Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Los Angeles Conservancy’

All Aboard For Union Station!

Posted in APG Events, tagged , , , , on October 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Union.Station.Exterior.TowerThere are so many great reasons to support the work of Alhambra Preservation Group! Among them, our Fall Field Trip is one of the most popular events of the year – and it’s “members only.”

This year we have something truly extraordinary planned – a guided tour of one of the most iconic landmarks of the region, Los Angeles Union Station. The last of the great railroad passenger terminals built in America, this extraordinary feat of civic planning united three transcontinental railroads, centralized passenger travel in Los Angeles and played a key role in the development of the Southern California region. Throughout its 75-year history, Union Station’s artful blend of the Spanish Colonial Revival, Mission Revival and Streamline Moderne architectural styles has captured the hearts and the imaginations of architectural historians, travelers, railroad enthusiasts, civic leaders, authors, artists and film makers.

On Saturday morning, November 8, Alhambra Preservation Group will host a special walking tour of Union Station. Led by docents of the L.A. Conservancy, our tour will focus on the art, architecture and social history of this remarkable landmark. Approximately two and one half hours in length (from 10 a.m. to 12:30), the tour covers about one mile in total distance and is wheelchair accessible.

APG will underwrite the cost of admission for the first 30 members who reserve a spot to attend this private tour. If you are not already a member, but would like to participate in this tour, it’s not too late!  You can join APG now. Just visit us online.  Please give generously to support our vital work. Then give us a call at (626) 755-3467 so that we can reserve space for you. Don’t delay! Space is limited and this event will soon be filled to capacity. We will confirm your participation by phone or email, providing you with suggestions on how to get to Union Station, as well as information on where to park and where to meet our tour group.

“We live in a diverse, multiracial and less-certain city of tomorrow that the poised and confident architecture of Union Station never dreamed of. Among the many things Union Station is today – glamorous symbol of Depression-era optimism, movie character actor and marketable real estate – it’s also a working time machine. For those who enter, Union Station can take them back to see the illusions and realities from which Los Angeles was made and perhaps allow those time travelers to reflect on who we were and what we might yet become.”
                                                                 ~ D.J. Waldie, cultural historian

Thank you for your generous support of Alhambra Preservation Group! We hope you can join us on our tour of Union Station, and we look forward to seeing you at future APG events and activities throughout the year.

Read Full Post »

Making the Grade

Posted in APG Events, tagged , , , , , on May 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Old.Classroom.Phil.RoederTaking Alhambra from Failure to Excellence in Preservation 101

Join Alhambra Preservation Group for its spring event where we’ll host a conversation with Los Angeles Conservancy’s Director of Advocacy, Adrian Scott Fine, on the steps Alhambra can take to improve its annual preservation grade. Together we’ll learn how we can transform Alhambra from a municipality at the bottom of the Preservation 101 class into a city that receives straight A’s in the preservation and protection of its architectural resources!

Here’s the when and where:

When: 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 5, 2014

Where: The Auditorium at The Alhambra (the former C.F. Braun campus), 1000 South Fremont Avenue, Alhambra, CA  91803

Validated parking will be available; enter through the kiosk on Fremont Avenue.

Please RSVP at (626) 755-3467 or e-mail us at info@alhambrapreservation.org to reserve your spot at this important event.

Photo courtesy of Phil Roeder via flickr.com/creativecommons

 

 

Read Full Post »

April Marks Centennial of Titanic’s Sinking

Posted in Events, tagged , , , , , , on March 29, 2012| Leave a Comment »

April is right around the corner and, with it, the centennial of the tragic sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912. There are a few events taking place here in Southern California to mark the 100th anniversary of this historic event. You may want to consider attending one of them.

> The Steamship Historical Society of America will host a commemorative event on April 14 at the Queen Mary in Long Beach. The event includes a luncheon aboard the Sapphire Princess, a Titanic film festival and late-night candlelight vigil.

