Los Angeles Visionaries Association

Source: Flickr

On August 29, LAVA put out a call for culturally curious Angelenos to gather in the upstairs dining room of Downtown's historic Clifton's Cafeteria for our sixth monthly Sunday Salon.

After scattered conversation and dining, an eager group gathered 'round Visionary David Kipen as he shared his inspirations for opening Libros Schmibros, Boyle Heights' new bookshop and lending library, which on budget-crisis Mondays now replaces the nearby Ben Franklin Public Library as a place for the neighborhood's bookish sorts to get their fix. David spoke to the group for a time, then table-hopped, coming away with promises of many book donations and visits to his comfy, Gold Line-convenient storefront.

Next up, Visionary Eva Montealegre, in literary guise as mystery scribe Eva Batonne, introduced the LAVA community to her debut Joan Lambert mystery novel, Resurrection Diva (2009), then read a tough-as-nails interrogation scene by popular demand. She sold and signed numerous copies of her book, making sure to first keep one back to give to David Kipen for his lending library. For more info on Resurrection Diva, visit www.evabatonne.com.

Closing out the afternoon's program, Visionary collaborators Holly Witham and Nicholas Hosking, co-founders of The Moveable Theatre Company, talked about the Company's mission and site-specific projects, from the recent Zane Grey Playwriting Contest, with the winning entry performed in May at the Western author's former home in Altadena, and their upcoming staged reading of Yasmina Reza's Tony award winning Art, at  LA Contemporary Exhibitions. And in the last few moments of the Salon gathering, discussion turned to a very special unproduced play about historical Los Angeles literary lights which we just might see produced by MTC in the future.

For photos from the Salon, click here.

The Sunday Salon is always held on the last Sunday of the month, from noon to 2pm upstairs in Clifton's Cafeteria at 7th & Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. Put it in your calendar, and we hope you'll join us on September 26, for surprises soon to be announced.

Source: Flickr

On July 25, LAVA put out a call for culturally curious Angelenos to gather in the upstairs dining room of Downtown's historic Clifton's Cafeteria for our fifth monthly Sunday Salon.

After scattered conversation and dining, an eager group gathered 'round Visionary Miguel Angel Corzo as he shared his experiences adapting the 1888 Brunswig building opposite Olvera Street into a modern, seismically-sound cultural institution, the soon-to-open LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes--quite an accomplishment considering nobody knew until work began on the project that the five-story brick building had no foundations! A highlight of his talk came when Miguel Angel displayed a few recently excavated beer, wine and perfume bottles discovered during construction, which are believed to date from circa 1840-50.

Next up, Visionary Joan Renner spoke on the dark and nefarious history of L.A.'s old Chinatown (where Union Station stands today). From opium dens to fallen women, bartered babies to subterranean tunnels of vice, Chinatown embodied the weirdest fantasies of early 20th century Angelenoes, and Joan's illustrated talk was both fascinating and horrifying. And then Visionary Mike the Poet closed the proceedings with a rousing rhyme celebrating the common language shared by all LA people: East Side rock and roll.

For video of the archeological discoveries, click here. And for photos of the Salon and subsequent walking tour of Olvera Street (hosted by Richard Schave) and preview walkthrough of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, click here. A short video excerpt from Richard's walking tour, about Christine Sterling's complex motivations for preserving Olvera Street, is here.

The Sunday Salon is always held on the last Sunday of the month, from noon to 2pm upstairs in Clifton's Cafeteria at 7th & Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. Put it in your calendar, and we hope you'll join us on August 29, for surprises soon to be announced.

Source: Flickr

On May 30, LAVA put out a call for culturally curious Angelenos to gather in the upstairs dining room of Downtown's historic Clifton's Cafeteria for our third monthly Sunday Salon.

After scattered conversation and dining (the daily specials were pot pie and prailine-topped sweet potato pie), an enthusiastic and lively group gathered 'round featured Visionary Joan Renner as she shared highlights from her seldom-seen collection of vintage cosmetics packages and spoke about the history and social context of cosmetics through the centuries. From intentionally toxic Italian powders meant to "accidentally" poison unwanted husbands to the startling adaption of the Art Deco style to mass-produced make-ups in the middle 1920s, her talk captivated LAVA attendees, who craned their necks to view the lovely preserved treasures in their glass cases and binders.

