Architectural Table & Chair

 

I always make a point of visiting the Laguna Beach Art Museum whenever I visit California and this time was no exception.  Above is a piece of art that surprised me because that very exotic looking table and chair was created by Frank Gehry, the famous architect.  It was created in 1970 and is made from cardboard and masonite.  It's wild looking just like many of his unique buildings!

The Laguna Beach Art Museum specializes in California artists or art that was made in California.  The show that was on this time was called "On the Edge: Los Angeles Art from the Joan and Jack Quinn Family Collection."  That's Joan and Jack in the photo above, inside their art-filled home.  Here's a quote from the exhibit:

"Few individuals have left such an indelible mark on the landscape of Southern California as Joan and Jack Quinn.  Joan has played both muse and promoter of artists and Jack used his skills as a prominent and influential attorney to help emerging artists and their dealers navigate the worlds of law and business."

One part of the exhibit was a series of portraits of Joan.  It was interesting to see how the different artists depicted her and the artistic styles they each used.  The one to the left was made by David Hockney and is described as a polaroid and Xerox collage.  

The Quinn's were quite the collectors.  It was a huge exhibit with hundreds of paintings, sculptures and photographs.  I bet they were fun people to know.  

Some Oldies!

 

One of the benefits of digging through boxes of old photos is that you find some you hadn't seen in a long time.  I thought I'd show a few.  This is my grandparents house in Quincy Illinois.  The date on the photo is April 1954.  This photo probably sat in the camera for a month or two before the film was developed because there probably wasn't that much snow on the ground in April.

This is a photo of my grandparents.  There was no date on this photo but I'm guessing it was around 1920.  I know it was before they were married.  Aren't they a handsome couple?

Here they are again only this time my grandfather is in his military uniform.  He served in WWI.

Now we'll jump forward many years.  This is from 1960 and that's me on the far right.  Next to me is my dad, my sister Judy, my mom and then my grandfather and my sister Pam. All of the ladies had corsages, I'm not sure why.

This last one has a date of January 1958.  Once again, I think this film sat in the camera for several months before it was developed.  We wouldn't be standing outside in short sleeves in January in Illinois.  

This one has my grandmother in it with me to the left and Judy and Pam in front of grandma.  I love those Oxford shoes now. I probably hated them back then.

These are fun photos to rediscover.  

Midtown Phoenix

 

On Saturday I had a post about some apartments that replaced a strange looking restaurant.  This mural is painted on one side of those apartments near the entrance to the parking garage.  It pays tribute to an area of Phoenix called Midtown.  Midtown is a commercial area of town with high-rise buildings and lots of businesses that is located north of downtown.  I used to live in the area called midtown.

Taking part in Monday Murals.

Tall and Sophisticated

 

This tall building is just one block away from the apartments I featured yesterday.  My first job upon moving to Arizona was in an elegant looking building between these two. (that building is long gone)  I remember coming from a small city in Illinois, this apartment building looked so "big-city" sophisticated to me.  The last time I featured this building on my blog was in 2008.

The building was designed by Al Beadle, a much admired, mid-century architect.  There is evidence of his buildings all over town.  I featured two others here and here.   

I should search out more Beadle buildings and do a series of posts! That might be a fun project.

I mentioned above that my first job after moving to Arizona was in beautifully designed building directly across the street from the apartments I posted yesterday.  The building was torn down a long time ago to make way for a parking lot.  (Yes, just like the song!) I spent two hours searching the internet for a photo of that building with no luck at all.  I can't believe that there are no photos to be found in cyberspace.  I spent another hour searching my old boxes of photos and finally came up with this one.  It's faded and pushing way too much green but at least you can get an idea of what that building looked like.  

Central & Clarendon

 

I snapped this photo two weeks ago when I was driving around central Phoenix.  I knew when I took the photo that I wanted to compare it to a building that used to be on this corner.  It took me a while to find that old post but here it is.  It was an old Mexican restaurant with a rather kitschy facade.  I made a comment to that post saying that I had worked in an architecturally beautiful building that was just across the street that had long been demolished but that the rather ugly restaurant was still there.  That was back in 2008.  Since that time, the old restaurant is gone and now these apartments have been put up in its place.  It gives that corner a much improved look.

