A blog celebrating the vernacular houses of North America and other assorted works.

Triumphs of Mormon Architecture: The LDS Office Building

2008-06-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

To the uninitiated Salt Lake City is a mid sized, western city with a penchant for tiny white point guards and elbow throwing southern gents. However anyone who has had the pleasure of visiting this place knows that it is a holy city; Catholics have Roma, land of Pizza and mozzarella. Jews have Jerusalem, land of stone throwing and Sabbaro pizza bombings. Mormons have Salt Lake City!
When entering a great city, there are traditional routes one takes that express the beauty or greatness of that place. You enter Venice by taking a water taxi into the Grand Canal and munch on Mozzarella poppers while you pass the Dodges Palace and Saint Mark cathedral. Millions of immigrant’s first view of America was from a deck of a ship while passing the Statue of Liberty with the Manhattan skyline looming in the distance. Every year thousands of mimes stream into Paris by rollerblading under the Arc de Triumph and down the Champs Elyssey to the pulsing sounds of La Bouche.
To correctly enter Salt Lake City you must first have your mom drop you off in Draper, a picturesque village where the mighty State Street, which bissects the Elysian Littoral known as the Wasatch Front, begins. Proceeding up this hollowed path in the footsteps of countless legends you will pass through the mythic locals that grandfathers tell their grandchildren about; White City, Midvale, Burton, South Lake City and then when you are overcome by a sensation similar to that of finishing a Choco-Taco you will enter Temple Square, the center of the Mormon Empire. After you have fallen to your knees due to the pure gravitas of this place you will look up and before you, like a rocket ship ready to blast off to a spring break party in heaven, will be the LDS Office Building.
The LDS Office Buildings a sacred sight and has similar resonance in the hearts of Mormons as Kaaba to Muslims. Although slightly shorter then the Wells Fargo Center the LDS Office Building is the tallest structure on the Salt Lake City skyline, geography or divine intervention!?! The building was completed in 1972 on the very site Doritos were invented 5 years prior. The architecture style can be described as the result of The Seagram building having sex with a suburban dentist office, sans protection! A common joke in Salt Lake City is that the LDS Office Building is the box the 1893 Salt Like City Temple came in, which is located across the street. The building does have several interesting features that set it apart from typical late era international style towers. The most notable aspect is the two wings of the building that have reliefs of the two hemispheres of the earth. The back side of the building pushes the fire escape to the exterior similar to the way Muse Pompidou pushed all the functions of the museum to the exterior of the buildings. However, where as the Muse Pompidou wanted to maximize space to show degenerate art works, the LDS Office building is making room for JC.
Although worlds apart, Utah and Soviet Union have at least one thing in common, they both understood how to orient an entire city to grand building projects that totally dominates every living thing around it. Perhaps, Joseph Smith and Stalin are up in heaven right now having a killer jam session with J C on drums and Mike Huckabee on bass. Wherever they are, Salt Lake City, THIS BUDS FOR YOU!

Shanghai

2008-03-04T21:57:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed it has been a long time since my last post. Over the past couple of months I have worn many different hats and been to many different places, from being an undercover cop posing as a kindergarten teacher in Astoria, Oregon, to an anthropomorphized fox flying a star craft through the solar system. Hopefully these experiences and perhaps some friends I have met along the way will help bring new and radical content to this blog.

While I was gone I took a trip to China for purposes of both business and pleasure. Luckily for me my business is my pleasure: Beanie Babies! My first stop was my Beanie Baby factory in Shenzhen to see if we fixed the stitching problem on the Gravy the Dog Jingle Beanie. After a couple sleepless nights the problem was solved and I am happy to report that old Gravy will be stuffin some stockings come Christmas morn. After that was out of the way I headed for the whore of the Orient: Shanghai.

China is a really old country; these doods were playing Virtual Reality Windsurfing on their Playstation 6’s when people in Europe were duking it out on NBA Jam. However, the urban fabric of Shanghai is newer then the Streets of Tanesbourne (or if you are in Los Angeles, Americana at Brand). Unencumbered capitalism has turned the city into something reminiscent of Le Courbusiers Plan Voisin: massive super blocks filled with tower in the park style high rises.

This is in sharp contrast to the traditional Shanghai vernacular, the Shikumen. These houses reflect Shanghais history as a base camp for European colonialists. At the turn of the century various sectors of the city were granted to different nationalities and some of these areas took on an air of old Europe, Orange Chicken Stuffed Croissants anyone? The Shikumen is a combination of the British terrace house’s and the traditional Chinese courtyard style buildings. They are essentially Chinese styled row houses that are much more closely spaced then traditional American or British row houses.

Shikumen houses are almost extinct in modern Shanghai. Traditional blocks are being ripped down and new high rises are erected with the veracity of a Mike Huckabee jam session. These new high rises are hillbilly cousins of a Vancouver BC point tower (a vernacular incidentally brought to that city by Chinese immigrant, developers). Instead of reflecting lush forests and Blue Herons swooping down to gobble up a Coho salmon the Shanghai high rises are almost instantaneously covered in soot making a building that could be less then a year old look decades old, like Dakota Fanning after a cocain fueled sleep over. Where as the buildings in Vancouver are accused of having a glossy sterility, the buildings in Shanghai brim with humanity which is reflected in the clothes hanging outside the window and the crude air conditioner and satellites hook up bolted onto the façade.

The transition from a low-rise, authentically Shanghainese vernacular to a high rise, globalized one is unfortunate. However these new buildings are a massive material upgrade for millions of residents, considering that the Shikumen lacked even the most basic of necessities such as indoor plumbing, and beautiful granite kitchen islands. Only time will tell if these high rises will create the kind of social isolation and resulting problems for their residents found in many high rise developments in the west. I wish we had a fortune cookie to answer that question, mmmmhmhmhmhmhm.....

Keep on rockin,

Toni

Best Friends

2007-09-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

Hey doods,

I will not be making any new posts for a while because of other creative endeavors. In the meantime you can reacquaint your selves with my previous posts and maybe go home to your wife and kids, they miss you so much.

Don’t worry; I will be back soon enough with new posts about FINLAND! LOS ANGELES! THE BRONX! NEWARK! And many more! We have so much to look forward to, and I love you all.

Toni

Boston City Hall

2007-08-21T15:17:00.000-07:00

The post 1950’s era was one of large scale social reform. Societies were struggling with how to provide better ways of living in the wake of the destruction caused by World War II. Integral in this discussion were architects and urban planners. Due to their theories, large portions of major cities were bulldozed and rebuilt in new modernist architectural styles.