> On April 12, the Pasadena Museum of History will feature an illustrated lecture by Kevin Jones, curator of the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising Museum, entitled Ad-dressing the Titanic: Appearance and Identity in 1912. The lecture will explore the four categories of travelers on the ill-fated ship: First Class, Second Class, Steerage, and Crew.

> If you don’t mind the drive, then you may want to consider attending the San Diego Natural History Museum’s Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, taking place now until September. The exhibition showcases 200 artifacts retrieved from the wreckage site, Titanic-themed films, and magnificent re-creations of the ship’s interior. Special events are planned for the centennial week of April 9 – 15.

> Interested in viewing homes that were being built when the Titanic took her maiden voyage? Then plan on attending Bungalow Heaven’s 23rd Annual Home Tour on April 29. Eight Pasadena homes will be included on this self-guided tour.

> Grab some popcorn and Junior Mints! On April 14, the Los Angeles Conservancy presents a special screening of the 1974 classic film Chinatown in partnership with the American Planning Association’s 2012 National Planning Conference in Los Angeles.

> Spring is a great time of year for a stroll, and the Los Angeles Conservancy’s monthly walking tours is the perfect way to simultaneously enjoy the warmer weather and discover some amazing architecture.  Eight regularly scheduled tours range from Angelino Heights to Union Station to Downtown Modern Skyline.

Will you be attending any events in April? We’d love to hear how you’ll be spending this first full month of Spring.

Read Full Post »

Explore Renowned Artist Millard Sheets’ Alhambra Connection

Posted in Events, tagged , , , on March 13, 2012| 2 Comments »

This Sunday, March 18, between 11:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., the Los Angeles Conservancy will explore the work of renowned artist and native son, Millard Sheets, with a tour of some of his most important examples of work in the Pomona – Claremont area. As a highly influential artist during the mid-20th century, many of Millard Sheets’ best-known murals can still be seen throughout Southern California. But did you know that you can view three of Millard Sheets’ earliest murals here in Alhambra at Mark Keppel High School?

In the late 1930s, as Alhambra’s Mark Keppel High School was being built, Millard Sheets created three exterior enamel and steel murals, which remain today. The three murals depict the history and culture of early California. One mural showcases the entire state of California – a lumberjack cuts down a redwood tree, a cowboy gallops in on a white horse from the east, two miners pan for gold, a large ship sails and a farmer harvests oranges. The second mural features Los Angeles County and includes the San Gabriel Mountains, the San Gabriel mission, a cattle ranch and vaquero and Long Beach and San Pedro harbors. A third, the largest, crowns the entrance to the schools auditorium and shows three of the groups that colonized and populated early California: the Spanish conquistadors, the Catholic missionaries and the American pioneers.

Millard Sheets was a native California artist who grew up in the Pomona Valley. He attended the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and showed remarkable early promise. While still a teenager, he was elected into membership in the California Water Color Society. He received national and international recognition for his painting and was recognized in Southern California as the leading figure and driving force behind the California Style watercolor movement.

Painting was only one aspect of Sheets’ long and varied art career. Through his teaching at Chouinard Art Institute, Otis Art Institute, Scripps College and other institutions, he taught hundreds of artists how to paint and guided them into careers in art. During the Great Depression, he helped to select and hire artists for the Public Works of Art Project, the first art project of Roosevelt’s New Deal. In later years he worked as an architect, illustrator, muralist, and printmaker. His career as architect and muralist reached its zenith in the 1950’s, when he was employed by Howard F. Ahmanson, Sr. to design dozens of branch offices of Home Savings of America throughout Southern California.

This Los Angeles Conservancy event provides a unique opportunity to visit some historic sites, including Sheets’ former studio. But, don’t forget to make a stop at Mark Keppel High School before heading out to Pomona-Claremont on March 18. It’s a great opportunity to see some of Sheets’ work up close and personal here in Alhambra.

Note: Mark Keppel High School is located at 501 East Hellman Avenue, Alhambra, CA 91801. 

Read Full Post »