Thanks to the LA Conservancy, a number of docents went on a tour of Rockhaven. What and where is Rockhaven?
It is a former sanitarium for women in the Crescenta Valley. We are talking the very northern part of Glendale and Los Angeles, beyond the Verdugo hills. The facility closed in 2006 because it simply couldn’t be brought up to code, being on a hillside, with many stairs, narrow pathways, and decaying buildings.
In the 1920’s, Agnes Richards, a nurse who worked in mental hospitals decided to make a big change. She came to the Crescenta Valley where many sanitariums already existed and created a dignified homelike setting for women with mental illnesses. The whole place was for women and run by women. The Rose cottage was the first of many on the compound.
Early buildings were in the craftsman style, here is one with a screened in rock porch. Rocks being very very plentiful here.
Other buildings were built in the Spanish revival style.
Got to love a docent with a parasol. Joanna heads Friends of Rockhaven, an organization trying to save this place. 
Since 2007 the property has been owned and maintained by the Parks dept. of the City of Glendale. They are now in negotiations to turn this into a park/shopping area. I hope they succeed.
1930’s Spanish revival means tile.
Inside are many objects from the past. The Murphy Beds were not used by the patients, but by the nurses that lived here.
Details on some of the light fixtures.
An old tray that would get a nice price at an antique store.
Crochet doily probably made by one of the women. Handcrafts were a big activity here. Reminds me of a job I had in Israel. It was a day center for seniors – they would come in for activities. One thing we did was have them knit, crochet, and create all kinds of handcrafts that were sold in a shop. The proceeds went to buy more materials. The exact same thing happened here.
Among the objects saved are items owned by the residents, of course, some of the items aren’t that old. Or am I dating myself? That round orange object as a shaver, for legs, from the 80’s. I had one of those!
Many items are in storage, a few are out on display, the hope is to have a museum in one of the buildings and much more will be shared.
This post is getting long, so I’m going to split it in two….
Leah
It was time for a hike up to the Griffith Park Observatory. Last time I was there it was covered by a cloud. On this gorgeous spring day, many others were hiking up the mountain with us. We started in Fern Dell park, a park that was created back in the 1930’s. In those days it was very popular to make concrete look like wood. So all the railing look like this.
Since you can’t touch, here is photographic proof. Re-bar in the middle of what is now a broken log.
We started climbing, not only are wildflowers out, the rain has done other damage as well. Look at this rut!
The views along the way are spectacular- even through the haze downtown is impressive.
The Hollywood sign is always fun to see.
The closer we got, we could see a lot of people walking around the building.
I feel sorry for people with allergies, this year is especially hard. I have no idea what kind of tree this is, but it sure is pretty.
We weren’t the only ones making our way up here. I’m impressed that the dog runs along side the horses. At this point, they are trying to figure out where to park them so they could go inside. 
Here is the front view, somewhere there is a plaque in honor of James Dean from Rebel Without a Cause, that was filmed right here, shortly after this building was built.
Art Deco details that sparkle in the light.
Then it was down through Fern Dell park. A tropical slice of heaven in the middle of the city. Joel, the LA native had never been here before. I love introducing him to his city.
Can you see the steam coming off the bubbles? My guess is – it’s like the La Brea Tar pits, primordial ooze.
A tree fell, was it this winter? Or much earlier and it just hasn’t been cleared out?
Once Iencounteredd one Staghorn fern, it appears that they show up everywhere.
As is our tradition, finish off a hike with tacos. These are fish tacos from Ensenada Fish Tacos on Hillhurst. Not as fancy as ‘Home’ that had a line down the sidewalk waiting for brunch. We’re sticking with our tradtion of some kind of local taco place.
Walking on Hollywood Blvd offers the opportunity for pictures. There are still some interesting Art Deco buildings. Film industry related, on the balcony you can see the camera and the director.
Sages looking down on the passers-by.
A simpler design, fewer figures, but oh the roof line!
And then, onto streamline. Speaking of motels, the 50’s did it so much better.
I glanced through the gate, there were plenty of people enjoying the pool.
This is what is happening all over the city, building like crazy. I wonder what happened here. Someone wasn’t willing to sell the old building, so they are constucting new apartments around it. It is empty, for lease signs all over. Maybe once the new building is complete someone will want to relocate their business here.
This is a snapshot of the Blvd. Filming, cars, billboards, cranes everywhere and even the old fashioned Street lights.