Brutalism is probably the most reviled of these styles.
The name Brutalism is a reference to the coarse concrete used in the construction of these buildings. Brutalist structures are usually enormous due to the fact that they were built mainly in large scale redevelopment projects in many cities on superblocks. Superblocks are created when many small urban lots are combined into one due to radiation making them mutants. Brutalist buildings are also very large because they combine many different functions and uses into a single building. Their large size, use of coarse concrete, and sunken windows give brutalist structures a fortress like quality. For this reason Joe Schmo Waddayaknow public hates Brutalist architecture. Vernacular Valentine on the other hand is not in love with Brutalist Architecture but we do love brutalist architecture and that is why we are kicking off our new series Brutal Beauties: Consider Concrete by Toni Magic.

The Boston City Hall is probably the most prominent example of Brutalist architecture in the US. The City Hall is part of the government center area in central Boston, a city that has probably suffered more then any other in the US from post 1950’s redevelopment. The Government Center area was built on top of the old Scollay Square Neighborhood. Scollay Square was a crowded area of low-rise brick buildings and a street network more closely resembling an Italian hill town then an American city. Today similar areas of Boston, such as the North End and Beacon Hill, are major tourist destinations and considered some of the most charming urban neighborhoods in the US. However in the 1950’s the area had been overrun with flop houses and bars and it was considered out dated and blighted. In the 60's, the neighborhood was completely leveled and replaced with a large red brick plaza design by IM Pei and the massive city hall. Boston City Hall and the surrounding government center are prime examples of the sometimes huge gap between what the architectural community and the public consider good architecture.

The Boston City Hall was designed by 3 Columbia University Architecture professors who won a design competition to build the building. Although City Hall is considered one of the best examples of Brutalist Architecture it is hated by the general public. Recently the Mayor of Boston announced a proposal to redevelop Government Center, which was ranked the worst public plaza in the world, and move the city hall to South Boston. Immediately the design community formed advocacy groups to save the city hall. Its fate remains in serious jeopardy.

P.S.
THANKS EVERYONE WHO HAS VISTED MY BLOG FROM ZAGREB TO SAO PAULO DUE TO MY LINKAGE OF A BOLO YEUNG PICTURE! Hey doods, Why not stick around to learn about vernacular architecture?
love,
Toni

Steven Holl

2007-08-08T11:26:00.001-07:00

This is the third installment of Starcha-RESPECT which is about famous architects of the past, present, and future. In this series we will honor them, feed them, tickle them, but most importantly examine them. Today Steven “the Punching bag” Holl joins Frankie Toronto Goldberg nee Gehry, Le Corbusier (the crow) Jackson in the Starcha-RESPECT pantheon.

Steven Holl, the fair haired son of itinerate dancers has been around the block a few times in his 30 plus year career. He has probably had more major projects panned then any other starchatect, although that will probably change considering the recent hints of a Starchatect backlash. Steven has never given up and recently one of his finest works, The Bloch Expansion of the Nelson Atkins museum in Kansas City, Mo (pictured), has opened to incredible praise, some calling it the finest museum building this century.

Starchatects much like basketball players and kick boxers, have distinctive styles. Kareem Abdul Jabar had his Skyhook and Frank Ghery has swooping Titanium Panels. That one big dood in Blood Sport liked to play dirty and dip his fists in shards of glass and Thom Mayne likes to spend his vacations being a soldier of fortune in Iraq. Holl however has dramatically divergent styles from project to project. Compare Kiasma with the Bellevue Art Museum. There are some themes in his work, such as boxy geometric exteriors with curving, almost organic, womb like interiors. This has been used in both critical acclaimed projects such as the St. Ignatius Chapel in Seattle as well as universally panned projects such as the Simmons Hall Dormitory on the MIT campus (pictured) which caused James Howard Kunstler to come out of his peek oil bunker to say “It actually looks a bit like a computer chip standing on edge. My favorite touch, though, is the strip of parking on the apron in front of the facade, just to remind us who MIT really serves.”

Museum expansions are starchitect’s bread and butter Dutch babies. Because museum projects usually have less complex programmatic constraints then would an office or institutional building, starchatects can go totally girls gone wild and build huge testaments to their egos, screw the art doods! The Nelson Atkins project however is not your usual starchatect party explosion. The project is a series of translucent boxes linked underground which cascade down a hill next to the original 1930’s building. The project manages to be both incredibly subtle and stunningly beautiful while being respectful of the existing site, building, and the art work inside.

Steven Holl may have been knocked around but he has come back like Rocky Balboa on Clubber Lang after he killed Mickey. Now that Holl has been given full Starchatect status he could easily fall into the trap of regurgitating past buildings. However, if his future projects are executed with the skill and sensitivity of the Nelson Atkins that would not be such a bad thing.

Paris

2007-07-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

I know France is not too popular right now due to them stabbing us in the back on the war on terra but hopefully the country will come back to its senses now that Sarkozy is boosting the work week up to 20 hours and has ended the policy of dolling out doobies to preschoolers.

Paris is an ancient city, founded right around the time the baby J was born. However, the physical fabric of the city that countless Frenchmen rollerblade and regurgitate Cabernet on is barely older then a century. This is due to the almost complete rebuilding of the city by Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann. A process known as the Haussmannisation of Paris.

When BGEH came onto the scene in the mid 1800s, Paris was not too different than a Rio De Janeiro. The city was a warren of slums that that reached even into the courtyard of the Louvre. Napoleon III hired Haussmann to modernize the city. Haussmann’s plan was to essentially rip diagonal boulevards through the city which would then be lined with housing. This system provided for more modern housing, thus alleviating slum conditions, and also provided easier transportation throughout the city. The main advantage of this for Napoleon was that he could easily dispatch troops if a revolution or riot broke out, which happens a lot in France.

The apartments Haussmann built or Hausses, mmmmhmmhmhm, are very uniform in appearance. They are all around seven stories tall with mansard roofs and are usually mixed use with retail on the ground floor. The apartments also were mixed income with tenants becoming poorer the higher the floor. This was another strategy to alleviate conditions for revolution by not concentrating poverty in one district.

An interesting aspect of Haussmann’s plan is that it did not designate a central downtown area for the city. Rather the city is multi nodal with commercial, social, and service centers being scattered around the city where major boulevards intersect.

Vernacular Valentine to Internet: Je adore Paris!

