In search of the seriously beautiful…
“Photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” ― Elliott Erwittby
Abstract road art, created by tires with an interesting tread pattern.
Lily Rock can be seen in the background in the first shot, and the second shot is squirrel prints – they move so fast, it’s hard to tell sometimes if they’re even touch the ground, but these prints are proof that they do!
Icy rivulets frozen to the side of a water tank.
What the snow plow leaves behind.
Snowflakes on my windshield, first thing this morning.
Yesterday was great! I had a party downtown in the evening, so I went into LA a little early and spent some time up at Hollyhock House. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1919, and built on the top of a hill in Los Feliz, it’s spectacular. The house was commissioned by an heiress named Aline Barnsdall, who was a bit of a rebel – in a good way! Her dream was to create an art complex with a couple of theaters, and studios for potters and painters and all kinds of other artisans, plus a school for her young daughter to play and learn and grow. So she bought this large hill – Olive Hill – in Eastern Hollywood, and hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design it all. Most of the project was never completed – but the main residence was – Hollyhock House, named after the design motif Wright employed throughout the house, based on Miss Barnsdall’s favorite flower.
I first discovered the house back in the early 1990’s and I’ve brought many friends to tour it over the years. It feels like this private, special place, sort of hidden away in plain site, in the middle of the city. The view of the Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood sign can’t be beat – especially if you’re on the roof of Hollyhock House. And in the other direction is all of downtown. It’s amazing at sunset.
The house itself is concrete and leaded glass and the abstracted Hollyhock motif shows up in all sorts of interesting and imaginative ways. I remember reading long ago that FLW choose olive as the main color for the house, since Olive Hill was of course covered in olive trees at the time. He intended the walls to be the color of the underside of the leaves, and the main accent to be the darker green color of the top of the leaves. It’s a beautiful thought! And the violet and the white in the leaded windows are in reference to the colors of the Hollyhock flower. Then as a further accent, the windows were rimmed in wood painted gold. In 1994 the house was damaged in the Northridge Earthquake – and I remember cracks in the walls, and scaffolding around the house for years afterward. And then as repairs were made, the city choose what I call “parks and recreation green” as the accent color for the house – you know, the bright green paint they always use on picnic benches in national parks. Almost a kelly green? Totally wrong and garish-looking on Hollyhock House. Thankfully it’s been replaced by a much more authentic olive green since then!
It had been a while since I’d been up to Hollyhock House. It’s one of my favorite places on earth and one of the all-time top ten homes in LA, and one of the top ten Frank Lloyd Wright homes – so very very special – but I realized I hadn’t been in a couple years, so I was glad when I found myself with an extra hour in LA on an unexpectedly beautiful balmy day, right at sunset. And the house hasn’t changed. It’s still the most peaceful, pleasant, blissful spot in the city. There’s also an art museum on the property and they do a lot of art education – it’s a real asset to the community. To me it’s the best part of LA – truly!
Then after Hollyhock House, I headed downtown for a friend’s BIG studio opening. I’m incredibly happy for and jealous of Rob and his girlfriend Vanessa. They’re getting to live the fantasy life of many many artists – a huge vintage loft in the old Southern California Edison building, circa 1903, in The Brewery Art Colony. It’s the kind of place you see in the movies when the character is a hip, successful artist. In fact, right after they took possession, CSI: Miami shot an episode in their space – it’s that cool!
Here’s a few links if you’re curious…
http://www.robgreer.com/blog/2009/01/los-angeles-wedding-photographer-party/
http://www.robgreer.com/blog/2008/11/csi-miami-selects-our-studio-2/
And a super cool video of the party, shot by Tony Bisson! I make a quick appearance at about the 2.5 minute mark…
http://vimeo.com/2864594
Getting “snowed in” sounds so romantic – staying inside by the fire with a good book, drinking hot chocolate. No work, no school, no modern world. Sounds fun! And in a way it is, but it’s also a lot of cold hard work. By the third day with no electricity, one more trip out to get firewood, just gets old. Do you have any idea how much wood it takes to heat a house with a wood stove and a fireplace, when it’s 22° outside? And when that wood is at the end of long walkway, and buried under three feet of snow, it’s a lot of work!
And there’s the darkness. This time of year the sun goes down so early and comes up so late – and with only firelight, and one dim lantern, there’s not much you can do. We played Scrabble – a lot of Scrabble! And went to bed early, and slept late. But fourteen or fifteen hours of darkness is a long, long time. Especially by the third night.
The power came on suddenly at 1:30AM last night, then flickered out, then came back on for good at 2:30AM. I’ve never been so happy to see the lights come on!
This is the view from the house, about midway through the second storm, soon after the power went out. Down by the garage there’s a big bump in the snow – that’s my car. As more snow fell it became even less recognizable.
The view from the front porch, also on the Wednesday. There’s no denying that it’s beautiful!
