Monthly Archives: February 2014

No lampooning Lampoon Castle

Among the most charming and beloved buildings in Cambridge is the old Lampoon Building (Lampoon Castle), where Harvard’s famous yuk-yuk club, the Harvard Lampoon, graduated, years ago, the founders of National Lampoon magazine. The building, designed by Edmund Wheelwright, a … Continue reading

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Sneaky review of “The Monster-Builder”

Now that the play “The Monster-Builder,” by Amy Freed, has opened – indeed premiered – at the Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland, Ore., here is a theater review. The writer, Richard Wattenberg, is not identified other than as, I presume, … Continue reading

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Column: Driving down Market Street in 1906

San Francisco before the Great Earthquake of 1906 was a lively city, to say the least. We are lucky to have a moving picture of it from a camera hand-cranked by filmmaker Harry Miles. His Bell & Howell was on … Continue reading

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How vulnerable is Gehry’s Ike?

The industry journal that rules on Capitol Hill is not the Washington Post but Roll Call. Here it publishes “It’s Time to Bury Gehry’s Eisenhower Memorial Design,” an assessment of the prospects for Frank Gehry’s not just ridiculous but sinister … Continue reading

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Honey, I’m home (after 70 years)!

Nazis occupy Paris. Lady fed up and leaves for south of France. Never returns but keeps paying rent. Dies at 91. Nobody goes into her apartment until recently, when it was found untouched since her departure 70 years before. A … Continue reading

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Old video: San Franscico after the quake, 1906

Originally posted on Architecture Here and There:
San Francisco after quake of 1906. (etc-magazine.com) Here is an old video from YouTube of San Francisco after the earthquake. It gives rise to the suspicion that maybe the video I posted yesterday…

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Old video: San Franscico after the quake, 1906

Here is an old video from YouTube of San Francisco after the earthquake. It gives rise to the suspicion that maybe the video I posted yesterday was a later video, with more types of automobile and with time to have … Continue reading

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“The Monster-Builder” – the trailer

Nikos Salingaros, the University of Texas mathematician and architectural theorist whose thought has influenced Amy Freed – the playwright who wrote “The Monster-Builder” – has sent me a trailer of the play now being performed at the Artists Repertory Theatre … Continue reading

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Old video: Trolley ride in San Francisco, 1906

Here’s video, with music, from YouTube of a trolley ride down San Francisco’s Market Street in 1906, before the earthquake. After the earthquake? Tune in to this blog tomorrow!

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Old video: Wild NYC driving, 1928

Here’s an old video from YouTube of several skits depicting crazy drivers of trolleys, horse trolleys and automobiles plowing helter-skelter through New York, circa 1928. And by the way, was the car guy’s second fare Babe Ruth? My brother informs … Continue reading

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