Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Return of the Dingbat

Sometime this December I plan on returning to L.A. in search of dingbat architecture that I've not yet photographed [Here's a collection of my earlier dingbat posts, if you'd like some background on the architectural term].

Any ideas on sites to visit?

(Image by Andrew Wood)

2 comments:

Evan said...

Andrew--glad to hear you're coming back! You need to get to that place on Fairfax, for sure.

I know you got into the Crestview/South Robertson area last time (the place on Sherbourne). If you go south of Pico, just north of the houses in Beverlywood, there are some nice ones.

I recommend going to West LA, branching off of Santa Monica Blvd. west of the 405. A lot of really great ones along here. North of this area (north of Wilshire Blvd.) is Brentwood. The last time I went shooting dingbats, I saw some great ones here.

Continuing west, you get to Santa Monica. There's a neighborhood north of the Third Street Promenade, north of Wilshire and south of Montana, that has some cool ones (a favorite is this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/evang/2178811974/in/set-72157603493888128/ Sorry, don't know the exact address, but it's on a north/south street). Go up and down the numbered streets between 2nd and say, 14th Streets.

A lot of the dingbat photos I took are from these areas on the Westside. A fair number have the exact location, some only the neighborhood: http://www.flickr.com/photos/evang/sets/72157603493888128/

A caveat: I don't know how many are still around. Unfortunately a lot of dingbat buildings have been torn down to put up giant "Mediterranean style" condo buildings. This has been especially pronounced in Brentwood in the last couple of years. See them while you can!

highway163 said...

I was so hoping I'd hear from you, Evan. Thanks for your essential advice!