Kotelnicheskaya Embankement Building

2007-07-20T15:27:00.000-07:00

I hate to say it but I think I am burning out on Stalinist architecture. Sometimes I think about ditching buildings and just drawing trees or maybe fantastic visions of faraway galaxies which I can then air brush onto the side of my van. I’m sure everybody has fantasies like these sometimes. The seven sisters were Stalin’s fantasy, and here is another one!The Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building sits on the banks of the Moskva River Providing shade to countless kayakers and perhaps the occasional beaver floating on a bundle of forest debris for a weekend in the city. This building kind of looks like Big Ben, if Big Ben was built by Stalin. The top part of this building is made of red granite and the rest of the building has beige terra cotta tiles which Stalin really loved.The Embankment Building was one of the few residential seven sisters. The tower was reserved for the elites of soviet Russia. The wings were kommunalaka style apartments, which are several apartments sharing a bathroom and kitchen. It is a pretty good set up, except for when you have to use the bathroom after comrade Uri, pee you! Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union all the kommunalka housing has probably been taken over by rich oligarchs and the residents have been forced to go fight the Chechniyans.The building is 32 stories high not including the enormous communist star thing on the top. The three side wings of the building radiating out from the tower causes the illusion of the building appearing much taller then it actually is. Eat your heart out David Copperfield! When the building was constructed in the late 1940’s it upset some Moscow residents for blocking the view Shvivaya Gorka, a steeply inclined hill of historical apartment buildings. These residents were quickly purged to the gulag. Who needs Shvivaya Gorka anyway when you have a view of The Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building, a triumph of Stalinist architecture!

Queens

2007-07-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

Queens is not the most glamorous borough of New York and does not attract many tourists. However this borough is home for many of the people that make the city special. This is where the guys from the blue man group wined down with a nice glass of chardonnay after a hard day banging on garbage cans and splattering gack on southern families. Queens tree lined semi suburban neighborhoods provide an escape from the hustle and bustle of the city offering a refuge from the areas of the city. So its not surprising that Uncle Pinkus chose to come here along with many other people when he made enough chedda selling Schmatahs to get out of the tenement district. Let’s follow uncle Pinkus in this second installment of Vernacular Valentine Presents: New Yawk: The Beautiful Dreamer and escape to Queens!

Queens has acted as a petri dish for urban visionaries and developers to build new kinds of communities. Kew Gardens is one of the most famous. It was built at the turn of the century and was based off of the design principals of Ebenezer Howard’s garden cities which were based off of English country villages. This post is not about this area of Queens however. Vernacular Valentine is interested in the real Queens where real Queens live.

Queens is the most sprawling borough of New York. It is filled with relatively dense single family houses and garden style apartment buildngs. Many of areas such as Rego Park and Hollis contain houses that can be described as more urban versions of a typical suburban tract homes. Most were built around world war II and were constructed out of brick or vinyl siding and have vague Victorian details. Most contain at small yard out-front in keeping with the post war dream of the white picket fence. Most of Queens can be described as the common mans version of Kew Gardens. Although modest these neighborhoods were like country estates for people leaving the crowded tenement districts of inner New York with yard for Schmull to run around in and a bathtub big enough to hold grandma’s live herring.

Next time you are in the Big Apple take a break from windsurfing one day and grab a wedge of moozarella and a large piece of salami and then wrap the salami around the moozarella creating a Staten Island Calzone and take the 7 train out to explore Queens: Now that’s what I call Neeeew Yawk!

NEWS FLASH

2007-07-05T10:39:00.001-07:00

!NEWS FLASH!

You can click on the pictures in my post's to get a larger version of the picture. Also, I disabled the thing that made you log in in order to comment so now anyone can comment. LET FREEDOM RING!!!

Toni

Palast Der Republik

2007-06-29T14:41:00.001-07:00

One of Vernacular Valentine’s duties is to recognize outstanding examples of Stalinist architecture. We do this through our Triumphs of Stalinist Architecture Series as well as our self-enhancement summer camp for asthmatic teens, Walk Tall. Some may say, “Why do you need to point out how awesome Stalinist architecture is? Everyone knows it’s da bomb.” This is the case in America, but not in other less enlightened portions of the world. The globe is littered with the unmarked graves of great Stalinist structures, and today we honor one of these fallen soldiers, the Palast Der Republik!

For several decades the Palast Der Republik was the home of the East German Parliament. The building boasted a prominent location on Museum Island where its orange windows were reflected by the gentle waters of the River Spree. The building housed the East German parliament but also contained two auditoriums, a bowling alley, restaurants, and art galleries. This made the building not only a political center but also a cultural and social center of East Berlin and East Germany, truly making it a palace for the republic. It would be like if the US Capital building had a Senor Frogs and a Red Robin inside along with all the lame government stuff.

From the outside this building looks like a typical example of post 1950 Stalinist architecture, a more intimidating variation on the international style. However, on the inside this building had a unique and innovative system of moving walls that could change the orientation of rooms in order to house different kinds of events, from Ludwig Von Whosawhattaz pickle collection to Ruldoph CoolHammerz annual Coal Miner Sock Hop. One of the Palast’s landmark events was when famous rock star Udo Lindenberg, who was given permission by the totalitarian West German regime to perform in the East, played a concert in the building. During the concert Udo offended an entire nation when he played “Sonderzug nach Pankow,” a song satirizing East German leader Erich Honnecker and which he was specifically asked NOT TO PLAY! Not cool dood!

In 1989 the Anti- Fascist Protective Barrier was overrun by the West, who took over the country. In the blink of an eye the grand Palast Der Republik ceased to be the capital. Then the West Germans made up some bullshit about the building being full of asbestos and for the first time the lights went off in the famous bowling alley, never to be turned on again. The Palast sat vacant for over a decade. During this time a diabolical idea was hatched to rebuild the Berliner Stadtschloss, former home of the King of Prussia, which once stood on the same piece of land as the Palast!

In order to not cause any damage to the surrounding buildings, the Palast was dismantled piece by piece in an indignity reminiscent of Yoko Ono’s “Cut Piece.” Slowly the beautiful orange windows were taken off, revealing the iron guts of the building, which were soon torn out leaving the detritus of the once grand palace: a bowling ball shoe, a part of a juke box listing awesome East German doowop hits, maybe even one of Ludwig Con Whosawhattaz’s pickles. Soon all this was swept up too, leaving only memories.

