June 11, 2009
The Nickel, the new hipster retro diner on L.A.’s Skid Row (the district around 5th and Main has long been named The Nickel) includes Ricki Klein among co-owners. Klein is the designer of interiors for Liquid Kitty bar on the Westside, as well as Cedd Moses’ 213 Inc. empire of downtown dives Golden Gopher, Broadway Bar and Seven Grand. Pulitzer Prize winning food writer Jonathan Gold takes a bite into The Nickel’s Maple Glazed Bacon Doughnuts among other cheap but tasty fare in this review from L.A. Weekly.
May 29, 2009
Los Angeles photographer Gary Leonard’s latest project and gallery show aren’t about his own photos. But they still carry Leonard’s wry approach to pop culture and his attempt to capture the city’s ever-changing zeitgeist. They are photos of old, humongous L.A. billboards. Dave Gardetta of Los Angeles magazine — which offers a gallery of images – tells the back story: “Leonard received a phone message. ‘This fellow said his office was throwing out a cabinet of Kodachrome slides documenting billboards of the ’50s and ’60s,’ says Leonard, ‘and did I want them?’ Leonard did, and from those anonymously shot photos he’s created an Read More
May 23, 2009
New York’s radical transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan is stealing streets away from cars and returning them to bikes and pedestrians. Her latest near-overnight heist is the elimination of all car traffic on Broadway in Times Square to create a 58,000-square-foot plaza complete with green space and sidewalk cafes. The concept is not new. It has made cities in Europe and South America some of the most livable in the world. New York magazine’s profile of Sadik-Khan gets into the details, including the enemies she is making of cabbies, theater owners and the old-guard of transportation bureaucrats, whose mission is to keep car traffic moving. (Good luck trying something like this in L.A.)
April 16, 2009
Pepsi is pouring $1.2 billion into rebranding its products over the next three years. (See The Hot Sheet’s Gatorade / G item). It should hope most of the new designs won’t be as disastrous as its new Tropicana orange juice cartons. There’s nothing tropical about the new packaging, which, according to website Brand New, “feels, at best, like a discount store brand with what looks like… rights-managed stock photography if not outright royalty-free.” The blocky, sans-serif typography, especially, screams generic food product. Since debuting last year, the orange juice’s sales have plunged 20%. Money down the drain.
Attention, designoholics: The Brand New site offers tons of postings comparing this with other repackagings.
January 20, 2009
Just in time for President Barack Obama’s “National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation,” this Hot Sheet reporter recently toured the Smithsonian’s renovated National Museum of American History. After two years of upgrades, the reopened venue is now combination of sleek airport waiting room and modern-corporate style, including: high ceilings, an airy, second-story mezzanine, and a gigantic metal American flag sculpture. Read More
January 6, 2009
“A space that contains whatever you’re passionate about.” That is the definition of a shed according to Southern California-based architecture and landscape writer, Debra Prinzing.
Prinzing, who just released her new book Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways: Big Ideas for Small Backyard Destinations, believes that all homeowners need a place of their own – a place to pursue one’s passions or simply get away from the pressures in one’s primary living quarters Read More
August 27, 2008
Jesse Ortiz has spent most of his life designing golf clubs for amateur players and pros alike. For the last four years, he has designed award-winning clubs for the Bobby Jones Golf Company. His club collection-Bobby Jones by Jesse Ortiz-includes drivers, fairway woods, hybrids and now the first breakthrough design in wedges in 50 years which he designed in partnership with instructional guru Dave Pelz. Read More
August 22, 2008
Angelenos who were around in 1984 remember how graphic design transformed the city during the summer Olympics. Designer Deborah Sussman created a palette of magenta, vermilion, yellow and aqua, which architect Jon Jerde splashed on banners and uniforms throughout the city. The hot colors – plus the aqua – later literally set the tone for lots of other 1980s fabric design. Watching the Beijing Olympics for the past two weeks, one wonders how influential its graphic design might become. Read More
March 20, 2008
The It’s a Small World attraction has Disneyland’s most cloying song, yes, but also its most enlightened message. Originally created by Disney artist Mary Blair for the 1964 World’s Fair, the ride partnered with UNICEF to make a statement about shared Read More
March 20, 2008
Midway through the last century, a group of Los Angeles architects created the Case Study Houses – inexpensive modern homes for a booming population. Their influence continues to trickle down… even to the skater community. The Skate Study Read More
