See LA in old newsreels, visit Seinfeld’s famed apartment, find art and handmade objects for friends and family, and get a window onto Death Row. That’s all this week in design and architecture.
1) Los Angeles In Newsreels
Go back in time and witness “pupils of the Mosconi school display their talents as the movie capital’s peppiest dancers” or a freak storm that “blankets areas of Southern California with unprecedented snowfall transforming this semi-tropical area into a winter,” and “Mary Pickford at cornerstone laying for $12,000,000” new hospital.
These are all topics of newsreels that you can see at the Hammer’s Billy Wilder Theater tonight, as it wraps its series of screenings of footage from the UCLA Film and Television archive, called “This is the City: Preserving Moving Images of Los Angeles.
Tonight’s program of newsreels from the late 1920s through 40s looks back at how the city “was represented in the newsreels that gave rise to the moving image news of today. From baby pageants to anti-war rallies, in both completed films and in raw footage, the newsreels captured the provincial and increasingly international dimensions of the city as it evolved.”
When: Monday, December 14; 7:30 pm – 9:30PM
Where: Billy Wilder Theater, Hammer Museum, Courtyard Level, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Tickets: $10.00; order tickets here
2) It’s a Festivus Miracle! “Seinfeld: The Apartment” Debuts on the West Coast
It’s an apartment engraved on the minds of a generation and now the fabled Upper West Side apartment where Jerry and friends loafed for thousands of hours is being recreated just in time for “Festivus,” courtesy of Hulu (which has acquired the SVOD rights to Seinfeld.)
The pop-up installation, featuring a replica of the apartment and a “full gallery experience,” will be reconstructed in Los Angeles with “fan favorite items” following a very successful NYC run, and opens to the public starting Wednesday.
When: December 16 – 20, 2015; 10AM – 7PM
Where: 8445 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, CA 90069 W
Tickets: Free and open to the public (but be ready for lines.)
3) Art Share L.A. — End of year holiday sale
For more on the changing face of the arts district, read this LA Times article by Carolina Miranda.
When: December 16 – 23, 1-6 PM; reception and award ceremony, December 18, 7:30PM
Where: 801 E 4th Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Tickets: Open to the public
4) Holiday Pop-up at Shapiro Joyal Studio
DnA last spoke with Leslie Shapiro after a bruising experience with reality TV.
Now the furniture and interior designer known for her understated, well-crafted pieces is marking gift-giving season with a “weekend of community gathering and holiday cheer.” enjoy hot chocolate or mimosas on the back patio, meet new people and see pottery from Sara Winkle and Sissy Mcdonald, handpainted greeting cards from Leslie Shapiro, and the artwork of Nami Ito, above.
When: Saturday, December 19th 12-8pm; Sunday, December 20th 12-5pm
Where: 409 S Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Tickets: Open to the public
5) Windows on Death Row
There are currently 746 inmates awaiting execution in California, and “we don’t often hear from those inmates, let alone see artwork they make in prison,” writes KCRW’s Avishay Artsy. “But organizers of a Los Angeles exhibition of art made by death row inmates from across the country say they hope to reveal the humanity of those people whose lives hang in the balance.”
A Swiss couple — Patrick Chappatte, a political cartoonist for the International New York Times, and TV journalist and documentary filmmaker Anne Widmann — have created an exhibition, called Windows on Death Row: Art From Inside and Outside the Prison Walls, featuring over 60 works by some of the most famous American political cartoonists as well as artworks drawn from inmates, such as Kevin Cooper, above. Cooper has been on death row in San Quentin State Prison for 30 years. He’s on a short list of at least 17 death row inmates that have exhausted their appeals and would be the first to be put to death if executions resume in California.
When: Through December 18
Where: University of Southern California (USC) Annenberg School of Communication, Watt Way, Los Angeles, CA 90007
Tickets: Open to the public
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