Fiesta Mall - All Gone

 

When the plane was on the landing path last Sunday, I spotted some familiar territory in the city of Mesa.  I was shocked to see that the old Fiesta Mall had been totally scraped away leaving nothing but a big plot of bare land.  

The tall building to the left was once a bank building.  I featured the beautiful fountain in front of the building here.  

Back in 2016, I did two posts about Fiesta Mall with outside photos here and inside photos here.  It's all gone now.

Some Favorite Photos from the California Trip

 Here are four of my favorite photos from the trip last week to Laguna Beach California.  This first one was taken at the Sherman Library & Garden.  I spotted this Gulf Fritillary butterfly resting perfectly atop a collection of colorful blooms. 

This one was taken along the walkway above the rocky shoreline at Heisler Park in Laguna Beach.  Heisler Park is a long park that runs along the shore with spectacular views along the way.

I saw this seagull standing atop a big rock on the beach at Crystal Cove on my first full day in California.  I zoomed in with the telephoto lens to capture him.  He had is eye on the waves as they crashed to the shore.

This last one isn't what you would call a great photo but I still liked the ray of sunlight beaming down toward me.  I know that shooting into the sun is a photographic no-no but sometimes I do it anyway and sometimes I like what I see.

A Collection of Odd Shots From California

 

Today I have a variety of shots from my few days in California.  These were all taken with my camera that I finally got to download when I got home.  First up, two fellows doing some surf fishing.  As near as I could tell, they weren't having much luck.  I saw them haul in quite a bit of seaweed but no fish.

Here's Julius Caesar checking out those plant vendors who were setting up at Sherman Library & Garden.  Julius wasn't in the mood to pose for photos.  He was too busy trying to figure out what all these people were doing cluttering up his garden.

A powered hang glider sailing along the shoreline.

An interesting tree I could see from the balcony of the condo.  

A surfer caught in the act!

A heavily pregnant woman posing for some photos.

Lastly, a very elaborate proposal. 

Home to Monsoon Storms

 

I flew home yesterday evening and was buffeted a bit by heavy skies and lots of wind.  My flight was delayed because of a ground hold in Phoenix due to a dust storm that later turned into a thunderstorm.  

I know this sounds crazy but I really enjoy flying above and through storms.  The clouds from above are always spectacular and there is so much swirling activity as you fly through the clouds.

I captured this cloudy sunset as we approached the airport.  The last 5 minutes were a little bumpy but I've experienced way worse.  The best part was that it was only 92 degrees when we landed in Phoenix.  That's cool for July!

Tiny Mural

 

I think I might have found the world's smallest mural.  This one is painted on a parking meter. I guess if utility boxes are a good canvas why shouldn't a parking meter work.

This one was painted by Ene Rahu.  

Taking part in Monday Murals.  

A Plant Nursery on Steroids

 

I made another annual trip to Roger's Gardens yesterday.  It's a plant nursery like no other I've seen.  They quite literally have everything you could want from plants to furniture to tableware to napkins to food.  And they have a wonderful restaurant called The Farmhouse.  That's where we had lunch.

I love this tree that sits in the middle of the potted plants.

It was Saturday so everything changed drastically from the past two days.  The beaches were crowded, the parks were full and the street traffic was crazy.  It was a good day to park the car and walk.

Which is exactly what we did.  After lunch, we parked the car at the condo and then walked to the Laguna Beach Art Museum.  I loved this painting by Kevin Yaun.  It was among a series of paintings by 2024 MFA graduates from Laguna College of Art and Design.

We walked back to the condo and enjoyed the setting sun making sparkles on the water.  Today is my last day in paradise.  I have to fly back to the desert in the afternoon.  

