Barnsdall Park Farmers Market

We are very lucky that there are TWO farmers' markets within walking distance of our apartment, one at Barnsdall Park, the other at the Los Feliz Post Office.

funny characters

These cacti, in our apartment building, seem like two funny characters watching the world outside the window.

in the garden

I have been volunteering once a week in this middle school garden. There is always a lot going on at once: watering the garden (or other kids), harvesting and cooking, painting, potting seedlings, screen-printing, sometimes even planting, weeding, and fertilizing.

Right now in the garden, the fennel is starting to bolt, lettuce is ending, strawberries are fruiting, chard and nasturtiums are thriving. They have the tallest kale plants I've ever seen-- 4 feet perhaps!-- because they survive many growing seasons.

There is a stack of styrofoam trays hanging from the tree to show how much waste is generated in the cafeteria. I think they are moving to a reusable tray system. Yesterday in LA, city council voted to ban plastic bag use at markets!

Chorisia pod

In the past few weeks cottony fluff has been floating through the air outside our apartment, and getting tangled in the grass and shrubs. The fluff comes from the huge pods of the Chorisia tree(the one with green, spiky bark).

Mount Washington

Gillian and I took a LA Times-published walking tour of Mount Washington last weekend. It was charming to run into other people with the same LA Times page in hand, following the same path through the neighborhood and up the steep slope and steps.

A sort of secret staircase from the lower sidewalk on Figueroa St, to an upper sidewalk alongside large houses.

Hiking up a steep, historic staircase on Mount Washington, looking east to the mountains:

The homes up here have to negotiate the slope with large foundations, or by stepping down the slope like this one:

Schindler House photocollage

I think this photocollage captures the quality of the space in the Schindler House better than a single snapshot. You can see here how the multiple adjacent glass panels create an openness of interior space, as well as a strong connection to the exterior and the garden. The concrete floor is continued through to the outside. Above the low ceiling is a clerestory window, as though the roof was lifted off to allow light to stream in.

LA streetscape

This is one typical LA streetscape, at Vendome and Temple Streets in Historic Filipinotown.

These bungalows include several adaptations to the Southern California climate. At one story, the heat does not rise to a second or third floor. Roof overhangs shade space around the house and cool the surrounding air, creating more comfort inside and out.

Los Feliz to Griffith Park

Amazingly, we can see two urban parks from our new home (at about the location marked by the black "V" in the center of the photo).

This photo shows both parks. I was standing in the relatively small Barnsdall Park, on the hill surrounding a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home. The steep north slope is planted as an extensive grove of olives; the site was known as "Olive Hill" when Aline Barnsdall purchased it in 1919 to develop a home and artist community. These trees don't seem that old, so they were likely replanted.

To the north is Griffith Park, the largest municipal park in the US. Its slopes are covered in some native chapparal, but apparently invasive plants have made major inroads into the mountainous urban park. In this image, you can see the Hollywood sign as well as the Griffith Park Observatory.