When Grand Architectural Visions and the Real World Meet

"Accidental Architecture: Cutting Buildings To Suit the Economy"
treehugger (April 22, 2009)

"In hard times, it can take a while to finish a building. The Norman Foster designed Hearst Tower sits on top of the original Hearst building designed by Joseph Urban, but cut off halfway up by the Great Depression. While it got topped off in a green tour de force, we are not always so lucky...."

That's one of the illustrations that goes along with the post. This is a pretty good, informed - and illustrated - introduction to the facts of architectural history. Unlike some rather visionary (or goofy, depending on your point of view) treatises on Architecture (with a capital A), this post is written from a common-sense point of view.

It ends with "...Certainly it is better to seal up and finish what you have, instead of just letting the frames rot, exposed to the weather, which seems to be happening all over right now."

I think this is a good, short, easy-to-read discussion of what can happen to grand designs: and a pleasant (for me) look at what architects would have done, if conditions had been right. Or different, at any rate.

Hollywood Fire: Hollywood and Vine Location Does Make a Difference

The fire at Hollywood and Vine is a very serious matter for everyone who worked in the businesses that aren't there now. But, I doubt that it would have gotten this much attention if it had happened somewhere else.

• "Hollywood & Fire"
  Los Angeles Times (April 30, 2008)
• "Blaze Erupts in Building Housing Hollywood Nightclub"
  FoxNEWS (April 30, 2008)
• "Spectacular blaze erupts in nightclub at Hollywood and Vine"
  San Diego Union-Tribune (April 30, 2008)
• "Spectacular blaze erupts in nightclub at Hollywood and Vine"
  The Associated Press (April 30, 2008)

Hollywood and Vine was really hot this morning. Sorry: that was too good a line to ignore.

The good news is that nobody seems to have been hurt: the bad news is that quite a few business were burned out, including Basque nightclub.

The building is important for cultural reasons:

• Scenes for "Ocean's Eleven" were shot at the Basque
• Over the decades, the location has seen a :
  • Howard Johnson's
  • Nightclub called Deep
  • music studio
• Nearby landmarks:
  • The art deco Pantages Theatre (just east of the fire)
  • The Capitol Records building

those places are important it today's America, so: yes, a fire at Hollywood and Vine is more important than one at most other intersections.