Although some people with questionable taste do not like Stalinist architecture, these buildings are part of history -- especially this building, which was part of one of the most bizarre political experiments ever and which was an incredibly unique building in its own right. To dismantle it in order to reconstruct a building that was built 250 years ago is absurd for a variety of reasons (lack of knowledge of ancient building methods being one). Ultimately, this is a decision that will change our perception of history. A major symbol of the time when Berlin was cut down the middle and divided into two countries will be lost. A real historical monument will destroyed in order to recreate simulacrum of the Palace of the King of Prussia who is way less relevant to the modern world then the cold war and whose main claim to fame is building an enormous mall outside of Philadelphia.

Amsterdam

2007-06-20T15:46:00.001-07:00

Amsterdam’s beauty does not come from the landscape; the city sits below sea level in flat marshland so there is not really much to work with in that department. Its beauty does not really come from its architecture because the buildings are fairly austere. The beauty of Amsterdam comes from its perfect scale. The streets are just small enough not to overwhelm but protect you. Everything is just the right size for strolling or riding your bike around. The city feels like one big room -- a room in the house of Miami drug lord which has some sort of inside water feature.
The Vernacular of Amsterdam is the canal house! Canal houses are narrow yet extremely deep. This is because everyone wanted real estate facing the canal. They are usually built out of brown brick with white moulding and orange terra cotta tile roofs that add just a touch of Mission Viejo! One unique feature of Amsterdam buildings is the crane lift on the top of the building. I guess this is to move furniture and stuff inside?
The Canals of Amsterdam radiate out from the center of the city in rings. The names of the canal rings traditionally denote the status of the people who live there. Herengracht is one of the innermost rings and was home to the wealthy business elite. Kaizergracht (king) came next and then Prinsengracht (prince). Outside of that lie the working class neighborhoods of the city such as the Jordaan and the Pijp. These areas were where the laborers lived, but they are also the true heart of Amsterdam. De Pijp gave birth to the 1980’s punk band Dei Pijp Squeaks and was also the home of Andre Hazes whose quivering voice belting out Jongen Kinder could wet the eyes of an entire nation.

San Francisco

2007-06-15T14:11:00.001-07:00

San Francisco is one of the most beautiful and dramatic cities in the world. Its combination of architecture and natural setting makes it an extraordinary city to capture on film. Recently it has been wasted in movies about cross - dressing Robin Williams and Reese Witherspoon zombies having sex with Mark Ruffalo, but in the 1970’s filmmakers used the aesthetic of San Francisco not for romantic comedies or heart - warming drama but for tales about urban decay and isolation. San Francisco, however, was a much different city in the 70’s, gritty and tough. I have never actually experienced what cities were like during this time, considering I was born in a manger during a solar eclipse on the same day that the Dali Lama died in the year 1984. I sometimes wish I could go back and experience cities like San Francisco when they were filled with XXX movie theaters and jean jacket wearing gang members having knife fights. Here are some of my favorite movies showcasing San Francisco in the 70’s:
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1978, Phillip Kaufman: This movie tells the story of aliens who “snatch peoples’ bodies” in an effort to take over the world. This has kind of happened in San Francisco considering that wavy gravy hippies have been taken over by East Coast prep school yuppies sewing their wild outs out West while trying to kill cyclists with their Audis. Too bad we don’t have a rough and tumble Canadian Donald Sutherland and a bath house visiting mutant Jeff Goldbloom to kick some ass.
San Francisco’s wild weather patterns dramatically change the tone and feel of the city. On a sunny day the city resembles the most beautiful Italian hill town in the world dipped in honey and then double dipped in chocolate. When the fog rolls in, however, it becomes gray, bitterly cold, and the Victorian buildings feel like ramshackle haunted houses and people start smoking crack on the sidewalk and doods break into your car and steal your I-pod and your empty backpack (why would you want my 6 year old backpack?) – don’t leave shit in your car, dood. Invasion of the Body Snatchers captures this San Francisco and I will take it any day over Kiefer Sutherland divvying out Neo-con justice to A-rabs.
The Conversation, 1974, Francis Ford Coppola: Before Francis Ford Coppola met me, I slept with his daughter, and he made Jack, he made The Conversation. This is about Gene Hackman going crazy when he gets a surveillance job that is not quite what it seems! In the 70’s, San Francisco underwent a skyscraper building boom like many cities around the US. Coppola awesomely contrasts these brutal new developments such as the Embarcadero Center (a massive and despised development at the foot of Market Street where the offices of Hackman’s evil clients are located) with the old wooden San Francisco vernacular which you can see vanishing before your eyes through Hackman’s apartment window.
Dirty Harry, 1971, Don Siegel: Clint Eastwood is a premium badass –badass is one word ONE WORD!!! and a San Francisco native. In this movie he plays Dirty Harry Callahan from Protero Hill (home of OJ Simpson). This movie showcases the seedy underbelly of 1970’s SF and is based off the Zodiac killer who terrorized San Francisco throughout the decade. The new movie Zodiac by David Fincher tells this story and is an awesome homage to 1970’s San Francisco.

New York City

2007-06-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

In the 1990’s, TV shows like Seinfeld, Friends, and S-x in the City brought a little town on the eastern seaboard to prominence: New Yawk City! Today and this month Vernacular Valentine will honor the Big Apple and our fallen service men and women by starting a new series: New Yawk: The Beautiful Dreamer!
New York has many different vernacular styles; some are unique to certain Boroughs and neighborhoods. Narrowing it down to one style is as difficult as picking your favorite feline from the Tony Award winning musical Cats. However, my favorite Cat is Rum-Tum-Tiger and my favorite New York Vernacular Building is the Tenement!
Tenements are the dominant building type on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The Lower East Side has been the historical first stop for immigrants to New York. At the turn of the century, this was the densest place in the world with over 250,000 people per square mile. Multiple families were packed into rooms like the pepperoni on an authentic New Yawk pizza. The rooms were so crowded that people took shifts sleeping in beds. It is in these rooms that several New Yawk delicacies were born. Pastrami was invented when a young cobbler left a piece of raw beef sitting on the counter. In the morning the heat and sweat from all the people in the tiny room had cured the beef, turning it into a wonderful sandwich filler and an authentic taste of New Yawk! The pickle was invented in 1901 on Delancy Street, when a cucumber was dropped into a toilet and left for several months.
Today a group of tenements have been turned into a museum "where some overly tall bitch from ohio who just moved to the city to eat gelato gives you a tour of jewish life at the turn of the century."
Let’s roll New Yawk!

