Category Archives: Architecture

365/Day 133

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Tall Buildings of L.A. ~~

L.A. is not known for its skyscrapers. And nothing gives you a better sense of how flat the city is like flying over it. The view is pretty at night, when all the lights are on, but dull and disappointingly flat during the day. So you have to go to certain areas, such as Century City or Downtown L.A. to see a concentration of tall buildings. I’m only starting to photograph the buildings downtown and will certainly have better shots in the future. For now…

365/Day 125

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Riding El Camino Real~~

Today’s post is about the trip back home on a very overcast day, and the photos were taken from the car. Coming home from Santa Barbara this afternoon we drove through part of California’s historic El Camino Real (the Royal Road). This refers to the 600-mile (966-kilometer) California Mission Trail, connecting the former Alta California’s 21 missions, stretching from Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego in the south to Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma in the north.The Camino Real today includes portions of U.S. Route 101, California State Route 1, California State Route 82 in the San Francisco Bay Area, and San Diego County Route S11. A nice reminder that you are in the Camino Real is that in its entire extent you’ll see distinctive bells, hung on supports in the form of a shepherd’s crook, also described as “a Franciscan walking stick.” As you can see, I’m a real sucker for these things… 🙂

365/Day 107

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Art and Architecture ~~

Today I spent the afternoon at the Getty Center, one my favorite places in Los Angeles. They are having a Turner exhibit and a couple of photography exhibits I wanted to see. Unfortunately, none of them could be photographed. One of the things I love about the Getty is its architecture, which I’ve photographed a million times but never get tired of it. Today couldn’t be any different…

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Churches or Religious Buildings

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Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week invites us to share images of churches or any religious buildings. Here is my contribution. Some the most beautiful cathedrals in the world.

Cattedrale di Santa Maria, Duomo, Siena, Italy
Duomo, Siena, Italy
Westminster Abbey, London
St. Peter’s Cathedral, Vatican , Italy
Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy
Cattedrale di San Marco, Duomo, Venice, Italy
St. Paul’s Cathedral, London
Cattedrale di Sant’Andrea/Duomo di Amalfi

365/Day 86

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Good-Bye, Old California InclineDSC_0535_edited-1This is a view of the California Incline, the landmark slanted road that connects the top of Santa Monica’s Palisades bluffs with the Pacific Coast Highway down below. It’s very familiar to those of us who visit Palisades Park regularly, and to motorists who use it daily to access the PCH from the city and vice-versa. You may have seen it in one of the movies shot in Santa Monica, or in postcards of the city. I have photographed it dozens of times and it never gets old!

That is, until now… In April, the incline bridge, built in the 1890s as a pedestrian route to the beach, will be demolished and replaced by a new structure, as part of a seismic retrofit 85 years in the making. The last renovation happened in 1930 to help make way for cars.

While the new structure will be safer, with a wider sidewalk and bicycle lanes, this will be a long project (some 12-18 months of construction). Traffic will be a nightmare in other areas of the city, and parts of the relatively quiet and pleasant Palisades Park will be disturbed by the noise of construction works.

But what intrigues me the most in all this is the fact that, having been in the LA area for only three-and-a-half years, I am already witnessing changes in its landmarks. I can almost hear myself saying, years from now: “before they demolished the old incline bridge…”

Yes, time really flies, and things just keep on changing…