reader request: san gabriel boulevard near huntington drive, san marino

Thanks to Kathy Rojas for the location request.

There's no denying the charm + beauty of the neighborhoods surrounding San Marino's beloved Huntington Botanical Gardens: impeccable homes of modest grandeur line sunny streets bursting with deep blue-green foliage. This manicured suburbia clearly shows its rural roots, as evidenced by its wide streets — streets I find a little odd. Take this road: it services a sleepy, very low density neighborhood whose residents (unlike their Angeleno counterparts) proudly maintain their sanity by driving at moderate speeds. Despite this small-town character, the road is built six cars wide; it's as if city planners were expecting the Daytona 500 to come barrelling through at any moment. Narrowing the street fits the tone of the area better and has the added bonus of creating tree tunnels, for an even woodsier feel. See it narrowed!
High quality prints available

streetfilms' latest video: the new times square

I can't help myself...I actually got a little teary-eyed, this video is just so good. Yes! You can re-invent your surroundings! All it takes is imagination!

Give the fabulous Streetfilms a visit, won't you?

friday favorites: olvera street, los angeles

Thanks to Drew Reed for the location suggestion. 1941 postcard courtesy of zilf.

"I can think of another narrow street in LA, and a live one no less: Olvera!" writes Drew. "It probably doesn't fit your implied criteria as it's closed to vehicle traffic, but at least we have one semi-street that comes close to what you envision."

Not to worry, Drew — just because Olvera is car-free doesn't mean it's any less "real" than any other street!

Every Friday I'll post a favorite narrow street snapshot from somewhere around the world. Got a Friday favorite of your own? Send me your photos!

3rd street + the grove drive

The Grove never fails to fascinate me. According to developer Caruso Affiliated it is built in a signature, eponymously named "CarusoStyle," which must mean a cartoon style of an original archetype, to paraphrase James Howard Kunstler. There's indeed a lot of cartooning going on in this photo.

reader request: grand avenue + 1st street (northwest), downtown

Thanks to Scot Pansing for the location suggestion.

This corner of downtown is wonderland of architectural fancy: in a single city block you've got the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, MOCA, and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion + Walt Disney Concert Hall, both pictured above. But this block is actually a quarter-mile square, bound by streets eight lanes wide; the view at street level is dominated by concrete vastlands that can swallow up entire crowds of tourists whole. These two cultural meccas above seem too separated, aloof, privatized. Bringing them closer changes their relationship, making them feel more like two temples within a compound: truly the heart beating at downtown's artistic core. Travelling between the two makes more intuitive sense, and becomes more of an intimate segue and less like simple mall-hopping. See it narrowed!
High quality prints available

individuality, capitalism, + lawn care: upon reading ted steinberg's "american green"

Perfection in lawn care is like a spike through the heart of spontaneity.
(pg. 223)

Everything about Ted Steinberg's measured argument against lawns makes sense: they waste water; their grass, far from being part of native ecology, is just another Scotts/Monsanto cash crop monoculture nourished by lazy government and kept on life support by poisonous chemical sprays; the mowers tending them spell injury + pollution. The lawn, this great green enforcer of social conformity, originated from upper class mimicry. Plus it's just a huge chore.

There are tons of contradictions surrounding the lawn — why do so many get so OCD over something so un-fun? — but for me its biggest paradox is that it has become a government-mandated aesthetic. The government tells people how far to set back their property, how much of their yard must contain grass, when they can water, and so on, and everyone's kinda...okay with it. Normally when the government tries to restrict things like our speech, mobility, or sexuality, we protest with great vigor — but when it comes to our homes, we tacitly agree to what is effectively a municipal dress code. Where are the angry chants against big government? Or are they being drowned out by leafblowers?

camden avenue + massachusetts avenue, westwood

Loafing around one day I stopped to eyeball the width of one of my neighborhood streets: four and a half car widths edge to edge, check. (Counting car widths has become this tic of mine.) But I realized I've only been counting asphalt, and not the other factor that adds to LA's already wide streets — the property setback.