Istanbul

2007-05-23T15:18:00.000-07:00

Istanbul is a city divided by water. Sultanhemet, the ancient peninsula, is separated from the financial district by the Golden Horn. Both lie across The Bosporus from the mysterious land of Asia. The Boss is named after Bruce Springsteen, whose song “born to run” is the national anthem of Turkey. Porus is Turkish for jellyfish which the Bosporus is full of! The natural setting of the city makes it difficult to build a reliable transit system to serve Istanbul’s 15 million people. Earthquakes, archeological treasures, and steep topography are a triple threat, much like Stockton, Malone, and Oystertag, to expanding the city’s subway system. If an Istanbully wants to cross The Boss to get some Sushi or catch a Jackie Chan flick in Asia, he must ride a crowded ferry or juice up the Jet Ski.
Severe overcrowding and earthquakes have destroyed many of Istanbul’s historic buildings. Many neighborhoods are full of bland stucco and cement apartment blocks. However Istanbul’s architectural heritage survives in some sections of the city such as Beyoglu, the party capital of the Muslim world! This was the city’s premier neighborhood at the turn of the century, full of Ice Cream parlors and Roller-skating rinks. The transfer of the capital from Istanbul to Ankara set the neighborhood on the course of decline. The lights of the fashionable Ice cream parlors were dimmed, the sound of triple axles being busted out on cedar floors and the smell of Cherry Garcia replaced by memories and broken dreams. Way to go Ataturk!
Beyoglu is one of the few neighborhoods with a large amount of Ottoman houses, many of which date as far back as the 17th century. They are typically constructed out of wood and then covered in plaster. Often they were decorated with a peculiar mix of neo classical and Middle Eastern details typical of the ottomans. A typical feature of these homes is windows that extend over the street. These homes have also undergone several expansions since they were built which usually meant adding additional, usually less ornate stories.
Recently the neighborhood has undergone a revival, and many of the Ottoman houses are being renovated. The Rocky Road may have been replaced with fro-yo and the roller-skates may now be inline, but the district has regained much of its former grandeur.

Frank Gehry

2007-05-15T11:49:00.001-07:00

Frank Gehry AKA Ephraim Goldberg AKA Frankie Toronto is probably the most famous architect in the world. He is the first modern “starchitect.” A starchitect is an architect who is commissioned to do high profile projects, such as art museums, and who has a flamboyant style usually involving many curves which he recycles on all his other high profile projects. Because that’s what people want! That’s what is going to put Wichita on the map!
Starchitects and the resulting starchitecture are a uniquely Los Angeles phenomenon, and two of the most high profile starchitectects are based in Los Angeles: Gehry and Thom Mayne (the subject of another post!) This is not merely because of the Los Angeles cliché of being a star-crazed materialistic culture; starchitecture is a uniquely Los Angeles form due to the unique typology of Los Angeles. Bold forms such as the titanium swoops of the Gehry concert hall or the binoculars of the Chiat/Day buildings are not meant to be seen from the vantage of a pedestrian on a sidewalk but from a distance, probably from a passing automobile. Gehry is famous for his exteriors and his buildings are almost never photographed from the inside, which is where architecture actually happens. This would lead one to assume that Gehry’s is architecture of superficiality opting for the bold exterior gesture instead of the subtle manipulations of interior space. I guess if I was a big east coast jerko I could attribute both of these things to Los Angeles being a superficial city where everyone drives, which I do not agree with at all. Or I could say that Frank Gehry is a shitty architect. I am not going to go that far!
The reasons for why these forms are uniquely Los Angeles is because LA does not have a dense grid iron which mandates architectural form like what Koolhass (did you mean to spell this wrong?) documented in Delirious New York. There are many large, sparsely developed lots in LA that can be occupied by an entire building, which gives the architect the freedom to pioneer unconventional forms. In a place like New York or other major cities the most you could hope for would be an oddly shaped lot on a dense block which gives the architect nowhere to go but up, severely limiting the form of the building to anything other then a variation on a rectangle.
Would the Disney Concert Hall have anywhere near the effect it has if it where placed in midtown Manhattan, where the glimmering, sun soaked titanium panels would be made dull due to shadows of surrounding buildings and where the sandstone walls would be covered in the drying schmatas of tenement dwellers? The only thing that comes close in New York is Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum which has the advantage of not being obscured by other buildings due to its location on Central Park. Really the only thing that Wright did was make the building circular giving it a striking contrasts to the relentless wall of 5th avenue. The Guggenheim is a superior building to the Disney Concert hall, however, because it is able to match the drama on its outside with an equally stunning interior, whereas the Concert hall’s confusing hodgepodge interior leaves you disappointed after going inside. The Disney Hall is also a failure because it does not take advantage of its location. It does not take advantage of every side, but rather acts as if it were surrounded by tall buildings and is only oriented to one intersection. The other sides of the building are nothing more then sandstone walls.
I don’t really know how to conclude this. I just want to say that LA is going to overtake New York as the preeminent city in the US and the rise of Gehry is a result of this. America is moving away from the skyscraper to a new architectural symbol, a uniquely Los Angeles one!
Love + Magic,
Toni

Pittsburgh

2007-05-04T13:45:00.000-07:00

Pittsburgh was just voted America’s most livable city. No, I’m not talking about the glamorous city dubbed the “Monte Carlo of the Delta” in California, I am talking about the other Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. Just like the fat kid teaching the other kids how to make a smore in the 1993 hit film “The Sandlot,” Pittsburgh is a city of underdogs.
Pittsburgh is home to the “2 up 2 down” style of house. The layout of these houses makes them incredibly unique. The staircases are located in the middle of the house and there are two chimneys, one in the front and one in the back. These features allow additions to be built on these houses. Most were built at the turn of the century when people were flooding into the city to work in steel mills. During this period two or more families would live in one house. As time passed people would add an extra kitchen in the back to turn the house into a duplex, or add a porch, or rumpus room or whatever was wanted.
The other unique thing about these houses is the Pittsburgh Potties. These are toilets located in the basement. They don’t have any walls around them; they are just toilets in the corner of the basement. Legend has it that steel workers would come home and go down there and take off their gear, which would be covered in carcinogenic steel soot, and then take a poop out in the open apparently, which would be their one moment of freedom in their bleak lives as members of the industrial prolitariate .
This brings up a new blog I have been tossing around in my head called Vernacular Valentine: After Dark. Just like Red Shoe Diaries this blog would be strictly for adults and feature unique toilets from around the world. I am kindof understaffed right now, but if anyone is interested in being a Vernacular Valentine: After Dark intern you can e mail me and I will send you an application.

