Giannini Place

Giannini Place – 505 West Seventh Street, Downtown Los Angeles, California USA

Giannini Place located at 505 West 7th Street, Downtown Los Angeles, California is a 1922 Neoclassical Structure designed by Morgan, Walls and Morgan, an influential architecture firm with roots in Los Angeles dating back to the 1870s. It was originally built by Amadeo Pietro Giannini founder and owner of the Bank of Italy which later became Bank of America.

I live directly across 7th Street from Giannini Place in a 5th floor loft in the Mandel. My wall facing the street has three 5′x 9′ industrial windows perfect for looking out at the other historic buildings on the block. Even more perfect is the fact that Giannini Place has been vacant since the 1990s so there is no one looking back at me.

I love the terra cotta tiles and the elaborate bronze front doors behind a row of eight three-story Corinthian columns now nearly blocked from view by several overgrown and unruly ficus trees. A few days ago, I went to the window around 9:00 am and loved the way light was playing on Corinthian columns and ficus trees so I grabbed my camera and tripod and took the above photo. I hope I have captured within the frame the essence of this grand old building, vacant, forgotten, and still beautiful…when the light is right.

Nikon D3 DSLR, AF Zoom-Nikkor 80-200 mm f/2.8D ED, Manfrotto 3221 with Manfrotto 3265 pistol grip ball head, exposure: f/16.0, 1/25 sec., ISO 200, exposure index -1.33, exposure program: aperture priority, focal length: 116.0 mm

copyright 2011 O. Bisogno Scotti  All Rights Reserved.

please click here to see the detail of the Corinthian columns

The Largest Chair in the Nation!

Driving North on S. Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles a few days ago, I glanced to my right and saw a plain oak chair in a parking lot. Why did it catch my eye? Ah, maybe because it was four stories tall? The cars parked underneath it looked miniscule by comparison. My first thought was this is better than the World’s Largest Ball of Twine that astounded  Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) in the 1983 movie, National Lampoon’s Vacation.

I continued on to my loft in the financial district, grabbed a backpack with my camera gear, hopped on my mountain bike and headed back. It was 6:00 pm when I got to L.A. Mart, 1933 S. Broadway, and too late to get the shot. The sun was starting to disappear behind another building and was casting unwanted shadows on the chair. The next day, I went back at 5:00 pm and everything was copacetic man! The low angel of the sun hitting the reddish stained oak made the chair look like it was on fire.

The chair is called the “Seat of Design.” L.A. Mart operators got the chair from a consortium of Italian furniture makers. The seat was originally a gift to the Chicago Merchandise Mart from Promosedia, an association of chair and table manufacturers in Manzano, Italy.

It is the largest chair in the United States. Being smaller than the chair on display in Manzano, Italy, it is not the largest in the world, as some Angelinos (especially downtowners) would have you believe.

Built of solid oak with a red stain and polyurethane topcoat, the Seat of Design takes up six parking spaces. The 24-ton seat stood outside the Chicago showroom center last summer for the 35th annual NeoCon world trade show. As winter approached, Chicago Mart operators took it down to prevent it from getting an unstylish and unwanted weathered look. They shipped it to Los Angeles in the fall.

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copyright 2011 O. Bisogno Scotti,  All Rights Reserved.

Nikon D3 DSLR, AF NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8D, exposure: F/16.0, 1/200 sec., exposure index: -0.67, ISO 200, exposure mode: Aperture Priority, handheld.

Goats in Angel’s Knoll Park – Downtown Los Angeles

EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT!

GOATS ON A RAMPAGE MENACE LOS ANGELES SENDING DENIZENS FLEEING FOR THEIR LIVES.

It took nerves of steel to get close enough to take the above photo and with a 50 mm lens no less. Here is the Huffington Post’s pollyanna take on what happened, but I’m not buying it for a second:

For the fourth year in a row, a herd of goats have taken up landscaping duties on Angels Knoll, the hill next to Angels Flight in downtown L.A.

The herd of 130 Boer South African goats will stay until Sunday, chomping and chewing their way through the weedy hillside.

The Community Redevelopment Agency first opted for the goats in 2008, saying they were more environmentally friendly and cost-efficient than pollution-producing lawnmowers. It generally takes just a few days for the goats to clear the hillside -– and they even fertilize for free.

A company called Environmental Land Management has shipped in herds from San Diego for the last three summers, and caretakers from the company make sure to provide water to the goats and keep an eye on them.

Johnny Gonzales with Environmental Land Management explained why goats were a good brush reduction method as he watered the herd Thursday, saying they ate about 15% of their body weight each day. The goats were unleashed on the hillside, located near Broadway and 4th Street, on Thursday.

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photo copyright 2011 O. Bisogno Scotti  All Rights Reserved.

Nikon D3 DSLR, AF NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8D, exposure: F/11, 1/400 sec., exposure index: -0.33, ISO 200, exposure mode: Aperture Priority, handheld.

Century City Towers 1982

Century City Towers 1982 – Los Angeles, California, USA

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copyright 2011 O. Bisogno Scotti  All Rights Reserved.

