Paris (and Brussels): 5 Days, 500 shots

I was amazed when I uploaded the photos of the Thanksgiving weekend trip to Paris and BXL to find out I'd taken 167 shots on the iPhone and 333 on my fantastic Canon EOS Rebel. After I'd removed the accidently taken shots of my shoes I was left with a round 500 images of the two European capitals. Some of them I've posted via my twitter account and a lot more will go up on flickr over the next few days but here - just for the flavour, so to speak - is un petit tour...


Paris: Mademoiselles in the Jardin des Tuileries


Paris: "Big Girls" in Montmartre


Paris: Job Opportunities


Paris: From Pont de l'Alma to the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur


Brussels: Plaisirs d'hiver/Winter Pret - real genever or Peket


Brussels: surreality à pied

and finally....


Brussels: The Guy tries to comprehend the city's Xmas Decorations

Maybe this bed?

Art Nouveau bed (1899) by Belgian artist Gustave Serrurier-Bovy at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Santa Monica Evening

The quintessential Santa Monica beach experience in four shots:


Santa Monica Pier


Filming an Italian movie on the beach - the girls in red swimsuits, the boys playing volleyball and all Frankie Avalon look-alikes - Baywatch with a touch of sixties teen Beach Movies


One of a whole salad of vegetable-mimicking seaweed


Dipping toes in the cold Pacific ocean
Have I mentioned how much I love the west coast?

Getty Museum

With all the reupholstery/renovation/yard/maintenance drama that's been happening on the home front I completely forgot to post some of the photos from LA where we ended up after our trip to Palm Springs. So, with minimal commentary, this is what we packed into 4 hours one afternoon...


The breathtaking architecture that is the Richard Meier designed Getty Center


The juxtaposition of rough and smooth surfaces


The Robert Irwin designed Central Garden at The Getty Museum - a growing maze in a water-filled arena. Stunning!


More hard/soft shapes and textures


Feeding my Magritte obsession


The plaza at the end of the day.
That's just the exterior, the Getty collection is just as stunning - as anyone who saw last week's Project Runway 6 will attest to. More from California tomorrow.

Krisel and more

My Krisel crush is well-known, and it's been happily fed recently, first by the sneak preview of Jake Gorst's upcoming documentary "William Krisel, Architect". I cannot wait to see the full version. A short time ago Krisel Keeper left a comment here. I followed the links and found her blog detailing the ongoing rehab of a Krisel ranch in Woodland Hills, California. Then there was the trip to Palm Springs, which is dotted with Krisel houses. It was like eating a box of chocolates all in one sitting, albeit really, really good Belgian chocolates while lounging in an Eames chair. I toured three Palm Springs neighborhoods, Las Palmas Estates tucked under the mountains, Racquet Club Estates and Twin Palms in search of the Alexander Construction Company homes designed by William Krisel of Palmer & Krisel. And as I don't have any Belgian chocs to give you, I'll share my real estate finds: three gorgeous examples recently on the market with links to more photos and to the realtors. Enjoy!

The earliest of the Krisel modernist tract homes, like this 1600 sq' 3 bed, 2 bath Alexander Sunflap in Twin Palms Estates, were built in the mid-fifties.


In Racquet Club Estates a 3 bedroom Alexander home built in 1959 is for sale at $399,000



Complete with mountain views a Krisel designed home in Las Palmas Estates, just a stroll from downtown Palm Springs.

Alpine Desert

This is perhaps the most stunning of the fifteen so-called "Swiss Miss" houses on the Las Palmas Estates in Palm Springs. Designed by Charles Dubois, and built by Alexander Construction in 1959, these alpine chalet inspired homes are quite distinct from the standard Alexander-built tract houses, most of which were designed by William Krisel.


This one was completely renovated in 2005 and is currently for sale at $1,095,000. There is also an option to rent at $595 a night or $3,195 a week through Vacation Palm Springs .



More on the unique Swiss Miss homes at Jetsetmodern and Eichler Network

Desert Realty

Driving around the Old Las Palmas neighborhood I was surprised at the number of For Sale signs, often four or more on one side of a block. I knew that California had been one of the areas most badly affected by the housing crisis but I hadn't realised how hard the state had been hit. Even in the more tony neighborhoods of Palm Springs, you could feel the pressure to sell - at any price. And the homes ranged in every condition from mint to almost abandoned; foreclosure signs placed despondently among the cactus and yuccas.
To be sure not all the homes had that aura of desperation, indeed a few retain that scent of celebrity and glamour:


Donald Wexler designed this house for Dinah Shore in 1963.