Before and after the presentation, conversations around the room ranged from ghost hunting to UFO cults, lost Jackson 5 recordings to BookExpo, philosophy to urban preservation, new soundtracks for silent films to peculiar musical scores, neo-vaudeville to customized wheelchairs as art -- and beyond. Friendships were formed, collaborations proposed, and all kinds of hungers slaked in this extraordinary monthly gathering of interesting folks who care about the city, the arts and one another.

The Sunday Salon is always held on the last Sunday of the month, from noon to 2pm upstairs in Clifton's Cafeteria at 7th & Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. Put it in your calendar, and we hope you'll join us on June 27, for surprises soon to be announced.

And if you missed this one, here are some photos to whet your whistle.

Source: Flickr

On March 28, LAVA put out a call for culturally curious Angelenos to gather in the upstairs dining room of Downtown's historic Clifton's Cafeteria for our first monthly Sunday Salon.

We hoped a couple dozen people might take us up on the offer, but the LAVA party filled half the huge room easily, and the volume of enthusiastic conversation and pie fork rattling presented a challenge when Arts District curator and LAVA Visionary Terry Ellsworth got up, without amplification, to bring the afternoon's proceedings to order.

An impromptu catwalk of dining tables had been constructed in the middle of the room for the auspicious first exhibition anywhere of LAVA Visionary Gene Sculatti's unfurled cityscape scroll drawings. Following Terry's short introduction which placed Gene's work in its context as something done from the heart and for no other audience than himself, Gene stepped forward to unroll an early cityscape, a primitive imaginary California city drawn when he was about 15/16 years old (circa 1962-63). This charming juvenile work impressed the audience, and they enjoyed peering close as Gene pointed out family in-jokes and favorite buildings and human characters (an element which disappeared from later scrolls).

But when he unrolled his current cityscape, three years in the works, the mature Gene Sculatti style blew everyone away--among them several close friends of many years standing who had no idea that he'd been nurturing a secret life as an outsider artist. Folks leaned in close over the dense and cohesive city, exclaiming over the exquisite color sense, compelling rhythms and seemingly endless surprise details running along the length of the table. After about half an hour, as Gene rolled up his scrolls and returned them to his shoulder bag, there were small sounds of disappointment and a strong sense that something truly extraordinary had been shared.

The party broke up around 2pm, with a number of attendees heading west on Seventh Street to take LAVA founder Richard Schave's "The Flâneur & The City: Historic Core" walking tour. The Sunday Salon was a wonderful first gathering for the larger LAVA community, and we look forward to future Sunday Salons, when we'll shine the spotlight on more members of the Visionary community and encourage anyone who'd like to be a part of this new cultural consortium to join us for hearty comfort food, good company and unexpected discoveries like Gene Sculatti's cityscapes.

The Sunday Salon is always held on the last Sunday of the month, from noon to 2pm upstairs in Clifton's Cafeteria at 7th & Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. Put it in your calendar, and we hope you'll join us on April 25, for surprises soon to be announced.

And if you missed this one, here are some photos to whet your whistle.

Source: Flickr

In 1939, Semyon Kirlian discovered that it was possible to create photographic images demonstrating the "life force" which is manifested as an individual's aura. Other Russian scientists have proposed that the earth's surface is covered with a series of interconnected nodes much as acupuncturists view the human body as a network of energy centers.

On Saturday, March 20, my fellow Visionary Maja D'Aoust, "White Witch of Los Angeles," led Esotouric's "Maja's Mysteries: Rapture & Release" bus tour. Over a period of four hours, we visited a number of locations which I would describe as "psychic hot spots." So, what is a psychic hot spot? This has to be my definition because, to my knowledge, no one else has used this nomenclature. Let me describe some of my personal hot spots. When I get off the subway at Lenox and 135th Street in Harlem, I feel an incredible surge of energy rise from the soles of my feet to the top of my head. At the Capitoline Museum in Rome, I have discovered an 1800-year-old marble bust that could be my portrait. On my only trip to the souk in Fez, Morocco, it all looked familiar. I knew that I had been there before. After discussing these experiences with Maja, she concurred with my perceptions.       

Following Maja to a number of locations, mostly around Hollywood, I knew that I was moving in and out of psychic energy fields. On the surface, each one appeared to be a conventional Los Angeles location; however, I knew that there was something special to be explored at each location. Here is a recap of the highlights from my point of view.

Vedanta Society (1946 Vedanta Place, Hollywood, 90068)
Perched above the Hollywood Freeway, one is transported into the world of a sanctified Eastern religion with the peace and quiet that it embodies. "Vedanta teaches that man's real nature is divine, that the true object of human life is to unfold and manifest this divinity, and that truth is universal." Here one finds a temple, a convent, a monastery and an outstanding bookstore devoted to Eastern religions.

