Sunday, June 27, 2010

AWESOME: Promoting Mid Century Architcture & Preservation


The Georgia State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) has issued guidelines in evaluating ranch houses. The preservation community has actually been pretty slow to figure out that so many of those atomic age houses are now eligible for preservation status, and seem to not know what to do with them.



Of course, there are those who are on top of things, like Atomic Ranch Magazine. If you are not a subscriber, you should check them out. One of my fave things to get in the mail.


The state of Michigan SHPO has introduced an initiative called Michigan Modern that seeks to preserve and promote the buildings left behind by the industrial explosion that happened in Michigan in the 20th century.

Too bad the SHPO in Florida has done nothing like this. I saw the new director at a talk at the Harn Museum last semester and he seemed to have no clue at all about the subject. Director Scott Stroh gave one of the worst powerpoint presentations of all time. He yammered on about policy and procedure - and if I had been playing buzzword bingo, would have won by about his 4th slide. Truly, absolutely clueless. Sad really, given the wealth of mid-century gems scattered across Florida.

Top Ten Things I Have Learned Watching the FIFA World Cup

1. 45 minutes of play with no commercials is actually kinda cool.

2. The referees in FIFA play are absolute idiots.

3. Acting like someone punched you in the face will get you a reward (ask Brazil about that one).

4. Good sportsmanship is never to be considered when you can get a penalty kick by play acting. Someone call the Academy and get those Oscar noms ready.

5. The French can even screw up a game of soccer.

6. Watching the French screw up is always hilarious.

7. 90 minutes of running in circles with absolutely nothing happening is considered 'sport' by much of the world.

8. If America's not in it, Americans probably won't give a crap.

9. Even if America IS in it, most Americans still won't give a crap.

10. Vuvuzelas are even more annoying than rap 'music'.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

AWESOME: Gainesville North Main St. & 4th Ave

AWESOME: Main Street in Gainesville FL is undergoing a "road diet" - a process that makes terrible roads into Complete Streets. A photo of the improved roadway shows two lanes instead of four, a center shared turn lane, bike and parking lanes. This process started on North Main, and will, over the next year, continue South to Depot Ave - all the way through Downtown to the soon to be built Cade Museum.

So, why choose this particular corner for some AWESOME? Well - its simple really - this corner features one of the Downtown area's simplest and most elegant mid-century buildings: Rip's Cleaners. Its a simple arrangement of angles, post and bean construction, and plate glass. Classic late 50s roadside drive thru design and a nifty angular steel sign combine to make a corner that many wouldn't ever notice, but there it is.


And what else makes this corner rock? Well, the NW corner features the Williams-Thomas funeral home. Nothing special there... and yet....


..... look at THAT! Some history minded business person decided to honor the horse drawn past of their trade, and built this little glass box to house the old hearse. How cool is that? A late 19th c. horse drawn wagon and a late 1950s dry cleaners building on the same corner... on a road that was just given a 2010 road diet makeover. That, my friends, is an intersection of eras that makes cities great places.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

AWESOME: Sarasota Public Art

So, I was lucky enough to have been in Sarasota for a conference last week, and as I was departing came upon this public art:


Awesome. Turns out this gigantic sculpture after the famous photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt is entitled "Unconditional Surrender, and has caused quite a controversy in Sarasota. Seems the Art in Public places people simply do not approve of art that the public actually likes. Typical of tin-eared ivory tower types who aren't smart enough to leverage a popular piece to promote newer forms.

Newsflash: Art in public spaces is a program that requires public support. Once in a while its really smart to go with that which builds support for your program, even if its not 'pure art' by your cloistered academic definition.


PS: There was a big lump of something next to it that was undoubtedly an 'approved' piece of public art - no one was taking pix of that, and I'm probably the only one who noticed it going unnoticed.

....

Sunday, June 6, 2010

AWESOME: Kitch in the ATL


Drive-Ins are an endangered species for a lot of reasons, so its nice to see this awesome pylon of neon advertising SIX, yes SIX screens of celluloid goodness. The stars blink and the glow of the tubes warms my heart. I took a lot of shots of this spot, but this was my fave - the world needs more great neon signs.


Up on Ponce de Leon is this fading sign, a victim of the digital camera that was used to capture its faded glory. Signs used to be works of art, and I'd love to capture this chunk of metal for Rocky Bridges to create with - knowing that its time here is most likely finite. Signs today are just those terrible vacu-form things with fluorescent tubes inside. I love a good roadside sign and this one makes me smile.


Astounding find of the trip: The press on Tshirt shop is BACK! Looks like plastisol transfers have improved, and yet some of those designs are ones I remember pressing on Tee Shirts at Foxy's in the Tampa Bay Mall during the 1981 Christmas season... Of course, this new/old bastion of hipsterness is in Little Five Points - Somewhere I know RM has a box of glitter photo transfers with zodiac signs on them!