It's a glorious example of a Hollywood home in the desert that has been stunningly and sympathetically renovated. Listed at almost $6,000,000, double the price it sold for in 2003, it has been on the market since Spring.


A secret gem: One of Elvis' desert homes, owned by Liberace until 1971.


Already substantially reduced to $749,000 it's a 4 bed, 5 bath, 3000 sq' statue-bedecked MCM house full of flock and glitz


and the occasional piece of Liberace memorabilia.


Also on the market, for $1,295,000, is the former Tony Curtis/Janet Leigh home "Camp Curtis", a stunning 1960 Fey home that got smacked with a nasty granite kitchen in a recent remodel. Click here for more details/photos.
If you fancy experiencing the luxury lifestyle but don't want to relocate to the desert, you can always rent a vacation home for a night, week or longer. You could stay in Frank Sinatra's Twin Palms pad or hang out where Marilyn Monroe slept. On the other hand, given recent press, you might not want to spend time in this particular celebrity's Unusual Villa rental...

Desert Modern

So where was I? Oh, yes back in the desert...
I spent a couple of days doing the Modern Palm Springs Tour, a self-guided street-side peep around the exteriors of the best examples of mid-century modern architecture. I picked up a $5 map from the Visitors' Center, formerly the Albert Frey designed Tramway Gas Station - the first stop on the tour - and set off on a drive past residential and commercial buildings designed by Donald Wexler, William F. Cody, E. Stewart Williams and other designers who made the Coachella Valley the unique resort destination in the 50s and 60s.


The tour takes you past the Richard Neutra Kaufmann Desert House - newsflash they were doing some work on the air-conditioning system - via the Albert Frey designed Raymond Loewy House to the House of Tomorrow.
Although I've seen photographs of some of these homes, and in some cases written about them, it's always more interesting to see them in situ. You see how they fit into their environment, how they affect and are affected by the surrounding landscape.


The House of Tomorrow, for example sits on a cul-de-sac; other homes have been built around it and thickly planted trees and shrubs have grown to enclose it so that it now looks, at first glance, like any other suburban home. It's only when you look closer that you notice William Krisel's mid-century details: the huge projecting bay window, the angles, the cutaways in the roof.


The Raymond Loewy House is set back on the lot behind an elaborate fence structure, the more architecturally unique side of the house faces the mountains, hidden from passers-by.


While I had great fun driving round the neighborhoods of Palm Springs in the rented convertible (and getting a major case of neck burn from the desert sun) I was disappointed I couldn't get this trip to coincide with Palm Springs Modernism Week when I'd be able to view the interiors of some of the houses. So when I got back home I treated myself to Julius Shulman: Palm Springs, the late iconic photographer's tribute to the architecture of the city. If you can't get to Palm Springs I recommend you beg, borrow or buy a copy, you'll be instantly transported to the desert oasis where every building is a reminder of the shift in style that became known as mid-century modern design.

Dozy Sunday

Another Palm Springs moment.

Well at least it's not snowing...

It's currently 42 F and raining, all the cats are huddled together and I'm having to consider seriously turning on the heating. It's not news, it's just Fall on Long Island and it wouldn't normally bother me except that it's 100 F and sunny in Palm Springs. Not fair! So to cheer myself up (and in lieu of some MCM house shots that I'm still processing) here are a few photos to remind me of the fabulous dry desert climate:


Cactus!


Oranges!


Dates!

Desert Air

What can you say about Palm Springs that hasn't been said before? Driving from Los Angeles on I -10 the desert air hits you full force as you drive through the San Gorgonio Pass that divides the San Bernadino and San Jacinto Mountains, the temperature climbs 10, 15 degrees in a matter of minutes and the wind almost knocks the steering while right out of your hands.


The scenery changes from coastal scrub and urban scrawl to barren mountains, home only to battalions of windmills. This is the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm, located in one of the windiest places in California, it powers Palm Springs and the surrounding Coachella Valley.


Half an hour further on and you enter the outskirts of the city. You've passed the turbines, steel megaliths have been replaced by Desert Fan Palms; stony outcrops by resort developments - manicured lawns interspersed with native Barrel cactus and yuccas.


You spot your first iconic mid-century building, The Tramway Gas Station. This is where you pull over, lower the top on the bright red convertible hire car and the vacation begins...

Home

I'm home. I saw England and Belgium. I didn't get to go to Paris. I did get sick. That's all you need to know for now. More later.

Indoor Art (Cleveland)

Modernist art glass


Flying Phish Rock 'n' Roll Hot Dog from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

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Inspiration comes in the oddest places

I'm thinking this landscape, snapped at JFK, may be the way I want the final section of the yard to look, with a few tweaks of course. Thoughts? Comments?