The Aetherius Society (6202 Afton Place, Los Angeles, 90028) 
"The Cosmic Teachings of The Aetherius Society were given by Masters from Beyond this Earth, operating mainly within our own Solar System and speaking through yoga Master Dr. George King." We saw a video projection of Dr. King taking us on a terrestrial journey. Unfortunately, I slept through most of it. This recalled a similar somnambulist experience when I was in a graduate school art history seminar. When the lights came on, my professor pounded the table yelling  "Mr. Schoener we don't sleep in my classes." I should have apologized to our hosts, but was too embarrassed. 

The finale was a visit to the Parsonage of Aimee Semple McPherson's Foursquare Angelus Temple (1801 Park Avenue, Los Angeles, 90026). Our guide, Jackie Muller, never actually met Sister Aimee, but she provided a knowledgeable and impassioned tour of her private quarters. Hundreds of thousands of people in thirty countries became disciples of Sister Aimee's Four Square Gospel evangelism. The first years of her ministry were spent in tents, tabernacles and auditoriums. Sister McPherson felt led by  God to build a permanent headquarters in  Los Angeles. The Angelus Temple, adjacent to the parsonage,  opened on January 1, 1923. Together, they serve as monuments to the memory of this extraordinary person. 

Is Los Angeles special because of its  psychic hot spots? I would definitely say so.

Illustration: Sister Aimee's personal bathroom in the parsonage, photo: Kim Cooper

Source: Flickr

Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles: The Lowdown on Downtown - The Secret History of LA (an Esotouric bus adventure, February 27, 2010)

As a new LA resident (I landed here on January 15, 2010), I have been anxious to learn about the downtown that I hardly knew  existed.  Over the years, I have visited LA on a number of occasions and developed an impression of it as a sprawling constellation of suburbs linked by freeways.

It was only on my last visit two years ago that I learned that there was a real "Downtown LA." It was a blurred memory of some 1920s multistory buildings lining Broadway and the modern monstrosities commanding Bunker Hill. Over the last six weeks, I would spend either Saturday or Sunday driving around downtown trying to make sense out of it. Much to my delight, I discovered that there was a real urban core configured around a rectangular street grid that was periodically punctuated by an expressway. When I felt safe shifting my vision to the sidewalk, I could see numerous pedestrians representing visible street life, but I could not make any sense out of it.

Today, I went on the Esotouric bus tour of downtown LA conducted by Richard Schave with assistance from Kim Cooper.

Having a passion for cities, this was an incredible experience for me. I was exposed to geography, architectural history, social and ethnic history, some local legends plus an insight into the loft/art community. All of this was inescapably viewed through a
current prism evaluating the impacts of "urban renewal" in the 1950s and 1960s and today's loft gentrification. Richard exposed his well informed passions and prejudices; they were cogent and convincing. When appropriate. he called on members of the tour with specialized knowledge of certain areas to speak about them.

For me, the highlight was the Grand Central Market. I had no idea that such a viable urban commercial environment existed anywhere in LA. The Mercantile Arcade stretching from Broadway to Spring Street epitomizes the dilemma confronting future
developments downtown. Broadway and the Mercantile Arcade are viable segments of a Mexican American commercial district being threatened by loft gentrification. The Mercantile Arcade lends itself to becoming a replica of Boston's highly successful Faneuil Hall Market. If this occurs, what happens to the Mexican American merchants?

On the tour, I made some comparisons with SOHO in New York. Primarily the remnants of a Civil War era industrial area, I have witnessed SOHO's evolution over the last forty years from artists' living/work space into a kind of Disneyland with it own Bloomingdales attracting "bridge and tunnel" people as well as tourists from around the world. I shared a fourth floor walkup space in a building at 26 Greene Street that had been owned by an Italian family for several generations. The building was sold and modernized. The ground floor is now the showroom for a Swiss office furniture manufacturer. The stairs remain as a relic of the past complemented by an elevator serving four floors of modernized lofts with price tags in the millions.

This demonstrates the potential danger of converting industrial space into artists' space and then into residential lofts. The gritty character of the neighborhood which appealed to the artists can be transformed into expensive gentrified real estate devoid of personality. This danger lurks on many street corners in Downtown LA.

Having some previous experience organizing bus tours in Cincinnati, London, New York and Paris, I would give today's tour four stars. Esotouric offers other tours; I hope to take as many as I can.