Bertoia Sound Sculptures: Seeing what I hear Last month Sotheby’s Auction House offered its Bertoia: The Sonambient Barn Collection, an epic sale of Harry Bertoia sound sculptures. I never imagined the sale of the most exceptional and personal sculptures from the Bertoia sound barn. …

When I first read architect Paul R. Williams’ FBI file I was confounded by his political affiliation as a “Republican.” I assumed he was a Democrat since Blacks historically vote as Democrats. I could not imagine Blacks voting Republican…ever. This is a perception I had not questioned until now. …

I remember first going to the Bradbury Building on Broadway and 3rd street in downtown Los Angeles in the late 1960s when I was in kindergarten and first grade. At that time my grandmother still lived in the Pico-Union neighborhood just west of downtown. …

Perhaps the Bradbury Building’s best-known role was in 1982 when it served as a key setting in the movie, Blade Runner. I (JH) spoke with historians turned filmmakers, Pauline Sarris (PS) and Andrew Kael (AK) about their project to edit together all the visual references to the Bradbury building into…

Even though each of these pieces stands on its own and is wonderful, the combination struck me as perfectly out of the ordinary. Especially, since both the stool and tapestry were purchased at Nordiska Kompaniet (NK), though at different times. The stool was designed in 1953 by Bengt Ruda (1918–1999)…

After getting curious, doing research and connecting various dots which initially seemed completely unrelated, I pieced together the unusual, unknown and uncredited story of Linus Applebaum. My wife and I watch a lot of old black and white Hollywood movies, mostly noir, but we are not overly discriminating in our…

Today marks the 100th birthday of industrial designer Don Albinson (1921–2008). Don is perhaps best known as Charles Eames’ “right hand man.” He worked in the Eames Office from 1946 to 1959 and shared patent rights with Eames on over a dozen products. …

I wanted to do my best to understand George Wyman and the design of the Bradbury building, so I decided to read Looking Backward: From 2000 to 1887, by Edward Bellamy. This was Wyman’s source of inspiration, for the design of the Bradbury building, according to his daughters. Due to…

There is a good amount of information online about the building’s architecture, but I wanted to look more closely at its history. So, I went to see my friend Alan Penwick. Alan is a storyteller and a very knowledgeable architectural historian. He also has two Shih Tzu dogs. …