Minolta SR-T 101 SLR, 50 mm Minolta lens, Velbon tripod, Ilford Pan-X Plus 5o Professional 35 mm b&w film, scanned on Polaroid Sprintscan 4000 film scanner. Exposure not recorded.

il bacio

il bacio – Festa Italia, Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, CA, USA

I watched this human statue stand perfectly still for about ten minutes while I took a few shots that I knew would end up in the trash bin. My mind began to wander to the gelato stand nearby and was about to leave when a woman moved closer to get a better look at him. He immediately swooped down on one knee and kissed her hand (It was an Italian festa after all).

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copyright 2011 O. Bisogno Scotti  All Rights Reserved.

Nikon N90S SLR, Nikkor AF Zoom-NIKKOR 80-200mm f-2.8D ED, Kodak Kodachrome 64 35 mm transparency film, Polariod SprintScan 4000 film scanner, exposure not recorded, handheld.

LA Street Scene – Downtown Los Angeles

La Street Scene – Downtown Los Angeles, CA, USA

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copyright 2011 O. Bisogno Scotti  All Rights Reserved.

Minolta SR-T 101 SLR, 50 mm Minolta lens, Velbon Tripod, Kodak Plus X 125 Professional 35 mm b&w film, scanned on Polaroid Sprintscan 4000 film scanner. Exposure not recorded.

Blacksmith Shop – Olvera Street, Downtown Los Angeles

Blacksmith Shop – Olvera Street, Downtown Los Angeles, California, USA

This image of a blacksmith shop on Olvera Street owned by Cruz N. Ledesma was shot while taking 10 weeks off from drumming to recover from an appendectomy in 1983. I felt good, but had strict orders from my doctor not to even look at a drum set for at least 10-12 weeks. With this in mind, my dog Icy Bear and I set out to roam the streets of Los Angeles looking for anything photogenic. Icy Bear liked butcher shops and fish markets best, and I preferred old buildings and people on the street so we met each other half way. I’m not sure which one of us had more fun.

It was at this time in my life that I began to think about photography as an alternative, if I ever was not able to play music. Years later, that day eventually came.

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copyright 2011 O. Bisogno Scotti  All Rights Reserved.

Minolta SR-T 101 SLR, 50 mm Minolta lens, Slik Tripod, Kodak Plus X 125 Professional 35 mm b&w film, scanned on Polaroid Sprintscan 4000 film scanner. Exposure not recorded.

Clifton’s Cafeteria Sign

Clifton’s Cafeteria Sign – 515 West 7th Street, Downtown Los Angeles, CA USA

The beautiful building at 515 West 7th Street was originally built as the corporate headquarters, manufacturing center and flagship store of Brock Jewelry. Brock’s was a nationally-prominent jewelry firm, and it was the most important jewelry and giftware store in Los Angeles. Brock & Co. was founded by George A. Brock in 1903. Celebrity customers included Mary Pickford.

Eventually the building was bought by Clifford Clinton of Clifton’s Cafeteria fame who painted over the original sign and made a cafeteria and soup ktichen out of the grand old building.

Today the Brock Building is a Downtown Los Angeles hot-spot housing the Seven Grand club, Mas Malo restaurant, and Cantina Suavecita bar. There is always a long line of patrons on the street waiting to get in.

The sign is located on the side of the building in the rear facing a parking lot on South Grand Avenue. If you click here, you will be able to see clearly the old, painted over Brock and Company Jewelers sign.

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copyright 2011 O. Bisogno Scotti  All Rights Reserved.

Nikon D3 DSLR, AF Zoom-Nikkor 80-200 mm f/2.8D ED, exposure: f/11.o, 1/250 sec., ISO 200, handheld.

Angel’s Knoll

Angel’s Knoll – Downtown Los Angeles, California, USA, May 19, 2011

I had planned on doing a cityscape of the buildings from Angel’s Knoll Park as soon as the Jacaranda Trees started to bloom. A few days before I took this photo I was at California Plaza Water Court, 350 S. Grand Ave. The Water Court is pretty close to being at the very top of Bunker Hill, directly behind Angel’s Knoll. I looked over the rail and realized that from this vantage point I could get both the park and the skyline in the frame.  Even better!

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copyright 2011 O. Bisogno Scotti  All Rights Reserved.

Nikon D3 DSLR, AF Nikkor 24mm f/2.8D, exposure f/11, 1/50 sec., ISO 400, handheld.

The Door

The Door

I have stopped to look at this door often. I have tried to open it on several occasions, but it is locked. I will try again hoping it will move, that I will be able to see what is inside, the mystery. For now, I will leave the viewer to draw his/her own conclusion. view larger

copyright 2011 O. Bisogno Scotti  All Rights Reserved.

Nikon D3 DSLR, AF Nikkor 24mm f/2.8D, exposure: f/16, 1/25 sec., ISO 200, exposure index: -0.67, exposure mode: Aperture Priority, Manfrotto 3221 tripod with Manfrotto 3265 pistol grip ball head.