Soon it will be very hard to see the iconic Capitol Records building. This was one of the last to be built under the height limitation of 150′, but it is up on a hill, so it used to dominate the skyline. Not for much longer.
Even now, it’s glimpses through iron fences.
This wonderful sign and clock look Art Deco, but it can’t be. As I mentioned, the Capitol Record Building is only from 1959. Sign of the times, a CCTV camera looking out on the street.
Old and new have always existed side by side, I hope they continue to do so. I think the roof eaves on this Beaux Arts building is newly painted, the 1960 building next door just highlights the beauty of the old.
Details on the Beaux Arts are wonderful. An old bank building with eagles.
The knight.
The putti.
Gargoyle. I only noticed the mirror image with the palm tree when I looked at my photo. 
Then it was back to Noho. I didn’t hear any Bach, but at the local famer’s market a band was playing. So there was that conselation.
We started out at the Griffith Park Observatory. A beautiful Art Deco building with great views of the city. They had to trust us on the views – clearly this is all we saw – grey.
There is something magical about being inside a cloud. We arrived two hours before opening time, so it was on to find other Iconic landmarks to show off.
For myself, I can’t get enough of these Art Deco elements.
Paramount Studio was built on the property owned by the cemetery and many of the original studio heads and stars are buried here. Mel Blank is on the edge of the Jewish section, called Beth Olam – eternal home.
I have no idea who Mama Irene was, but she was perfect.
Probably because she was Italian.
Over 100 years ago, the tombstone or monument would be very impressive. But little information was given. At the time everyone knew who Griffith J. Griffith was, his name was all that was needed. He did donate the land that is Griffith park to the city. He probably did so because he felt it was too hilly to develop. 
No idea who Hart, Wheelock or Randall were. Why someone left those figurines is also a mystery to me.
Today if you are famous, you spell it all out! In one hundred years, who will remember Johnny Ramone?
Or even Toto, he was buried under what today is the 101 freeway right by my house. Someone cared enough to errect a memorial to him.
There is a large Russian population being buried here, and boy do they go overboard. I just had no idea that Stalin is here. The name is in Armenian, but you can understand my confusion.
This is why I like this place so much, Were the Koran and Armenian married? Is it just by chance they are buried side by side?
A visit to Thailand, this section is smaller than the rest, yet is quite authentic.
Some peacocks have taken up residence, I hope they keep their numbers under control, unlike the LA Arboretum that is over run by these fowl.
Big birds, big mess, but boy are they pretty!
Then onto Venice Beach. Our guests were duly impressed with how wide the sand is, anywhere else and the buildings would leave a small board walk and even a smaller strip of sand.
Of course they even managed to see the rest of the family. Notice how interested Cameron is in that glass of wine… no one shared with him.
A known fixture in Venice California, the
Here is Gonzalo behind the gate.
Every surface outside the house is either covered in mosaic or painted. The outside of the large studio in the back is painted. The wood wall wouldn’t be able to hold the mosaics. 
The second story is ‘just’ painted, they are now beginning to add mosaics inside. I’m wondering how the structure holds up with all this concrete and tile. When they don’t like something, they don’t tear anything out, just add a new layer.
In no particular order, I am going to recreate a little bit of the experience. These are a small portion of the pictures I took, I realize, editing is necessary, I hope for your sake, I have edited enough.
A small portion of Cheri’s massive studio. Making glass tiles.
That are then affixed to the exterior of the bathroom window. If one falls off and breaks – no big deal – she has plenty on hand to replace them.
This is half of the sliding glass doors that connect the house to the studio.
A view into the kitchen. I LOVE mosaic, no way could I live here. I am thankful that they can and that they share their surroundings with other. It all started with a bathroom, twenty some years ago and hasn’t stopped.
These clay objects are all destined for a mosaic surface.
You can see some here in the wall, along with the cups from a Seder plate. I think I have a similar plate. Cheri collects ceramics from all over the world. Here you also see shapes she herself made, the ice-cream cones, the lizzard. 
What? Plain wooden floor? And a carpet? What I love is the chair, not one that they painted, but one that gives me ideas. Not sure I’d ever paint a chair, but who knows?
Exterior stairs get different treatment.
If you have a kiln, and they have many, slumping glass bottles is easy. Gonzalo is the welder, if you are missing a piece of silverware – check out this house, you may find it. You won’t be able to remove it.
They sell as much of their artwork as they can, what doesn’t sell ends up being used.
These reminded me of the Dali painting The 
Here I am, in the artwork. Gonzalo has figured out the perfect location to have you stand and he captures the image in one of the mirror fragments.