Hotel Rossiya

2007-04-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

The Hotel Rossiya was built in 1967 by Le Femme Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow. The Rossiya is located on the Volga River literally across the street from St. Basil’s cathedral and the Kremlin. A whole neighborhood in the ancient heart of Moscow was bulldozed to build this baby. A few semi historic buildings such as the ancestral home of the Romanovs and a thousand year old church were spared from destruction. The neighborhood was actually destroyed in the 1940’s because the site was originally intended for the 8th Stalinist Sister, named Becky. Only the foundation of Becky was constructed until WW Deuce came along and construction stopped. The Rossiya is built on the foundation of Becky.

The Rossiya was largest hotel in Europe and was a neighborhood unto itself, housing night clubs, a post office, a health club, a 2,500 seat theater, and over 3,000 rooms. One of which was inhabited for a week by yours truly!

The Rossiya is built in the international style of Stalinist architecture, which basically means it substitutes stone with steal, glass, and marble. It still shares many similarities with the earlier examples Stalinist architecture such as monumentality and oppressive verticality to make it seem even more monumentally monumental. Basically Stalin thought monumental was fondemental. Is that even a real word? How come spell check does not even recognize it? I know it’s probably because I spelled it so poorly even spell check does not recognize it. You got me! I am a krappy speller!

The Rossiya was one of the creepiest places I have ever been. Probably less then half of the hotel was occupied when I stayed there (during the height of tourist season). The building has 4 entrances and is so large that it would take about 20 minutes to go from the lobby to my room. During this journey I would pass multiple nightclubs inhabited by drunken Russian sailors and Russia’s famous women of the night who liked to knock on my door at 2 in the morning to “party” YOWSAZ!

The Rossiya shut its doors the year I stayed there (2005) and is going to get bulldozed to make way for a massive mixed use development designed by Norman Foster. This development will probably be even worse then the Rossiya and is just another part of the second destruction of Moscow. This time it is by Russian oligarchs putting up incredibly gaudy developments which are nothing more then citadels for the elite classes to dance their nuts off to techno music and kill poor people for sport and buy ugly leather clothing. Ciao!

Turkish Hans

2007-04-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

Istanbul has some of the oldest malls around, except in Turkey they are called Bazarre’s which is Turkish for mall. The grand bazarre in the old center of Istanbul is over 2000 years old. This is where Constantine went to buy his culottes and pour half drank Orange Julius on neerdos from the food court balcony. Then he would go back home and rock out with his Christian rock band, THE FIRST ONE EVER!

There are some subtle differences between the grand bazarre and Clackamas Towncenter. For example instead of Bombay Company and the Gymbori you have Tehran Company and Discovery Zone and instead of a ice skating rink where Tonya Harding bust out triple axles you have Hans, WHICH IS THE SUBJECT OF OUR FIRST NEW VERNACULAR VALENTINE POST IN OVER 3 WEEKS!

As mentioned earlier the Grand bazarre is over 2000 years old and is really, really big. It was not built at the same time however. New sections were added on in sort of concentric rings, so as you walk deeper into the grand bizarre there is a noticeable difference in the architecture of the building.

Hans are semi-public outdoor courtyards which are scattered through out the bazarre. Hans are common features in Istanbul and provide much needed open space in this city of 15 million people. They very greatly, like the rest of the bazarre, in architecture but they all feature a courtyard usually with a fountain and have multiple stories. The second story will usually have an outdoor covered walkway and with small storefront workshops. The bottom floor will be where the merchandise is sold. Usually the stores in each Han will focus on selling specific items, like carpets, or diamonds, or medical supplies, or yarn (no kidding!). Hans are also used as places for merchants to relax, drink apple tea, and play Hungry Hungry Hippo’s Turkeys national sport!

2007-03-27T16:40:00.000-07:00

This will be my last post for a while because I am going out of town. I really wanted to get the Rosiya Hotel up before I leave but my puny little fingers could not complete the job in time.

When I come back we will continue with the Triumph of Stalinist Architecture Series, and hopefully kick off our new minni series Ottoman: Treasures of Anatolia and De Pijp Squeaks: A romp through Amsterdam!

Does anyone care?

:~L

:*(

Love + Magic,
Toni

Portland

2007-03-23T16:34:00.000-07:00

Everything about Portland is understated. Although Portland sits squarly on the ring of fire where molten lava squirts out of cracks in sidewalks burning dorks face's off, the city of Portland’s geography is actually quit unremarkable except for the west hills. The houses in Portland are incredibly plain craftsman bungalows which are identical to those found in the Midwest. Except instead of being filled with galuts shoveling hot dish in their mouths they are filled with hippies playing bongos while naked hippi babies run around high on E.
The thing that defines Portland in terms of its context of being on the west coast is how industrial it is. The river is lined with grain silos which dump grain directly into ships docked next to them. There are giant steel bridges. There is still an enormous port north of the city and the stretch of river that runs through it is incredibly polluted.
Joel Kotkin who, a conservative pseudo urban theorist, called Portland an ephemeral city. Ephemeral cities are cities that are so expensive that they are only inhabited by extremely rich “bohemians” that do not actually do anything except drink coffee and poop and play Frisbee golf and the economy is one based on perpetuating this kind of lifestyle and not on producing tangible, usefull items. Phoenix and Houston are the "anti ephemeral cities" and are cheap enough for regular people to live there and their economies produce stuff that people need.
Portland is not an ephemeral city. Portland is a new kind of city that has an economy based on small local companies as opposed to large corporation. Portland is also really not that expensive. There are no Microsoft’s in Portland. There are not a lot of incredibly wealthy people in Portland. Portland has actually always had a pretty crappy economy (except for Hemp Clothing) and there is only one fortune five hundred company in the entire state of Oregon (Wavy Gravies Hemp Clothing Emporium). Aside from the central city, Portland is mostly working class neighborhoods filled with people who work in factories producing Intel chips and Freightliner trucks.
However the inner city of Portland does resemble San Francisco or Seattle. There are lots of stores selling trivial stuff and a lot of people hanging out in coffee shops doing nothing. Kotkin must of rolled in on his jet ski and saw this and thought that Portland most be just like SF and Seattle. This is where Joel Kotkin got confused. The people who are hanging out are not rich technology people and bankers and Centrum silver people riding tandem bicycles and making whoopee like in San Francisco. The people in Portland hanging out are not extravagantly wealthy; they are mostly young people who cram together in houses and work day jobs as waiters or IT people. They maybe moved to Portland after getting priced out of San Francisco or Seattle or Boston or New York. They came to Portland because they can actually afford to live in Portland and still have time to pursue their art or whatever else they want to do. Portland is producing something. It might not be sold at wall mart for Zach Kaplan to consume along with 20 cases of Jif but Portland has become a center for design, art, and music as well as green technology and alternative software such as Linux.

