Moby Los Angeles Architecture Blog

spread throughout l.a are countless little craftsmen (or arts & crafts) houses.
the operative word being: little.
most of the craftsmen houses i’ve seen are cute little 2 bedroom houses, sort of like adorable little hybrids between houses and bungalows.
and then there’s the granddaddy (or grandmommy) of the craftsmen houses in l.a, the gamble house.
it’s so renowned it even has it’s own website.
here: http://www.gamblehouse.org

i discovered the gamble house due to it’s being right next to (and/or a part of) a unitarian church in pasadena. i was at the unitarian church to see a screening of miss representation but i arrived early and wandered aimlessly for 15 minutes.
and in those 15 minutes i stumbled upon:

a zen meditation group
a tibetan buddhist meditation group
a choir singing plainsong
this gigantic craftsmen house
pine trees

it was this remarkably and perfectly idyllic evening, the sun setting behind the pine trees while well intentioned meditators did their well intended meditating
and the choir singing plainsong (which sounds really nice in the pine trees) and this house sat there like a gigantic wooden arts & crafts spaceship.
it’s a REALLY big house, by the way. and it sits kind of majestically and imposingly on a big green lawn, like a gigantic wooden arts & crafts spaceship(i’m plagiarizing myself cos it’s late).
oh, and miss representation is a very important movie, too, and i highly urge you to see it.
and pasadena is really nice and it stoked fantasies i’ve had of becoming an academic and having friends who work at the jet propulsion laboratory.
or, as my imaginary friends who work there call it, ‘the jpl’.
‘what did you do today?’
‘oh, not much, just figured out how to send humans to mars.’
‘oh, nice. would you like a brownie?’
that’s how the conversations go in pasadena, i’m guessing.
i’m rambling, too.
so, goodnight.

-moby