We stayed at the Watergate hotel, famous for it’s curves and these points, of course, it’s famous for other things, but I’m taking architecture here.
1960’s design, the contrast is wonderful when you zoom in.
Zooming in is great for seeing materials and texture, on an old church.
The new African American museum.
Skylight and courtyard at the Portrait gallery. Shadows are a great part of texture.
Gate and bricks in Georgetown. People don’t do this kind of metal work anymore.
Or this.
An old lock on the C&O canal in Georgetown, old brick and wood. More on the canal later.
I’m embarrassed to say, I didn’t notice this incredible marble booking in the lobby of the Watergate Hotel until we were leaving.
I thought that because of the expense, this style of working with marble went out in the 30’s with the depression. Now I know why it took five years to renovate the hotel.
So, what is booking you ask? (clearly, you haven’t been on one of my downtown tours). Notice the diamond shape. Four squares of marble, the top two are mirror images as are the bottom two. In order to achieve that, you need to study the marble carefully, then slice it very thin so that you can flip one of the pieces and get a mirror image. In this case, they had to then find another vein in the marble that would be a close enough match to create the diamond.
Another favorite texture of mine is stained glass, of which there is plenty in the National Cathedral.
So these griffins-gargoyles don’t come close to those on the Cathedral, but they are a nice whimsical touch over a store front in Alexandria.
The height of the Capitol determines how high buildings can be. I think my tours in downtown Los Angeles have changed my viewpoint. I like having tall modern buildings in a city, gives it some gravitas.
There is nothing like the Lincoln memorial at night, if I have to choose a favorite, it is this one, the majesty is palpable. Apparently a lot of people agree.
Booyah! to the Marines. The Iwo Jima memorial is so impressive.
With every new battle, they add a new inscription. I confess, I like this much better than the general WWII memorial. That one felt so overwrought and over done. 
Here the sculpture is a true piece of art that really tells the story.
From there, to the greatest memorial to those who fought for our freedom. Arlington Cemetary.
The grave of the unknown soldier, or soldiers, since they have added more remains. I’m thinking that today with all our DNA technology, there may be people who’re bodies are lost forever, but if found, they are identified.
The changing of the guards, so solemn, so impressive, so many people standing and watching and honoring our American soldiers.
Mt. Vernon is covered in scaffolding, up on the weather vane, a crow sits atop the dove with the olive branch.
The National Cathedral is worth a visit. For it’s flying buttresses…
gargoyles…
arches….
and stained glass.
Today people are visiting the mission again because of the mission. In the 1930s, in order to get tourists to the ruins, the town publicized the swallows. They told the story of the swallows returning on March 19th en-mass. Songs were written, a festival was created. Nature runs in cycles, with many renovations being done in the 90’s the swallows left.
Efforts are being made to lure them back and maybe it’s working. A handful of nests are on some of the buildings, not sure if these are new or old. They certainly are very interesting. 
The colonnade of the mission yard.
It takes a lot of work, restoration work to maintain a building in arrested decay.
As seen in the upper right corner, it takes strong steel bolts to hold the structure together.
A beautiful tile in the colonnade honoring St. Fatima, love how the wooden frame mimics the tiles.
Inside, of course, it is the Virgin of Guadalupe.
The old Sera Chapel is still in use, repaired and in beautiful condition.
In 1986 the new Basilica was completed. They tried to recreate the church that fell in 1812. Without exact building plans, they had to look at other Mexican churches of the time. This is a large complex with a school and Franciscan monks. I saw one on the street, with his habit, his modern sneakers and a cold latte from Starbucks. Being a monk does not mean living in the distant past.
A mission bell of course! Thanks to my friend Becky, who did a better job of sluething than I did. I found out that Mrs. A.S.C Forbes had a real name, not just the initals of her husband. Her full name is Harrye (Harriet) Rebbeca Piper Smith Forbes. She came up with the idea for the bells, created them in her foundry and even created an idividual bell for each mission, based on the bells found there. Most of the originals are long gone, but a new foundry bought her mold and the State has been putting them back up along the El Camino Real – mostly the 101 freeway.
This is the kind of picture you expect someone to take in Spain, modernity in front of a ruin. Most people don’t think of California as having anything old and certainly no ruins. But then most people don’t know history, so it’s easy to excuse them.
These are remains from a massive church built for the Mission San Juan Capistrano, built in the early 19th century, destroyed in an earthquake in 1812.
