Union Station, Los Angeles

For a while now I've been wanting to tour Union Station in Los Angeles. I have a deep affection for Spanish Architecture in and around Los Angeles. In fact, I'm constantly snapping photos of homes around Los Angeles in an effort to discover details and features that I can incorporate in a new Spanish style home I've been working on. What makes Los Angeles the perfect source of inspiration is that the structures are so old, historic in most cases, and they were all built with an attention to detail (and no attention to expense) that you just don't see anymore.

Washington Irving Library

There is an area west of Downtown Los Angeles that I find myself driving through for work, usually on my way to a plater who has recently been refinishing a lot of brass for some Interior Design projects. It's on the map as Arlington Heights and has some of the coolest, gigantic old houses in Los Angeles. Many of which I'm learning were more frequent before the 1992 Los Angeles Riots.

I haven't been able to find much information on the history of Arlington Heights online. More generally, there is a great deal of history on Historic West Adams which consists of several neighborhoods: Adams-Normandie, Pico-Union, Angelus Vista, Harvard Heights, Victoria Park, Lafayette Square, Wellington Square, Jefferson Park and Arlington Heights.

Halston

I do not have a Netflix account (yet), but find myself glued to documentaries whenever I am able to take advantage of a friends. Most recently, glued (or should I say draped?) onto Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston.

It's the story of American Fashion Designer Roy Halston Frowick and how he revolutionized the industry during his quick rise to fame in the nineteen seventies and eighties. It seems to be that every film centered around the disco era shines with decadent excess and ends in dark despair - consequences from the excess in fashion, drugs and sex. Halston's life was no exception.

Education: Chateau Marmont

 
It's been a while since I've had a source of inspiration for a side project. A side project for me is always an ambition, a wild dream and a rebellious idea. This particular daydream is sort of a new interpretation for an existing fashion label.
 
My history in retail actually began with this brand and I find it sort of ironic that it has, in one way or another, stumbled back into my life. It's as if everything comes full circle in life. Well, my idealist nature fantasizes that it could come full circle and be a break my career could prosper from.

Education: Hubert le Gall

I have been on the hunt for colored mirrors. I first fell in love with this idea over a year ago when Caviar 20 featured a beautiful "Blue Yves" Large Art Deco Mirror. Now I find myself searching for colorful reflection for a project I'm working on in Los Angeles.

Book: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

"Literary Nonsense". That's exactly how I felt while reading Lewis Carrolls' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and trying to comprehend all the metaphors and innuendos. Wonderland is considered to be one of the best examples of the Literary Nonsense genre. The novel, written in 1865, uses sensical and nonsensical elements to defy language conventions or logical reasoning.

The effect of nonsense is often caused by an excess of meaning, rather than a lack of it. Nonsense is often humorous in nature, although its humor is derived from its nonsensical nature, as opposed to most humor which is funny because it does make sense. Even before I knew that Wonderland was an example of this genre, I knew there was something under the surface of every flamingo croquet stick and deck of cards.

Lewis Carroll is the pseudonym for Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and Wonderland was a story of his own imagination told to another Reverend and three young girls (one of them being Alice Liddell) while on a row boat trip up the Isis in Oxford, England in 1862. The story featured a bored little girl named Alice who went looking for an adventure.

The three girls loved the story and Alice asked Dodgson to write it down for her. Prompting Dodgson to begin the original manuscript, Alice's Adventures Under Ground. In 1864, he presented Alice with this copy as a Christmas gift and was already planning to expand the story for publication.

Education: Tom Ford

There is no better Tom for my celebration of all things Tom than Mr. Tom Ford. To say that I am completely in love with everything that this man does is an understatement. Although I am not financially established enough (yet) to don his designs from head to toe, I take any piece of him I can get (glasses, sunglasses, books, fragrances).

Education: Tom Dixon

Rock and Roll meets Interior Design. Many Interior Designers are familiar with Tom Dixon and his line of exquisite sculptural home furnishings and lighting. But, did they know that music and motorcycles were the first pieces of inspiration for Dixon?

Art: Duane Michals

The Most Beautiful Part of a Man's Body
I think it must there, where the torso sits
on and into the hips,
Those twin delineating curves,
Feminine in grace, girdling the trunk,
Guiding the eyes downwards
to their intersection,
The point of pleasure.

One of my all time favorite works of photography, "The Most Beautiful Part of a Man's Body" by Duane Michals.

The Love Language of Flowers

You've probably never considered the language of flowers until you've had to send roses to someone special. The color you choose to deliver can lead to plenty of analysis and speculation. But, it's not just roses that symbolize love.

Education: Pablo Neruda

My favorite poet, Pablo Neruda.

The poetry of Pablo Neruda passionately describe everything from common objects like dishes and chairs, to emotions like solidarity and love. He led an extremely vocal life, not only with poetry beginning his career as a teenager, but as a diplomat and politician for his native country of Chile.

Luis Barragan

Are you kidding me with this image? Not even looking at this incredible water feature I am in awe at the amazing shades of pink used in this contemporary structure. I was happily surprised to find out this is a continous theme for architect, Luis Barragan.

Education: Cupid

So, who is this Cupid? And what's up with his aim?

Depending on your beliefs Cupid is in fact not an actual person. Well, even if you do believe in Cupid he isn't an actual person. He is the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection in classical mythology.

July: Romance

For the month of July, the topic is Romance. This month on my blog I'm going to share my favorite romantic movies, songs, and poetry. Sometimes these expressions can be full of joy and sometimes full of tragedy. And I'm going to share both points of view.

Education: Kurt Cobain

It doesn't get more grunge or more rock and roll than Kurt Cobain. I can't say that I'm completely obsessed with Cobain, or Nirvana, but he fascinates me as an artist. His life and the story of getting everything people dream of and some would say wishing he never had it, is captivating. There is a passion in his lyrics that I'm drawn to. When an artist lays down real meaning and hidden agendas in their music, it makes it that much more entertaining.

Video: Low

Does it mean that I'm "middle aged" if I'm obsessed with the 90's, since I lived through it and all? I find myself saying things like "the 90's was the best rock music ever made" and I frown in my head. Mid-life crisis aside, I just watched the Perks of Being a Wallflower and was pleasantly reminded of Cracker's "Low" and promptly downloaded it to my 90's rock playlist.

Education: Courtney Love

Courtney Michelle Love is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actress and artist. Love initially gained notoriety in the Los Angeles indie rock scene as vocalist and rhythm guitarist of alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989, later receiving international critical and commercial acclaim for their albums "Live Through This" and "Celebrity Skin". Love also had a solo career as a musician and an ittermittent acting career in which she received a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of Althea Flynt in "The People vs. Larry Flynt".

Love grew up primarily in Oregon, diagnosed as mildly autistic and the daughter of a pyschotherapist mother and a writer and ex-Grateful Dead manager father. Her earliest credit to rock and roll was an appearance in a group photo on the back cover of the Grateful Dead's "Aoxomoxoa" album in 1969. The child of a home that soon became broken, Love was arrested at age 14 for shoplifting and sent to a juvenile hall followed by several years in and out of foster homes before becoming legally emancipated at age 16. She moved to Portland, Oregon and supported herself by working illegally as a stripper, a DJ, and various odd jobs while taking classes at Portland State University studying English literature.