Hotel Leningradskaya

2007-03-22T14:30:00.001-07:00

This is the second installment of Vernacular Valentines Triumph’s of Stalinist Architecture series and the first installment of our Seven Sisters series which is a subsection of our Triumph of Stalinist Architecture Series.

The Seven Sisters are 7 skyscrapers commissioned by Stalin between 1947 and 1953. Stalin built that towers because because Moscow and other soviet cities had no skyscrapers at the time and he wanted them to compare favorable with capitalist cities which had skyscrapers. The skyscrapers combined exceeded 500,000 square meters which is larger then the total amount of housing built during the same period. Entire factories were constructed just to pump out materials for the skyscrapers.

The Hotel Leningradskaya is probably the most flamboyant member of the 7 sisters. The roof evokes Orthodox cathedrals and is a strange gesture for a Stalinist building. This feature garnered the building lots of criticism because 78% of the materials used to construct the building were used on the tower. 1000 a rooms could have been constructed for the cost of building the 354 contained in the Leningradskaya.

The Leningradskaya is my favorite Seven Sister. In the late 80’s I used to rent out the honeymoon sweet and have crazy parties which were attended by Mikhail “Gordito” Gorbachev, the East German Swim Team, and JTT (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) among other USSR celebs. Although it is criticized for inefficient use of space by lame-o’s like Alexey Shchusev it will always have a special place in my heart and I hope yours.

2007-03-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

This is Vernacular Valentine's first entry into our Triumph of Stalinist Architecture series. This series will take us from the towers of Moscow and Warsaw to the grand boulevards of Berlin!

Karl Marx Allee was built as the grand processional boulevard of East Berlin. The street runs from Alaxanderplatz in the center of Berlin to the eastern suburbs. The street was originally called Stalin Allee and was built between 1952 and 1960.
It is lined with massive wedding cake style buildings that are up to a quarter mile long. These buildings are built with a strange combination of classicism and modernism and they are a real pain in the rump to draw! The buildings lining Karl Marx Allee and the layout of the street are almost identical to the boulevards Stalin blasted through Moscow during the same period. Karl Marx Allee, however is not covered in layers of soot from diesel burning soviet cars, cell phone stores, and cheap hookers.
Stalin used Architecture as a propaganda tool to show off the might of the Soviet Union. Karl Marx Alle was not designed with the intent of being inhabited by people but as a background for grand Soviet parades where they would show off their tanks, soldiers, and juiced up female swimmers.

With that said, ever since David Hasselhoff single single-handedly brought down the Soviet Union by telling Hitler “to take down that Wall!” Karl Marx Alle has become quite a pleasant pedestrian boulevard. The ground floors of the buildings that used to house stores that only sold moldy bread that you had to wait in line for hours at a time for have been replaced by stores and cafes. The street has wide sidewalks that are pleasantly landscaped and in spite of its massive size the street has few cars making it a pleasant place to strap on the Walkman, crank up the Lionel Ritchie, and burn rubber on your Rollerblades! THANKS, STALIN!

St. Louis

2007-03-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

When most people thing of St. Louis two things pop into their head: The Arch and Tia and Tamara of the hit ABC television show Sister Sister. A tale of two twin sisters separated at birth only to be joined again when their adopted Parents marry each other.

Tia and Tamara Mowry will have to pump out a lot of babies in order for St. Louis to regain some if its population. The city has lost over half of its residents. It went form having over 800,000 people in the 1950’s, larger then San Francisco, to having a little over 300,000 today. In spite of the meteoric plummet in population the cities political structure has not been altered since the 1950’s and the city is still represented by 28 aldermen so that means there is one alderman for every 12,000 people in St. Louis. Compare that to Los Angeles which has 1 city councilmen for every 260,000 residents, you got yourself a deal!

The reason why white flight and urban blight were more prevalent in St. Louis then other cities can be somewhat attributed to the fact that St. Louis had some of the worst red lining in the US. The city is growing again by about a couple thousand people a year. That’s good I guess?

St. Louis was founded by the French. The cities French roots can be seen in resident’s affinity for roller blading and Jordy as well as in the cities vernacular architecture. St. Louis is a city of brick row houses. An interesting feature of St. Louis row houses is the mansard roof. Many of these houses can be found in St. Louis north side which unfortunately is also the most devastated part of the city.

Le Corbusier

2007-03-06T14:17:00.000-08:00

Everybody knows that we be reppin’ Vernacular Regional Architecture of North America to the fullest! However, you can’t limit yourself to just one thing, that’s a really bad idea. Its like when I was 8 and decided Raisenetes were da bomb and went to Cash and Carry with my moms and bought a 20 pack of Raisenettes and ate probably 4 packs of them a day until they were gone. You know what? I have not ate a Raisenett since. I should have branched out with some Sour Patch Kids or some Airheads or maybe a Dunkaroo if I was going to treat myself.

Today we are putting a little known architect Le Corbusier in the spotlight. Le Corbusier AKA Charles-Edouard Jeanneret AKA The Crow, is a Swiss Born Architect slash Painter slash semi pro Canadian Football Quarterback. Everyone knows about his awsome buildings but not many people know about his other awsome ideas like for a freeway in Algeria along the Mediteranian that would have had a whole town of houses, offices, parks, and schools built ontop of it. Or how he decided to go out like a badass when he was in his 80’s and swim as far as he could out into the Ocean, against his doctors orders! He also had lame ideas too like replaicing the right bank of Paris with a bunch of freeways and skyscrapers. But you know what? You have to take the good with the bad. I may be sick of raisenettes today but I will allways remember how good they tasted before the great binge of of 1992.

Baltimore

2007-03-06T09:15:00.000-08:00

Vernacular valentine is dedicated to the vernacular residential architecture of the America’s great cities. These structures were not built for the rich, but for the people who built America; the Polish dock worker, the Bohemian brew master, the Irish Police officer, the Welsh Butcher, the Jewish roller-skater, the Flemish soap box racer and so on add nauseum. These structures are not lavish by any stretch of the imagination. However they are well built and most importantly they had style. They reflected their location through the local materials they were built with and nods to the architecture of their regions. These structures gave people pride in their homes and pride in their cities. Unfortunately today many of these structures have found one of two fates: abandonment or being remodeled by yuppie gentrifiers. These mighty houses that were once filled with burly workers who got up at the crack of dawn to whale on their bods in enormous factories building ships and whatnot are now home to goatee wearing beatniks who go chill out all day at coffee shops and wine bars and listen to jazz and whale on the bongos.

