Hit The Heights

The Angelino Heights district is one of the first suburbs of Los Angeles, Ca.
Established in the 1880s, it is a concentration of impressive Victorian-style homes. The area was declared a Historic Preservation Zone in 1983.

ANGEL, BABY

Photos of the Angels Flight Railway in downtown Los Angeles, Ca., circa 2010. Connecting the streets of Hill to The California Plaza, the self-titled "Shortest Railway in the World" originally ran (in a slightly different location) from 1901 to 1969. This location opened in 1996.

Not many non-L.A. residents know of the Angels Flight Railway. But ask a person of a certain age and they'll tell you that Angels Flight was THE name in tight-fitting, hidden-pocket, wide "bell" bell-bottom disco slacks during the 70s.
Boogie Fever!
(image courtesy of The Alice Willis Museum of Kitsch)

HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD (AND HIGHLAND)!

The Hollywood/Highland Complex in Hollywood, Ca. is a mall and entertainment complex that opened on the former site of the Hollywood Hotel in 2001. Currently serves as the home base for the annual Academy Awards ceremony. The complex is modeled after a set from the 1916 D.W. Griffith film "Intolerance."

WATUSI TIME

Proportion-challenged window mural advertising the near-irresistible combo of watusi dancers in bikinis (inferred) with a guarantee that you will find it entertaining.  Mural is on the window of a bar in Los Angeles that has in all probability been torn down, given that the watusi hasn't been danced anywhere (at least non-ironically) since the 60s.

NEON LOS ANGELES

The 80s were the heyday of neon signs in Los Angeles. Melrose Avenue and Third Street were especially incandescent.

HIGHER LEARNING

 My Alma Mater, The San Francisco Art Institute in the Russian Hill area of San Francisco, CA.
There I majored in film and enrolled in a class taught by Angela Davis.

My 2nd Alma Mater: The Dupree Dance Academy on 3rd Street in Los Angeles. The studio, which no longer exists, was founded by Roland Dupree and was the center of professional dance in L.A. during the 70s and 80s. 

Site of my first "show biz" job: The El Cid Flamenco Club in Silverlake, California.
Formerly the site of a D.W. Griffith studio, in 1950 it became the Cabaret Concert Theater. In 1961 it was remodeled and became the El Cid, longtime home of world-famous flamenco dance acts and Jennifer Stace's all-female pop & lock dance troupe, "The L.A. Knockers" (for whom Iwork. I ran the follow spot and pulled the curtain...usually too slowly).

Perches

Giant Chair Art Installation at the Pacific Design Center
West Hollywood, CA.