And this is what it looked like today! Bright blue sky, lots of sun, and lots of icicles as the snow on the roof began to melt.
As the sun heated things up, the trees began to shed their load of snow. In fact, it was hazardous to walk under them since you could get dumped with slushy snow at any moment. But it was worth it to get to see some green again!
We’re supposed to have two more days of warm weather and sun – so hopefully the ice and snow will melt off the walkways and we can dig out the wood pile and my car before the next storm – which is supposedly coming on Monday. I am definitely hoping for rain that day, instead of snow – and that’s a possibility – but if it does end up snowing, I just hope for a light dusting this time. I can hope! And I really really hope the power stays on. It’s amazing how great heat and hot water and hot food are! I’m not ready to go back to the romantic pioneer days again quite yet…
Yes, it does indeed snow in Southern California – if you’re in the mountains!
It started snowing on Saturday night, and by yesterday morning there was a blanket several inches deep covering everything. I finally ventured out in the afternoon and scraping the snow off my windshield was sort of fun – it was soft and fluffy and light – and pretty! Then more snow last night, and lots more snow this morning. Judging by the snow on the roof of the house next door, it must be almost a foot deep at this point. And it’s not stopping. The forecast is for three more days of this. Will I even be able to see my car if it continues at this rate?
Last summer we got a hard thunderstorm that dumped more rain faster than Idyllwild had seen in 30 years. That was impressive! But I’m sort of thinking that was nothing compared to several feet of snow?
It’s going to be an interesting winter!
In Fallbrook I used to love voting at the First Christian Church – a beautiful little Gothic-Revival church, constructed in 1887. How can you beat voting in a little white church with a tall steeple? It’s so American, and so patriotic, it just feels right.
But for me today, the election season ended at the Idyllwild Town Hall – and I have to admit it felt just as right.
I love small towns!
When I lived in downtown Riverside in 1999, one of my neighbors mentioned that if you walked up our street – Ninth Street – you could walk all the way up Mount Rubidoux. And she told me they held Easter Services there. But I never actually walked the two blocks up to the entrance – I drove by it – but never made the walk.
The plaque in the gate at the entrance to the park. Frank Miller was the owner of the Mission Inn during it’s heydey – he took the Inn from a local boarding house, to a world-class hotel with eclectic architecture that hosted all the U.S. Presidents of the day. Mount Rubidoux was another one of his projects – he bought it with investors, planted vegetation, erected the cross, and then sold the plots at it’s base for houses. In other words, it was a housing development!
I didn’t climb all the way to the top today – I only went about half-way up – but I found some beautiful things to shoot!
Just some bogenvia – but it’s one of my favorite versions – it’s pale cream or almost white with pale pink edges. It’s the most delicate looking of all the varieties of bogenvia.
More pale pink bogenvia.
This image just blows me away. I knew it was special as I shot it, but I like it even better now. The circle, the way the leaves glow, the soft light, the natural vignetting, the extremely shallow depth of field. It’s just beautiful.
This is my other favorite variety of bogenvia – pale orange that turns to pale pink on the edges. The image is fairly basic, but the flowers are magnificent!
And this image was the second time that magic struck today. Look at the wonderful purples and greens in the blurred background. It’s amazing. I took half-a-dozen shots of this branch, and all the shots had that wonderful magical mess happening in the background.
This was the image that I came to Mount Rubidoux to make. I was in love with the wonderful blue sky – thanks to the Northeast wind and 100° temperature today. And the white tree with no leaves, and the gorgeous rust stained rocks, and the wildflowers – it’s exactly what I envisioned and the best representational image for the day. Hot, bright blue, and beautiful!
Grape vines, or ivy vines – I’m not sure – but whatever it was, it was interesting. And with the sun directly behind, I liked it even better.
And then my very favorite image of the day, of the week, and maybe of the whole month. So simple and so flippin’ beautiful. The wind was blowing hard, and these weeds were whipping around, in a dance. The whole series is beautiful, but this one frame is the ONE. My favorite…
And I’ll finish this post with a couple of vintage postcards showing Mount Rubidoux.
This postcard was made sometime before 1920 – notice the cars parked below. The park was created right after the turn of the century, and the first Easter services were held in 1909, with 100 people attending. Generally acknowledged as the oldest large outdoor Easter service in the United States, the idea spread to other areas, and soon sunrise Easter services were happening all across the nation. In 1926, 20,000 people attended the Mount Rubidoux Easter Sunrise Service.
What amazes me about the photo above is not just the large number of people, but also the small number of cars – most of those people walked up, in their Easter Sunday clothes.
And this is Mount Rubidoux in 1947 – still not much development in the valley below.