Baltimore, MD is the home of the HBO television show The Wire. This show depicts the power struggles and power structures of drug dealers, cops and politicians. Instead of being shot on soundstages in Chatsworth, The Wire is actually shot in the bleak landscapes of East and West Baltimore.

One of the stars of the show is the vernacular architecture of Baltimore. These distinctive buildings are known for their red brick and marble stoops which were built out of the same marble used to build the Washington Monument. However the neighborhoods in which The Wire is shot are filled with row after row of boarded up rowhouses. Most of the marble stoops have been stolen by scavengers who rip precious materials off of abandoned buildings.

People who frequently watch The Wire probably think that Baltimore is a bombed out war zone filled with splatter punks and little kids in loincloths playing on heaps of garbage. However Baltimore has many beautiful neighborhoods of stately brownstones filled with moped driving, foundou eating, yuppies. Many of the houses in these gentrified neighborhoods were actually given away during the 80’s and 90’s for a dollar to people who would renovate them and are now worth several hundred thousand dollars. The difference between the gentrified neighborhoods in Baltimore and the ones depicted in The Wire is that one was historically an upper class neighborhood with beautiful houses the other was middle or working class neighborhood with more modest, but no less well built houses. These neighborhoods are usually the last to get gentrified.

It is an ultimate injustice that incredibly well built beautiful houses for the middle class like the ones in Baltimore sit abandoned when in many cities and suburbs middle class families can hardly pay their mortgages on stucco tract homes that are an hour or more commutes away from their jobs. It is a shame that the neighborhoods in The Wire are filled with drugs, poverty, despair instead of vibrant neighborhoods filled with families. The abandoned rowhouses of Baltimore stand for a time when this country honored working people. Today if they are lucky they will be cleaned up and filled with bean bag chairs and black light posters by graphic designers and stock brokers.

2007-03-01T14:50:00.000-08:00

Montreal

2007-03-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

This is Vernacular Valentines first foray into Canada! Eastern Canadian cities are much like eastern US cities in urban form. Gridirons packed with row houses and apartment buildings. However unlike their American counterparts Canadian cities were not destroyed by race riots and anti urban Federal policies. Canadian cities urban form remains very much intact and they have a vibrancy found in only a few American cities. So this will definitely not be our last trip to our giant, imperial, neighbor to the north, home of Rafi and 1993 chart topping recording artist Snow: CANADA!

Montreal used to be the grand dame of Canadian cities, being home to a movie theater, multiple eating establishments, and a k-5 elementary school. Then its mother Provence Quebec got a lil cocky and decided to try and break away from the rest of Canada. Anglos, having a much milder tempermant then the hot blooded Francophones moved themselves and their companies to Toronto and other points west and south. Today Toronto is the grand dame of Canada supporting over two piano bars, a Planet Hollywood, and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football Leauge. Montreal fell into the dumps for about a decade but I hear its starting to come back!

I have never been to Montreal but I did go to Ft. Lauderdale Florida once and it was full of French Canadians. I have however extensively looked at arial photos of Montreal on Google earth. Let me tell ya, the city is covered in row houses! The one peculiar feature of Montreal row houses is the exterior stairwell going up to the second floor. This seems like a strange choice in a city with sub zero temperatures. These structures which dot the outer working class neighborhoods of the city are also not houses, but apartment buildings with apartments on every floor like triple deckers in Boston.

Merci boucoup Montreal for this delectable addition to vernacular architecture!

Chicago

2007-02-28T11:37:00.000-08:00

"Sweet Home Chicaga!"

Chicago has sturdy brick houses. Even the bungalows which in most cities are made of wood are made of brick here. Brick is used because it can stand up to the harshest winters and the fattest Bears fans.

The Chicago vernacular is pretty much unique to Chicago yet shares similar traits with Detroit. However, Detroit only has 5 buildings left after Omni Consumer Products evacuated everyone to Delta City (Robocop 3 anyone?!).

Most houses in Chicago are not row houses but stand alone houses. In some neighborhoods there will only be inches separating one house from another.

Another interesting things about the Chicago vernacular is the flat roofs. For me this evokes Frank Lloyd Wrights Prairie Style.

Kudos to you Mr. Wright and kudos to you Chicago!

Boston

2007-02-28T11:30:00.000-08:00

This housing type is called a triple decker which is unique to New England cities such as Providence and Boston. It is called a triple decker because it has three apartments on three different floors, and also because people in New England love sandwiches especially triple decker sandwiches.

Triple deckers were built at the turn of the century. They are an extremely unique vernacular form for several reasons. They are multifamily dwellings yet they are made out of wood as opposed to brick. They also stand alone on a lot as opposed to being flush with the houses next to them. This gives certain areas of Boston almost a rural feel and provides a pleasent setting for white ethnic street brawls.

Triple deckers are da bomb!

New Orleans

2007-02-28T11:28:00.000-08:00

This is a clasico example of the crescent cities vernacular architecture the New Orleans shot gun house. It is called a shot gun house because they interior lay out of the house is such that you could supposedly fire a gun through the front door and the bullit would exit out the back door, and this being New Orleans this has probably happened many times.

Shot gun houses are common through out the south but in New Orleans they have a little extra detail that evoke the Caribbean. I recently read an interview with Andres Duany in which he said, "Instead of viewing New Orleans as the most inefficient city in the US we should view New Orleans as the most efficient city in the Caribbean."

Food for thought!

Oakland

2007-02-28T10:57:00.000-08:00

"There is no there there"

That is a one of the most famous quotes about Oakland, my new hometown. Well you know what? F U Gertrude Stein, you are just pissed because your bro R.L Stein is way better then you!

Oakland is lives under the shadow of the tart across the bay San Francisco. The differnces between these two cities can be summed up by the differences in their vernacular architecture. San Francisco is known for its garishly adorned and painted victorian rowhouses which are most famouse for being the home to the Olsen twins, Kimmie Gibler, and Joey and Jesse who did crazy radio shows in the basement while Alex and Niki freebased in the attic.

Oaklands vernacular architecture on the other hand is comprised of walkups with simple victorian or arts and crafts style details. These are sturdy homes for people working hard on the docks unloading cargo, or dancing ontop of and around slow moving vehicles.

Enjoy!