Friday, January 14, 2011

Another Building Idea

Larry Harnisch's Los Angeles Daily Mirror blog is a fun read for anyone interested in California history, with reprints of columns and stories from the 'teens all the way through the 1960's and 1970's. He also has been showing photos from the L.A. Times's archive, especially publicity and movie industry photos.

This gas station, in the background of a shot showing a a movie being filmed, caught my eye. It's a cute little building, the right size for an HO model, and with an interesting roofline as well as those cutouts for the bells. I really don't need to build another Mission/Spanish Revival gas station, but this one cries out to be made. It probably would be very appropriate for the 3D printer, too!

[Postscript: the holes in the sides are imitating the campanario, or bell walls which were common features of California missions - check out the campanario at Missions San Diego, San Juan Bautista, and San Gabriel. The holes are often asymmetric in the missions, too.]

3 comments:

  1. Glad you like the gas station. It's the main reason I ran the picture!

    Larry

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  2. It's a nice photo in many ways. It reminded me again how empty the suburbs of LA were in the 1920's and 1930's, with lots of empty space still remaining. That corner's a lot more built-up now!

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  3. Side note: the location is Hollywood at Sunset; the photo is facing north. D.W. Griffith's Fine Arts Studio is located behind the photographer, at the current location of a Von's supermarket. The scaffolding across the street is the set for Intolerance; the lot was Fine Arts's back lot; it's now the location of the Vista Theater.

    Oh, and I've got a 3d printed model of that gas station I ought to share.

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