"Overdrive:" Does Obsession with a Space-Age Vision of L.A. Overshadow Pre-1940s Architectural Treasures?

A lot of buzz has been generated by the Getty’s new chapter of “Pacific Standard Time” with its emphasis on modern architecture in Los Angeles.

The buzz is well deserved. I was fortunate enough to get a personal tour, with my dear friend Ann Ascher, of the exhibit at the Getty Center led by curators Wim de Wit and Christopher Alexander.

“Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940-1990”gives visitors an engaging view of the region’s diverse urban landscape, including its ambitious freeway network, Googie coffee shops, Case Study Houses and much more. (The exhibit closes July 21.)

And yet, I can’t help but wonder if our obsession with a space-age vision of L.A. obscures the city’s rich architecture before the 1940s – and whether we learn an important lesson as we consider architectural design in the future.

More on that later. But first, some thoughts on the exhibit itself and how L.A. emerged as a vibrant laboratory for cutting-edge design.

It’s clear as you wander through the exhibition how much of an experiment L.A. was – particularly in the 40s through 60s – and how it developed its own distinct personality, as underappreciated as it was.

L.A. was clearly defined and shaped by many forces – the automobile and its spinoff drive-in and freeway culture, the aerospace industry, the fancies and genius of Walt Disney as manifested in Disneyland (completed in 1955). The result was something of a mash-up of Jetsons-meets-Autopia, where cars would one day fly and rockets take us to the moon. Anything was possible – a uniquely L.A. mantra that still has a solid foothold in our collective Southern California imagination.

Residentially, we embarked on the visionary – maybe even radical – Case Study House program of the 40s through 60s. Eames, Neutra and Koenig, in particular, emerged as what are now legendary names in the Case Study program, which helped put L.A. on the architectural map. Promoted by Art & Architecture magazine, the idea was to come up with a simple design, using materials developed during World War II, for the housing needs of the post-war generation. The homes would be inexpensive, innovative and easily maintainable. They could be mass-produced like cars. It was a whole new way of looking at houses.

Altogether, 36 plans were proposed and about two dozen built. They launched a mid-century modern frenzy that continues to capture our imagination, with some of the homes, now open to the public, drawing thousands of visitors each year. The results were uneven but we are left with architectural gems like the John Lautner homes that are stunning in their use of windows and glass and how they reflect water, in their elegance of clean lines, and their use of wood that brings warmth that was sometimes missing in other mid-century homes.

And yet. . .

While I applaud the Getty’s newly minted focus on mid-century architecture – and its important place as a defining period for shaping L.A.’s identity and global impact on new design concepts – I worry that we might forget about the pre-1940s architectural gems that are embedded throughout our sprawling metropolis.

L.A.’s population boom after World War II was not its first. Our population exploded in the early 1900s with the birth of movies. People migrated here from all over the country and brought with them a variety of architectural styles – Victorian and Colonial Revival, among them. Film industry people fancied Spanish Colonial Revival, which reflects our heritage, and Art Deco, which speaks so much to Hollywood design. Architects such as Paul R. Williams and Gerard Colcord designed gorgeous homes – elegant, richly textured structures that are treasured by homeowners throughout the L.A. basin. These houses are as far away in style from mid-century modernism as an English Tudor is from a hexagonal home. 

But they are an important part of our heritage and should not be forgotten in the midst of our mid-century mania.

In L.A., I don’t see as much an appreciation of the past as I would like to. And it’s being reflected in many of our neighborhoods, which are being ruined by bad architecture from “muddled-terranean” to McMansions.

By all means, go and see “Overdrive” at the Getty and accompanying exhibits at venues throughout the L.A. region. It’s great fun, very educational, and it gave me many moments of wistful nostalgia.

But the next time you pass one of those elegant homes that are throwbacks to an earlier era, stop and admire them. Know that these, too, are important to our identity as Angelenos.