Edited to add: I went back to Mount Dubidoux in July of 2009 and made some gorgeous images of the bridge, the cross, and the valley below. They really are beautiful images, so you’re interested in Mount Rubidoux here’s the link! http://cherylspelts.com/2009/07/mount-rubidoux/
I’ve had a thing for downtown Riverside for years. I’ve always loved little old houses, and streets with lots of old houses are just heaven for me. But I’d never seen so many old houses, in such good condition until I found Riverside.
In 1885, Riverside California had the highest per capita income of any city in the United States because of the orange groves. And a lot of the houses built in that era still exist – huge Victorians on tiny city lots, with no backyards, but big trees in front. The economy stayed strong into the next century, and the houses built reflected that – the Craftsmen Homes pictured above were probably built between 1900 and 1905. And a decade or so later, art deco bungalows started to appear. Nearly every house in the downtown area is charming and full of authentic period details – and the styles represented range from Victorians in the 1880’s through 1940’s modern.
But a funny thing happened after 1950. Riverside’s economy started to suffer, and the wealthier people started to move out of the downtown area. In downtown San Diego and Los Angeles lots of old houses were torn down in the 1950’s and 60’s – they were just old houses, and out of fashion, and the land was valuable, so the houses had to go. But in Riverside, the land was not in demand – so the houses stayed. And in many cases there was very little effort made to renovate or redecorate. The houses may have been old fashioned, and not as desirable, but they still made good homes for less wealthy families.
When I first discovered downtown Riverside, it was in 1995 at the very bottom of the market. Cute little Victorians that were completely authentic and totally untouched by misguided renovators were selling for very very little. I went to an auction and saw several go for less than $10,000 each – and they were livable homes.
That was the bottom. But the real estate boom of the early part of this decade changed everything. I spent six months living in the top story of a hundred-year-old house in 1998 and paid $450 a month in rent – it was great! And I looked at cute little bungalows selling for $90,000 and wondered where the $10,000 houses I’d seen three years before had gone? Then in 2005 I saw those same houses going for $350,000 and up. It was madness. But compared to Northern San Diego County, where the same house would go for $750,000, they were still a bargain.
The worst part for me though, is that all that money meant that almost all of those houses have had significant “improvements” made in the last ten years. Most people that like old houses, don’t reallllly like old houses – they want it to look old, but still have a modern kitchen and bathroom. Not me! I loved the original ceramic tile I had in one house, and the little drop leaf table. I love old plumbing fixtures, and doors that creak, and windows that let a draft in, around the edges. It makes me really sad to think about all those improvements.
The fact that Riverside suffered economically in the middle of the last century protected all those great old houses – and the fact that Riverside prospered more recently means that a lot of them have been gutted and renovated recently. It’s sad.
Even sadder is the fact that more old houses have been lost in the last two or three years, than in two or three decades before. There are way too many empty lots where old houses used to stand. They claim it’s progress, but it’s not even close to progress in my opinion – it’s short-sighted greed. And I remember those houses – they may be gone – but I remember.
I love Fallbrook, and it’s my home, but I also love downtown Riverside and the tree-lined streets and so many beautiful little houses. Streets like the one above call out to me…
What is Brooktown? It’s home! Technically it’s slang for Fallbrook – the cool kids in the 1960’s came up with it – at least that’s the story I was told at first. Then I heard that it first appeared on a high school yearbook in the 1930’s. But whenever it originated, it’s the insider way to refer to Fallbrook…
The view from Maddox Nursery – rolling hills, groves, oak trees, a few palms, scrub brush, and beautiful homes tucked away in places you never see from the main roads. That’s Brooktown!
It’s far too easy to drive past Dinwiddie Preserve and never really discover it… But it’s worth discovering!
I loved the color of the red blossoms on this tree – they may look small in the images, but they were huge.
In the 1880’s olive trees were planted all over Fallbrook, and between 1913-1915 olives were the biggest cash crop in the area. There was even an olive press here, for making olive oil. Remnants of those old groves can be spotted all over town, but the prettiest stand of olive trees is on the corner of Mission and Live Oak Park Road.
And finally some weeds from in front of Elder House.
So that’s it for my contribution to the 2008 Fallbrook Sourcebook! Some of these same images are currently appearing on Fallbrook.org and earlier today I discovered that my 2005 cover image for the Sourcebook is appearing on the front page of FindFallbrook.com – some images have a long life, and it was definitely an image that defines what Fallbrook is all about!
Palomares House is one of the oldest homes in town – built in the 1890’s. It’s currently run by the Fallbrook Land Conservancy, and community events are held in the house and on the grounds – which are beautiful. The teaser images of the tree in bloom I posted a few weeks ago, were made on it’s grounds.
The first two images were made on March 31, and the last two on March 20, 2008.
Live Oak Park is Fallbrook to me. It’s oak trees, rolling hills, a stream, and bright blue skies and birds flittering and fluttering, and peace and beauty.
These images were shot from March 24-26, 2008 for the Fallbrook Sourcebook. I think only one made the final cut for the magazine, but I love them all!
