Rethinking the lawn; the Sturges House goes up for sale; Tom Bradley’s legacy; a South Bay childhood remembered; fish movement becomes music — all happening this week in design events.
1) Turf Battles: The Lawn in Los Angeles
Occidental College’s Third Los Angeles Project presents Christopher Hawthorne in conversation about the city and the lawn, with designer Elizabeth Diller of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, landscape architect James Burnett, Occidental biology professor Gretchen North and Huntington Library photography curator Jennifer Watts.
He writes, “like the freeway, the single-family house and the concrete-wrapped Los Angeles River, the lawn is one of those symbols of suburbanized Second Los Angeles now being held up for scrutiny as the city begins to remake itself for the era of climate change.”
When: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 at 7:30 PM
Where: Choi Auditorium at Occidental College, 1600 Campus Road, LA 90041
Tickets: Free. Register or join waitlist here.
2) A Manhattan Beach Memoir: 1945-2015
Gary Sweeney’s childhood home in Manhattan Beach is scheduled to be torn down in March and replaced with condos. In anticipation of the demolition, Sweeney has turned the wood-paneled beach house into a temporary art installation by covering the exterior with large pieces of plywood screened with family photos taken by his late father Mike Sweeney.
The older Sweeney owned a hardware store in Manhattan Beach and served as a city councilman and mayor; the younger is giving guided tours of the exhibition on Wednesdays through the end of the month. Or you can just stop by and see it for yourself.
When: Exhibition runs through February 29. Sweeney-guided tours Wednesday, February 17 & 24, 4 PM – 7 PM.
Where: 320 35th Street, Manhattan Beach 90266
Tickets: Free
3) Screening: “Bridging The Divide: Tom Bradley and the Politics of Race”
O.N.E. Percent Campaign and the City of Inglewood present a screening of this 60-minute documentary along with a Q&A with Bradley’s daughter, Lorraine Bradley, and filmmakers Lyn Goldfarb and Alison Sotomayor. The film also airs on PBS SoCal (KOCE) February 21 at 4 PM and February 24 at 12:30 AM.
Bradley served as L.A.’s mayor from 1973 to 1993; his “extraordinary multi-racial coalition redefined Los Angeles, transformed the national dialogue on race, and encouraged elections of minority candidates nationwide, including our nation’s first black president.”
When: Saturday, February 20, 2016 at 1 PM
Where: Inglewood Public Library, 101 West Manchester Blvd., Inglewood 90301
Tickets: Free. Register here.
4) Auction of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Sturges House and the Bridges-Larson Estate
Got a few million burning a hole in your pocket? Snap up this 1,200-square-foot Brentwood Heights home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1939 for Lockheed engineer George D. Sturges and his wife, Selma. It was most recently owned by actor Jack Larson and director James Bridges.
The auction also features artworks from the Larson-Bridges collection by Alex Katz, David Hockney, Don Bachardy, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Sam Francis and others.
This DnA blog post has more details about the house, and an audio interview with Los Angeles Modern Auctions founder Peter Loughrey.
When: Sunday, February 21, 2016, 12 PM ; you can preview the home until February 20.
Where: In person, by phone or online. Details here.
5) Ocean’s Orchestra
This intriguing live event at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach features middle and high school musicians turning the movements of fish into music.
“Ocean’s Orchestra will be performed live before an audience as the inhabitants of the Aquarium’s Honda Blue Cavern exhibit swim past musical bar lines placed on the nearly three-story-tall exhibit window. A group of twenty students playing stringed instruments will translate the movements of the fish into music. Then, the audience members can visit other exhibits throughout the Aquarium and hear small groups of musicians interpreting the movements of marine life.”
When: Sunday, February 21, 2016 at 7 PM
Where: Aquarium of the Pacific, 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach 90802
Tickets: $14.95 ($9.95 for members); buy tickets here.