The mission was rebuilt, but not on the same large scale.
One thing that fascinates me is the building materials, people use what they have on hand. In this case, not much of one building material, so they used many. Adobe, of course, rocks as well as some fired bricks.
There were strong wooden beams for support, had to have been brought in from somewhere else, either up from Mexico or on board ships. And they weren’t strong enough when the earthquake hit.
Each mission has it’s own character, to me, it’s the remains of the large church that really stand out. I couldn’t help wondering, is this girl listening to the audio tour or is she playing Pokemon go?
These are the two larger originals bells, they stand on the footprint of the original bell tower, with an image of Father Junipero Sera peeking through. There is a special exhibition about him inside the mission building.
When the Church was rebuilt, no tower. Instead, the bells were installed in a wall, the two big bells are replicas of the original and the two small ones are original. Tradition is to ring the bells by hand, using the rope. Although for visitors there is a sign, please do not ring the bells.
I love all these textures. Another thing about this mission is the decision to stay with arrested decay. In San Fernando, all has been repaired except one small wall. Here the decision has been to leave the effects of time out in the open, although it wouldn’t surprise me if some maintenance is being done.
Often it’s only when I have the chance to take a close look at the photos do I see the details. Like the fact that the bracing for this bell is shaped like a cross.
Or the design around this window includes a cross as well.
Unlike the window next to it that doesn’t.
Of course, old windows were very small, this one may not have been glazed. The iron support is new, had there been iron to support the church, it may not have fallen.
What looks like a reflection in the glass may not be. I don’t think there is any glass, it’s just blue sky with what looks like chicken wire in the window. I may be completely wrong about this, I just took the picture.
I know, this image of Father Sera welcoming a young native to the faith is completely un-PC. But then I hate political correctness. This is what was important at the time, civilizing and taming these new lands. Of course, Catholicism was a big part of that effort. I know people like to bash the Missions for destroying native life. Funny how none of those people ever bash Islam for it’s massive expansion – where it was convert or die by the sword.
Once the Mexicans took over Alta California they secularized the missions and this one became a ranch. The original document signed by Abraham Lincoln returning the missions to the church used to be here. Although I’m not Christian, I love seeing these old missions being used for their original purpose again.
Back to wonderful textures.
Today we enjoy something that shows it’s age, I wonder if this weren’t such a busy tourist spot if the people who worship, learn and live here wouldn’t prefer a refurbished site.
Love it when lichen becomes part of the architecture.
Or algae in the fountain.
Look at this, a building from 1863! Guess what, people in Victoria were no more conservation conscious than Angelenos. The difference is that when a city is growing and thriving – the old is always replaced by new. When a city stagnates – as Victoria did from the depresson onwards, there is simply no reason to tear down the old, even if it is empty and derelict.
Victoria’s big boom was during the Klondike gold rush in the late 19th century, so many buildings were erected.
Along with an impressive custom house.
The early 20th century saw a boom in building, from businesses on Government Street.
To the Empress hotel on the bay. We had the pleasure of staying here. I say pleasure, because they have renovated the rooms. Sorry, Victorian size and style of room would have been way to cramped for me.
But all this growth and developement ended with the depression. There are just a handful of Art Deco buildings, and then nothing at all in the downtown area for quite a while.
So Victoria became a tourist town, and that really only started happening in the 1980s.
And that is when smart developers swooped in and started renovating those old decrepit buildings. Even painting them in bright colors.
Victorian homes may have been brightly colored back in the day, but not the businesses downtown. I’m wondering if the TV show Miami Vice had any influence here as well? The old Art Deco in Miami Beach was never so colorful until that show in the 80s. So although I really enjoy these bright colors, they aren’t authentic to the period.
People love these brighter colors. But are they being honest about preservation? I am happy when old buildings get a new lease on life and I am fine when historical inaccuracies like this happen. But I’m also honest in that I don’t call myself a preservationist. I like the mix of old and new, even if it happens to be in the same building.
Painting houseboats in bright colors is also new. This is Fishermans wharf, much smaller than San Fransico. I can’t imagine people living here permenantly – all the cruise ship visitors walk here, as well as visitors like us. Who wants to live in a fish tank?
Another example of that, outside of architecture is this.
I had to go in and see, what is an Indian sweater? Apparently, it is the big bulky 70s style sweater, with some local northwestern motifs. Unfortunately, the yarn is bulky and scratchy. Carpet yarn, not hand knitting yarn.