08.18.09 Department of Water and Power Building

There are many drawbacks to being an L.A. resident (smog, traffic, no good BBQ), but one big score for the pleasures of the city is the ritual of going to pay your electric bill at this site. It's been argued that Frank Gehry was blessed with the best possible site downtown on which to place his Disney Concert Hall, but I disagree. Officially known as the John Ferraro building, A.C. Martin, Jr.'s 1965 landmark hovers at the edge corner of Bunker Hill and serenely floats over its landscape (thanks to the reflecting pool ground plane that covers the parking garage below). The place feels right in the nexus of the city and quietly distanced from the hustle and bustle at the same time. Its quiet, somber institutional feel, its tall lobby - with the famously uniform floors that are even better at night - takes you back to a time where institutions were entities of progress and respectful largesse, made material by buildings like these designed with a deep sense of civic pride.

08.16.09 Hidden Neighborhoods: What’s Up In Monrovia?

Continuing our series of neighborhoods we like, Citybuilt.org would like to introduce you to Monrovia. Two cities East of Pasadena - off the 210 Freeway - sits the quiet, hilly expanse of Monrovia. We were out there for a little get together and cased the joint one recent Saturday night. Thirsty for beer, and looking for a place to get it, we stumbled upon this strangely enormous sports bar, with the architecturally geometric theme of TRIANGLES throughout its three floors of building mass. What a space! And they had the only Air Hockey table East of Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood (that I know of). Cheers, Monrovia. Here’s to your gargantuan, Postmodern sports bars with piles of Nachos the size of Texas. We’ll try to come back real soon.

08.02.09 L.A. County Sanitation District's Wastewater Plant and the Puente Hills Landfill

Citybuilt.org got a behind the scenes look at the LA County Sanitation District’s wastewater treatment facility on the grounds of the San Jose Creek, just off the 605 freeway this past Saturday – it was enough to make any lover of infrastructure and monster machines wilt a little in the knees. But that’s not all . . we also toured the Puente Hills landfill (across the highway from the treatment plant) – formerly the San Gabriel Valley dump – and saw the work they are doing with their highly successful PERG (Puente Hills Energy Recovery from Gas) program, in which methane produced by the seepage of buried trash is pumped into an adjacent power plant. The methane-fueled plant can produce enough energy to power 70,000 neighboring households – it’s a beacon of green infrastructure indeed, and its right in our backyard. It was a fascinating day out at the sewer plant and the dump – if you’re into that kind of thing. And we know you are.

06.25.09 Heath Tile Factory

Ah Sausalito - the sea air, the redwood trees, the tippy top of the Golden Gate bridge over the next hill and the earthy rich hues of Heath tile. Anyone who's ever poured over the uniquely glazed, one-in-a-million colors of the Heath tile catalogue really needs to hightail it to the bay area factory and store to see where everything happens.


Edith Heath's (1911-2005) life was dedicated to the craft of ceramics and the skill of the artisan glaze - many of her pieces live in the permanent collections of museums such as the MOMA in New York City. In 1948, following her one-woman show at San Francisco's Palace of the Legion of Honor, her pieces were picked up for sale at Gump’s of San Francisco and she opened the shop in Sausalito, which remains a model for local manufacturing and time-tested quality. And be sure to check out the overstock room where you can pick up a box of misfit tiles for $25 a pop.

400 Gate Five Road
Sausalito, CA 94965

06.21.09 Looking for Work @ Fifth Floor Gallery

Fans of sassy and innovative design work should check out Chinatown's Fifth Floor Gallery this month for Looking for Work, a show that features a group of L.A. designers who traffic in smart modern home furnishings and furniture.

Stand outs include Aimee Less' flat fold loft chair which cradles and supports the sitter via a balance of tensioned flexibility. Manufactured, shipped, and sold flat, Less uses architectural and fashion industry know how to sculpt the form (it pops into shape when it is laced up by the end user). Less' chairs are available in a variety of to-die-for fabrics and color combinations.

Architect Earl Parson creates his chairs and functional objects from cast off steel beams, powder-coated with super-bright primary colors that give the heavy industrial heft of the materials a light and huggable finish.

Fifth Floor, Chung King Road/Chinatown. Show ends July 18.

06.12.09 Citybuilt.org @ L.A. Forum's Pecha Kucha night

Thanks to everyone who joined us for the third installment of L.A. Forum for Architecture and Urban Design's Pecha Kucha "Femme Fatales" night, where 20 talented ladies from L.A.'s design community presented their wide-ranging scope of work via 20 slides. Citybuilt.org's Wendy Gilmartin took the stage to present the online urban database you all know and love. Thanks again to L.A. Forum, and specifically Siobhan Burke, for organizing the event.

Click here to see more images of the presenters and here to see the lineup. Look out for more enlightening and fun LAForum events in the future.

05.30.09 Public Works Cozies launch

Citybuilt.org has dropped our first set of Public Works Cozies on the city of L.A. Keep your eyes peeled for more drops around town, for more information on the project click here and contact info@citybuilt.org for more information on how to participate in your neighborhood.