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  Featured image credit: ISKCON Los Angeles When it comes to world-class museums, we have an embarrassment of riches in the Greater Los Angeles area. But some of the best museums in Los Angeles are the obscured diamonds only talked about in the inner circles of LA’s bohemian underground. We’ve discussed some of them on the JohnHart blog recently, like the Nethercutt Collection and Museum and the Museun of Jurassic Technology. Well, get ready to add another to the list because just a few hundred feet from the Museum of Jurassic Technology stands an attraction regarded as legendary by those in the know. It tells a sacred, transcendent tale across 11 dazzlingly psychedelic displays. It’s all a part of the experience the Diorama Museum of Bhagavad-gita offers.  Save the Drama for Your Diorama Photo credit: Public Domain In the 1930s, spiritual master Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati began to employ dioramas as a method of communicating his spiritual teachings. T...

  Featured image credit: Amé Kali LA’s transition into a winter wonderland is subtle when compared to a lot of other U.S. cities. Maybe it’s all that year-round California sunshine. Sure, we have the annual Hollywood Christmas Parade, falling on the first Sunday after Thanksgiving since 1928. Then there’s the more recent tradition of the Pershing Square Ice Skating Rink, running from late November through mid-January. But perhaps the most widely recognizable herald of the season, simply because you can see it from all over Hollywood, is the Capitol Records building Christmas tree lighting. When you see those multi-colored lights streaming down from the building’s “needle”, there’s no question what time it is.  The History of the Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting Photo credit: Amé Kali The old lyric “How lovely are thy branches” couldn’t really apply to the Capitol Records building Christmas tree. It has no leafy greenery; no sturdy branches. It seems to...

  If home is where the heart is, where do those who are young at heart live? For the lucky few in Los Angeles, in the remaining storybook houses scattered around the city. Alternately referred to as fairytale architecture, storybook architecture is exactly what it sounds like: designs inspired by a fanciful distortion of medieval European cottages. It rivals both Googie and programmatic architecture in its artistry and whimsy. But a style so rooted in fantasy couldn’t sustain popularity in reality for too long. In our final entry in the Los Angeles Architecture 101 series, we look at a brief moment when the pages of fairytales bled over into the cinematic dreams of Hollywood to create the most fanciful architectural style of all time.  The Impressions of European Architecture on U.S. Soldiers Photo credit: Envato The introduction of storybook architecture started when so many of LA’s most creative and exotic design styles sadly began: the end of Wo...

  Featured image credit: vagueonthehow “ It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… ” No, that’s not exactly right. “ We were somewhere around LA on the edge of downtown when the drugs began to take hold. ” Interesting, but no – still not it. “ The man in black fled across the city, and the bookseller followed. ” Closer, but still missing something. It’s so much more difficult to start a tale than end it; you have to get that first line just right . Of course, you wouldn’t know it if you asked Josh Spencer, the founder of LA’s iconic The Last Bookstore.  His epic journey required little to no foresight. In fact, its beginning is a bit of a blur. Yet, it’s an epic journey spanning several volumes and spin-off tales with a revolving kaleidoscope of characters all centered around our reluctant hero. More Bilbo than Frodo, Spencer would rather read a book than sling them in Downtown LA. But something called to him. And the city is all the richer for it....

  It’s still one of the hottest questions in the real estate industry: when will we see interest rates dropping again? Short answer: probably on December 18. The Federal Reserve will be gathering for the Federal Open Market Committee meeting and I am confident that they will announce a modest policy rate reduction to close out the year. But looking at the U.S.’s economic stats in November, I’m hesitant to celebrate.  Mixed Messages from November Photo credit: Envato November was a strange month for the economy. On the one hand, we saw job growth rebound beyond our expectations. With 227,000 nonfarm payroll jobs added to our country’s economy, things seem to be looking up, right? Well, it’s not that simple.  Because, on the other hand, we watched unemployment rise to 4.2%. That’s over 7 million unemployed Americans. While this likely means we’re not going to see a complete collapse of the job market like we’d feared, it is also up from the 3.5% un...

  Featured image credit: Maarten Heerlien The next time you visit the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, keep in mind that some of those taxidermied animals behind the glass are over a century old. That’s right, the museum’s nature dioramas just turned a century old. And to commemorate the milestone, the museum re-opened a dormant wing offering dioramas that have been in the dark since the 1980s. They’re even throwing in three brand-new installations in collaboration with local artists. It’s all a part of Reframing Dioramas: The Art of Preserving Wilderness , on view since September 15.  The Nexus Point of Science and Art     It’s been decades since the public has entered the hall of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles that now houses the Reframing Dioramas exhibit. Severe water damage forced the closure of the wing in the ‘80s. Recently, professionals have completed the renovation of its lighting fixtures and woodwork, allowing ...

  Featured image credit: RoboLights Facebook Page Christmas in Palm Springs is a special time where time-honored tradition intersects with yuletide camp in a distinctly sweet seasonal cocktail you won’t find anywhere else. But for many longtime residents of the Coachella Valley, it’s not quite Christmas without Robolights. If you’re asking ‘What’s Robolights?”, there’s no way you could possibly expect the answer. Words can’t encompass it. But since this is a blog, we’ll try anyway. Robolights is an ever-expanding 4-acre art installation consisting of neon robot sculptures decked out in literal millions of Christmas lights. With werewolves. And flamingos. And soldiers. We told you.  The Dream World of Kenny Irwin, Jr. Photo credit: RoboLights Facebook Page Artist Kenny Irwin, Jr. was born in Palm Springs in May 1974. You could argue that Robolights was born with him. The artist claims that dating back to his infancy, he dreamt of a galactic realm popul...

  Featured image credit: Ted Eytan Having served Pasadena and the Greater Los Angeles area for over 102 years, the Rose Bowl Stadium is something of an institution to Angelenos. But designers obviously built it with a different time and, in a sense, a different city in mind. The Lasting Legacy Campaign, an organization tasked with maintaining the Pasadena stadium, recently announced a series of ambitious upgrades aimed at elevating the Rose Bowl experience. The outlined changes will allow the venue to stay competitive with other area stadiums and arenas while maintaining its historic integrity and unique beauty.  A Promising Start Photo credit: Michael Barera The Lasting Legacy Campaign touted eight distinct projects slated for the Rose Bowl Stadium Pasadena through 2029. Three of the more manageable projects have already been completed at the time of writing. These include: Renovating the historic sign greeting guests at the entrance Installi...

  Featured image credit: mbtrama As our Architecture 101 blog series has strived to illuminate, California has often stood at the forefront of America’s architectural development. But this arguably became most obvious in the 1940s with the introduction of today’s featured design movement. Since the mid-1950s, the term “mid-century modern” has been bandied about. But it wasn’t until the ‘80s that experts widely recognized mid-century modern architecture by this name. Nearby Palm Springs is an undisputed mecca of mid-century modern structures, but this blog series is about architecture in Los Angeles, so we’ll be maintaining that focus. Without further adieu, let’s get optimistically simple!  A Simple, Straightforward Response to the Post-War Housing Crisis Photo credit: Grueslayer While mid-century architecture had a global impact, it was most obvious in new homes built in Brazil, Europe, and the U.S. between 1945 and the early ‘70s. Gone was the ornam...