A competitor to the Hollywood sign? May 20, 2013
Posted by Ron Warnick in Art, Attractions, Signs.add a comment
Those who have traveled an old alignment of Route 66 recently along northeast Los Angeles may have gazed up into one of the hills overlooking the city and found an unfamiliar — yet familiar — sight.
It’s a massive “Glassellland” sign halfway up a hill above the Glassell ParkRecreation Center. According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, the sign with 10-foot-tall letters was erected by an artist named Justin (no last name given) who has planted cutouts of movie stars in the Glendale area.
Times reporter Steve Lopez spoke to Howard Seth Cohen, a publicist for the “Glassellland” sign:
Cohen told me he thinks Justin is trying to instill a sense of civic pride in Glassell Park and suggest that romanticism is not confined to the hoity toity Westside neighborhoods.
The sign pays a sort of homage to the world-famous “Hollywood” sign in Los Angeles, which actually was “Hollywoodland” many years ago.
Scott Piotrowski, an expert on Route 66 in Los Angeles, said by email after sending a photo of the sign:
The hill is a part of Mount Washington (the hill, not the community in Los Angeles). It literally is surrounded by Route 66 on three sides, and another portion of 66 sits slightly north. In other words, coming down from the hill, you almost HAVE to at least cross Route 66 to get anywhere. [...] The view of the sign is from the west side of the hill, along Eagle Rock Boulevard and Verdugo Road. In this Google maps link http://goo.gl/maps/CWrXx the Glassell Park Community Center is marked. Just south / east of there is Mimosa Drive. The sign sits between Mimosa and Kinney on the hillside.
And Piotrowski agrees the “Glassellland” sign isn’t mocking the “Hollywood” sign so much, but was created by “someone calling this community their home and taking great pride in that fact.”
(Hat tip: Scott Piotrowski)
The story behind Albuquerque’s big aluminum yucca May 19, 2013
Posted by Ron Warnick in Art, Attractions.2 comments
A huge aluminum yucca sculpture, appropriately titled “Aluminum Yucca,” in the east mountains of Albuquerque along Interstate 40 and old Route 66 recently marked its 10th year of existence, reported the Albuquerque Journal.
The 22-foot-tall artwork stands out no matter when you see it. Its shape and polished metal amid the mountain rocks capture eyes in the daytime, and it’s lighted at night.
Gordon Huether of California created the $124,000 sculpture, which was paid for with grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation, City of Albuquerque, and State of New Mexico.
Two parts of the story stand out. One was Huether’s inspiration for the sculpture:
His inspiration was twofold, the artist, now 54, recalled in a telephone interview. One part had everything to do with Albuquerque and the East Mountain’s ties to Kirtland Air Force Base: The sculpture’s shining stalks are actually fuel tanks recycled from old military aircraft. The second part of his inspiration stemmed from New Mexico’s state flower, the yucca. Huether said he finds “inherent dramatic gestures” in the yucca’s form.
Second, the sculpture was supposed to be part of a larger complex in that area:
The artwork was originally intended to be just one element of a much larger “East Mountain gateway project” welcoming motorists to the city, she said. Plans called for building a complete visitors’ center with nods to historic Route 66, Kirtland Air Force Base and Sandia National Laboratories. Even more ambitious plans envisioned similarly grand gateways to the city at Albuquerque’s northern, southern and western freeway entrances.
To date, except for Aluminum Yucca, none of that has happened.
I wonder what happened with the visitor’s center? Did the recession in 2008 scuttle plans? Or did the U.S. government get tight-fisted with domestic money when it was fighting two foreign wars shortly after the sculpture was erected?
(Image of “Aluminum Yucca,” via JadeXJustice via Flickr)
A happy ending at Cadillac Ranch May 19, 2013
Posted by Ron Warnick in Art, Attractions, People.add a comment
We’ve seen a lot of bad and even unsavory news about Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo, Texas, in recent months — mainly because of the many legal troubles of the art installation’s longtime proprietor, Stanley Marsh 3.
But this video reminds us that Cadillac Ranch remains a roadside attraction of levity … and even poignancy.
The folks at One Tree Films explain:
Our journey across historic Route 66 took us to Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Tex., on a cold and windy March morning. We would cross paths with young couple who were there to paint the cars and even offered to let us use some of their spray paint for our film.
We would come to find out they weren’t just there to paint cars. Nic had a painted message, “Will you Marry Me, Frances.” It was a little hard to read, but she figured it out quickly and One Tree was there to capture it all in pictures and film.
Our little engagement gift to you both for being just awesome people
An even more amazing coincidence is that One Tree Films specializes in wedding videos.
Cadillac Ranch | Fate from One Tree Films on Vimeo.
Local artist painting mural on McDonald’s Museum May 15, 2013
Posted by Ron Warnick in Art, Attractions, Museums, Restaurants, Towns.add a comment
Cartoonist Phil Yeh is painting an elaborate mural on the McDonald’s Museum in San Bernardino, Calif., reported the San Bernardino County Sun.
Yeh, who created a comic book about Route 66 several years ago, started the mural last year but was slowed by a stroke. Due to partial paralysis, he painted left-handed until he recovered enough to paint right-handed again.
The newspaper described the mural:
The museum’s 12-foot-by-100-foot south wall illustrates San Bernardino’s history, its landmarks and inspirational people of the city, including favorite sons and celebrities with ties to the city.