Julius Caesar & Lots of Flowers

 

As you can see, I made my annual trip to Sherman Library & Gardens yesterday and I got to see good old Julius Caesar again.  He's the garden cat who lives at the gardens and occasionally greets guests.  Yesterday, the garden was preparing for a huge plant sale on Saturday and Sunday and Julius was very busy checking out all the vendors and their wares.  I took several photos of Julius but unfortunately they are all on my camera and I forgot to bring the adaptor to down load them.  

On this visit, I found this building with the roof covered in a flowering vine. I don't remember seeing that before.  I like it.

Here's a close up of the flowers on the vine.

I couldn't resist a photo of these exotic looking orchids.  

My friend and I had a wonderful lunch in the garden restaurant called "Dahlia".  They have a wonderful chef and the food is always excellent.

The fountain at the entrance to the garden is always surrounded by pretty flowers and every year they are different.  These pink flowers make a nice frame for the fountain.

Pelicans, Lots of Pelicans

 

I flew over to California late Wednesday evening to spend the weekend at my friends place in Laguna Beach.  Thursday morning my friend and I had breakfast at Crystal Cove and then walked the beach.  We were amazed by all the pelicans flying overhead. There must have been thousands because one flock after another kept passing over us all heading north.  

A morning walk on the beach is very invigorating especially when the temperature is hovering around 68 degrees and I've been more used to 112.  It's going to be nice to cool off for a while.

And, while I was at Crystal Cove, I snapped one more photo of that mailbox I told you about last year.  It's still sitting on the porch and the rust is creeping onto to it.  In last year's post, I told you the saga of that mailbox since I discovered it back in 2007.

The Beaded Gecko

 

I saw this beaded gecko when I was at the local nursery last Sunday.  He was climbing up a pole and barely noticed I was there. 😉

He's a cute little fellow and would look good on any patio.  However, I didn't check to see how much he was.  

Say Cheese!

 

It's been a long time since I posted a photo of this place.  It was 2015 to be exact.  With so many businesses coming and going, it's nice to know that this one is still going strong and it's still a cute little shop with that great sign on top.

I used to get sandwiches here all the time when I lived on this side of town.  I haven't been inside in a long time.  

Cheese and Stuff sits on the very end of a strip of small businesses on Central Avenue and Camelback Road.  I need to make a point of stopping in sometime soon.

In Search of Blooms

 

Sunday morning was another 86 degree morning and I was craving some pretty blooms so I headed to my local nursery thinking I might see something blooming especially in the greenhouse where I usually find some tropical blooms and lots of orchids.

As it turned out, the greenhouse was closed and won't open again until October 1st and there was nothing blooming in the outside garden.

But in spite of that, I totally enjoyed my wander around the place.  I was the only customer there so I had the place to myself and the staff on hand were all very friendly.  In fact, they seemed to be surprised to see a customer so early on Sunday morning.  

Bright New Mural....in progress

 I spotted this new mural a little over a month ago and finally stopped to get a photo.  I didn't realize until I saw it up close that it is not done yet.  I'm betting our recent spate of excessive temperatures has slowed the progress. The wall faces east so it gets direct morning sunlight and even though mornings are cooler, standing next to a wall with the sun on your back can't be fun.

I'll keep my eye on this one and get more photos when it's completed.  By the way, this mural has covered an old mural that had been there a long time.  I posted the previous mural back in 2017 but it had already been there for several years before that.  I did notice that the bar behind the mural has a new name so probably new owners too.  

Taking part in Monday Murals

Pickle House

 

I read about this place in recent news article so I had to drive by and get a photo.  This is an old building that has been renovated and turned into a small business incubator.  It is a space for innovators to develop their ideas and get small business support.  The building used to be the home of Arnold's Pickles.  

Arnold's Pickles started business in  the early 1900's and in 1920 built this building to house its factory.  In 1980, the company merged with Mrs Klein's Pickles which has a much bigger operation on the other side of town.  

The pickle in the sign in the top photo is a take on the old Arnold's Pickles mascot, a cucumber wearing a cowboy hat and boots.  That mascot used to dance in TV commercials and sing the little jingle "I like Arnold's Pickles, you'll like them too.  The only thing that's better than an Arnold's Pickle is two."