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Pomona, California
She's seen her share of devils in this angel town
Pomona is in the Southland, but a good hour east from anywhere you would want to be. The only legitimate reason to go there is to see a building, or more accurately a campus- Diamond Ranch High School designed by Thom Mayne of Morphosis. Before I left for California I checked two different, recent guidebooks, and both had said it was permissible to walk around the outside and take pictures- it is a public building after all. I also checked the surprisingly boring Diamond Ranch High School internet site to see if any tours were offered or any restrictions were in place, neither question was answered on their site. My research effort ended there, in retrospect it shouldn't have.
With proper advance notice, the Pomona Unified School District allows visitors to Diamond Ranch, but without proper advance notice, well, then I guess there's nothing to see here, move along, move along.
The gruff but pleasant enough guy in the plaid shirt showed me where the security cameras were and said that the building was guarded twenty four hours a day, and that there was in fact plenty to see but I wasn't allowed in. As compensation for my whining, I was allowed outside at one corner- as long as I stayed in plain sight in the parking lot.
I actually tried calling the Pomona Unified School District, but unlike the gruff but pleasant security guard, they remained unreachable that Saturday. Despite that setback and the fact I was almost killed on the 210 on the way back (there was a rocking chair on the freeway), I remain optimistic for a future visit- Los Angeles is a terribly convenient stopover, I know it's only a matter of time before I find myself back in Pomona and allowed to stand in such hollowed, well guarded space.
The Pomona Unified School District and their plaid shirt goons couldn't hide all of the Morphosis buildings from me, despite such cruel intentions. Downtown on First and Main, across the street from the very recognizable City Hall building, the new CalTrans Headquarters is still under construction, although being a Morphosis building it's kind of hard to tell which parts are finished.
Another view, another corner. The building includes all sorts of extra screens, flying structural pieces and other, expensive flourishes- just doing its part to contribute to the impending bankruptcy of the California government.
Perched high atop Brentwood and the 405, just south of Sepulveda Pass is the Getty Center, the six (or seven) year old, billion dollar complex of museums and gardens meant to house a rather expensive collection of rather boring art. The complex (designed by New York architect Richard Meier) is reachable by a magical little train ride that unfortunately parallels a much less magical little service road.
It was cloudy and cool (mid 60s) in Brentwood that January day, creating unusually soft lighting conditions across Meier's trademark white panels and all that stone. The stone came from Italy, supposedly the same quarry that furnished the Coliseum in Rome. A special method was developed for cutting the blocks, allowing wonderfully different, jagged faces at every turn, and possibly contributing to that hefty billion dollar price tag.
The entire complex is organized on two 30" x 30" grids, meaning that stone blocks are 30" x 60" and that over 45 vertical feet of softly lit stone are visible in the background.
The upper floors of the painting galleries often connect, creating opportunities for open, glass bridges between all that stone.
From atop one of the terraces that overlooks Westwood and Century City to the south. On clear days the ocean view (to the right) is supposedly breathtaking, although I have yet to see Los Angeles on such a winter's day.
As the traffic slows down (as always) on the 405 over Sepulveda Pass, the Getty Center stretches across its two mountain top 30" x 30" grids, as always.