The Earp family; Gen. George Patton, who used San Bernardino’s California Hotel as his headquarters while he trained soldiers in the desert; Pinky Brier, the first woman flight instructor in America; author Ray Bradbury; Xerox inventor and San Bernardino High School grad Chester Carlson; Dorothy Ingraham, the first African-American teacher in San Bernardino County; Silver Star recipient Chase Ash; animatronics pioneer Garner Holt (with a dinosaur); the rockers who performed at the Swing Auditorium – Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. And of course, Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, who made their first U.S. appearance in 1964 at the Swing.
The north side, which is the same size, depicts cities – focusing on those in San Bernardino County – that line Route 66. Motorcycles, train cars and trucks, some of them bearing the names of sponsors, line the route as it passes through familiar towns and cities on its way from the Santa Monica Pier, the Route 66 culmination.
Yeh also says he hopes to restore the original McDonald brothers’ offices on the back part of the museum into a gift shop with works by local artists.
The McDonald’s Museum, located on an old alignment of 66, is owned by Albert Okura, owner of the Juan Pollo restaurant chain in Southern California. Okura also owns the Route 66 town of Amboy, Calif. There, he is slowly restoring the Roy’s restaurant and motel.
Route 66 pedestrian tunnel will be converted into art space May 13, 2013
Posted by Ron Warnick in Art, Attractions, Events, Restaurants.1 comment so far
A long-closed pedestrian tunnel under North Figueroa Street (aka Route 66) in Los Angeles will reopen Saturday night as an art gallery.
According to The Eastsider LA, the idea came from Antigua Cultural Coffee House owner Yancey Quinones, who enjoyed walking through the tunnel as a child. The tunnel, however, later was closed by the city because of gang activity.
The newspaper said:
“It’s going to be the community’s tunnel, safe, secure,” Quinones says pointing to newly installed LED lights and freshly painted walls of the tunnel at Figueroa and Loreto Street near Nightengale Middle School. [...]
“Like a snail, it’s going to take time, but eventually we’ll get there,” he says a few days before the tunnel gallery’s debut as part of NELA’s art walk on Saturday. The tunnel will remain open only for shows and exhibits. [...]
The tunnel will open on Saturday, May 11 at 6 p.m. with a show of work by local artist Jose Ramirez, whose band will also be playing in the tunnel. Quinones hopes to see the underground gallery used monthly.
Quinones has tried to reopen the tunnel since starting his coffeehouse in 2007. His persistence — along with a $9,000 grant — will make his quest a reality.
It’s hard to find anything new under the sun on Route 66. However, Quinones shows that even novel ideas can happen on the old Mother Road.
(Hat tip: Scott Piotrowski)
Another lawsuit filed against Stanley Marsh 3 May 3, 2013
Posted by Ron Warnick in Art, People.add a comment
Yet another civil suit alleging sexual abuse of a minor was filed Thursday against Cadillac Ranch patriarch Stanley Marsh 3, according to the Amarillo Globe-News.
The newspaper said:
This one, though, is different. The plaintiff is the first to use his name. Stanton Coldiron, 21, filed suit in Potter County against Marsh, his wife Wendy, associate David Weir and two of Marsh’s entities, SM3 LLC and Barb Wire LP.
Coldiron alleges the Amarillo millionaire sexually abused him when he was 16 and paid him $500 to sign a confidentiality agreement after he turned 18.
The number of similar lawsuits against Marsh totals 11 since November, although many of those cases were settled out of court.
Marsh also recently was indicted by a grand jury on eight counts, alleging sex acts with teenage boys.
Marsh, 75, was owner of the Cadillac Ranch, an art installation near Route 66 on the west edge of Amarillo. However, since suffering a series of strokes in recent years, an attorney says Marsh no longer owns the property.
Evicted dinosaur coming to Route 66 in Arizona April 25, 2013
Posted by Ron Warnick in Animals, Art, Attractions, Businesses.3 comments
A huge dinosaur statue that was evicted from a Southern California neighborhood over a zoning dispute is being moved to Route 66 at Grand Canyon Caverns in Arizona.
The 40-foot-long apatosaurus was installed at the Zoomars petting zoo in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. However, city officials nixed the statue. According to the Los Angeles Times:
The city sided with historical advocates who saw the dinosaur as an eyesore, cheapening the neighborhood’s real history, and others who just saw him as a nuisance.
Carolyn Franks, the zoo’s owner, has had to find a new home for the statue dubbed Juan the Capistrano Dinosaur.
Homeowners throughout Southern California have offered to put him in their yards, and a college professor wanted him on campus. But, ultimately, Franks settled on Grand Canyon Caverns, a tourist attraction in Peach Springs, Ariz., right on Route 66.
“I feel like a mom placing her baby,” said Franks, who drove out to the speck of a desert town before deciding it would be a good home for him. “I feel that dinosaur has brought a lot of joy to the zoo. I just want to share it with more people. I just want to put it in a good place.”
Grand Canyon Caverns, in addition to its motel, restaurant and canyon tours, also is home to a dinosaur of its own. But the new one is much more impressive. And it reportedly will be installed near the highway.
(Hat tip to Jim Conkle; image of the dinosaur at San Juan Capistrano, Calif., by Trader Chris, via Flickr)