half a million scarecrows in Denver who’d give anything for one mouthful of what you got. They’ve been under siege for about three months. They live on rats and sawdust bread and sometimes… on each other. At night, the pyres for the dead light up the sky. It’s medieval.
Then there’s the drive-in that’s been converted to a makeshift gulag. Harry Dean Stanton’s scene at there has him shouting ”Boys! Avenge me!” as his sons quiet back into the hills.
In Soviet Russia, movie watches YOU!
The town’s drive-in theater is converted into a re-education center.
Drive-In as Concentration Camp
The town’s drive-in theater is converted into a re-education camp.
Q: What sucks worse than being in a firing squad?
A: Being in a firing squad that’s also target practice for tank gunners.
Target practice for tank gunners
While lined up, the prisoners begin singing the Star Spangled Banner. A nice touch on that first firing squad scene (yes, there’s more than one) is how the gunners open fire when the prisoners reach the “America” chorus. Classy.
Book burning in downtown Calumet, Colorado
One of the reasons this movie received the PG-13 rating is that it exceeded the standard “1 firing squad per hour” rule.
During filming, a fake T-72 at a gas station actually drew the attention of two CIA agents
"In the spirit of the Bolshevik Revolution, we must commandeer her picnic basket - for the Motherland!"
Sucks being typecast as "horny Russian."
And you thought whoopie cushions suck.
"We must break you!"
Whoop - there it is.
Possible the most awesome scene of the whole movie
And that’s all in Act I. Check back soon for Act II.
Kyle Hayes