LA Times Festival of Books: The Architecture of Iconic Los Angeles

I went to the LA Times Festival of Books and, as always, sat in on a number of panel discussions: 8 to be exact. One of those 8 was listening to a panel discussion on More Than Strip Malls: The Architecture of Iconic Los Angeles.

Here's a short bio via the LA Times of the panelists:

Stephen Gee is a writer and television producer based in Los Angeles. He is also the author of "Iconic Vision: John Parkinson, Architect of Los Angeles.”

Jerald Podair is professor of history and Robert S. French Professor of American Studies at Lawrence University . . . His latest is “City of Dreams: Dodger Stadium and the Birth of Modern Los Angeles.”

Arnold Schwartzman is a renowned graphic designer and Academy Award® -winning documentary film director of “Genocide.” His latest book is “Los Angeles Central Library: A History of Its Art and Architecture.”

Here are my notes from the conversation, hopefully there aren't too many errors.

Jerald Podair. Dodger Stadium story starts much earlier than when it was actually built. Chavez Ravine was selected for public housing in 1945. It was a Mexican American community with dirt roads. It was a tight knit community. Eminent domain was used to kick them out. Opposition to public housing grew and it was decided not to build on the land. At this point, most of the residents had already left. The owner of the Dodgers, Walter O'Malley, flew out to see about building a stadium. He flew around the city in a helicopter and decided that he wanted to build Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine. In order to build Dodger Stadium, a couple things still had to happen. Sheriffs forcibly removed the remaining hold out residents. Then there was a referendum about selling the land to Walter O'Malley. The referendum passed 51% to 49%. To Podair, Dodger Stadium represents a way to unite Los Angeles, which is transient and fractured.

There is a myth in NY that building Dodger Stadium was smooth sailing. There was the referendum, but there were also lawsuits that went all the way to the Supreme Court. The result: Dodger Stadium is aesthetically pleasing and striking in its beauty.

People recognize that sports is a business. He could see that a mall/theme park might some day develop around the stadium.

Stephen Gee. The Los Angeles library was moved from building to building between 1872 and 1926. For example, in 1914, it was moved from a department store building to a drug store building. It was decided that Los Angeles needed a public library. Even San Francisco at this time had a central library. Almost as soon as the library was built, it became obsolete due to population growth. In the 1970s, there was talk about knocking it down. In the 1980s, there was a fire. It survived all this and was later expanded.

He hopes the library will never get torn down due to its architecture; however, the library does need to change due to technology.

The architect of the library, Bertram Goodhue, died with no money.

Arnold Schwartzman. He was given a grant to develop a photography book about Griffith Observatory. Later, he got a grant for a similar book about the LA Library. As a Brit and an outsider, he's learned to embrace Los Angeles. There is great architecture in Los Angeles such as the Sun Realty Building and even the LA Times building. He got acquainted with the LA Library after the 1980s fire when he and his wife helped re-shelf books. One of the great parts of the library are all the murals. It took 5 years to do all the murals. It is the largest work since Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel.