<!-- missing image http://newmedia.kcrw.com/dna/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/John-and-Frances-at-Summers-graduation-168x300.jpg -->Many in the design community and beyond were shattered last year at the passing of John Chase, friend to many, and a brilliant and quietly influential (if not quietly dressed — see him, left) son of Los Angeles. This May 21, he would have celebrated his 58th birthday and in his memory, de LaB and DnA are co-presenting a walking tour in West Hollywood, the city where he worked as urban designer for 14 years until his death last August.
The all-day tour, starting at West Hollywood Gateway and concluding with drinks at Barneys Beanery, will take in his former home with garden designed by Katherine Spitz, to a stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard that he valiantly helped transform (in the face of much driver frustration at the time) to innovative multi-family dwellings he shepherded into being (see the Sierra Bonita Affordable Housing complex by Patrick Tighe, below, right).
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Participants will receive a map designed by Keith Scharwath and friends and admirers of John will offer up stories and reflections, demonstrating how one person was able, through passion and incremental steps, to use the often arduous planning process to quietly but effectively shape a city. For tickets and more information, click here.