At the April 2015 LAVA Sunday Salon,  Joan Jobe Smith presented on her new memoir, Tales of An Ancient Go-Go Girl and on her long creative friendship with Charles Bukowski.

Tales of An Ancient Go-Go Girl by long-time Long Beach, California resident Joan Jobe Smith, is a picaresque True Tale, a 50-year Glotessey spanning the 1965 Los Angeles Watts Riots, near death at the hands of a homicidal ex-husband, the counter-culture go-go swinging let-it-all-hang-out 1960s-‘70s, single Motherhood and Feminism. Rarely does a natural poet and historian such as Joan Jobe Smith endure such ordeals and challenges and survive to tell the tale. It is a Tale written with go-going panache and patois, and heart, courage and humor to make our lives richer and wiser. The event took the form of a series of short Q&As with LAVA’s Richard Schave on milestones from the memoir and Joan’s relationship with the writer Charles Bukowski, punctuated by Joan reading poetry selections which span her career.

For more on Joan Jobe Smith, visit https://www.pearlmag.com/

To view, click this link or the image below.

At the March 2015 LAVA Sunday Salon, Architectural Historian Nathan Marsak was honored as LAVA Visionary of the Year 2015.

Nathan presented on the forgotten architectural landscape of nineteenth-century Los Angeles—a lost world whose most salient impulse was toward the imposing, rough-hewn blocks of the Romanesque.

The common narrative regarding the visual development of early Los Angeles usually involves the native vernacular of the pueblo, which one may still visit in any number of extant adobes; from there, following some historic boom times, we Angelenos and visitors alike are regaled by the wondrous Beaux-Arts high-rises of downtown. If pure Victorian architecture is considered, one likely turns attention to the Eastlake and Queen Anne examples along Carroll Avenue, or to the used-car lot of gingerbread, Heritage Square.

This does a disservice, asserts Marsak, to the wonderland of Richardsonian Romanesque, Romanesque Revival, and Romanesque-hybrid office blocks and civic structures that once defined our city. A confluence of money and local pride, primarily in the late-1880s, resulted in what was arguably Americaâ€s greatest center of the style, short-lived though it may have been. The ethos of the City Beautiful movement, skyscraper construction, and other factors contributed to its demise.

It is especially striking that these structures, whose construction exuded solidity and permanence, should have been removed on so great a scale. Besides illuminating twenty of the most notable lost masterpieces, Marsakâ€s lecture visits those few remaining examples of the style. Attention is given as well to the styles that fought for dominance in defining Victorian Los Angeles, e.g., French Empire.

Video link.

This month’s tour was hosted by Richard Schave (Esotouric/LAVA) with Donald Spivack and Gordon Pattison. The themes were the architecture of Robert Brown Young, The Spring Arcade building, gentrification of Grand Central Market, affective ownership, the Pantages and the Cameo and Roxie Theatres. The last half of the tour goes into the complex public/private sidewalk preservation and funding issues along Broadway and how temporary changes enacted for the Broadway Streetscape Master Plan are impacting expensive permanent street and sidewalk work.

Read about this tour here or watch the video here.

At the July  2014 LAVA Sunday Salon, Brent E. Walker presented on Charlie Chaplin & Keystoneâ€s Centennial.

One hundred years ago, Charlie Chaplin made his film debut in Mack Sennettâ€s Keystone Comedies. Within the year, he would become the biggest star in motion pictures, going on to set filmmaking artistic standards that some feel have never be duplicated. During that first year of 1914, Chaplin filmed in various Los Angeles neighborhoods, and—in several cases—used actual events (ranging from the dedication of a Wilmington wharf to various auto races on streets and tracks) as a backdrop for his comedies. Brent E. Walker, author of Mack Sennettâ€s Fun Factory, took us on a guided tour of Chaplin in 1914, and the Los Angeles history revealed in these early comedies.

Event link. Video link.

At the July  2014 LAVA Sunday Salon, David Boulé presented on The Orange & the Dream of California.

Cloaked in mystery and available only to the elite until modern times, the orange has been known as the fruit of the gods, the food of emperors, a token of gratitude and a symbol of health, wealth and love. Since it entered history, the dream of California has been that it is a place of plenty, of potential, of personal opportunity. The orange became a glowing symbol of this dream. David Boulé, author of the recently released The Orange and the Dream of California (Angel City Press), will take a lively, literary and extraordinarily visual look at this colorful and captivating history and reveal the tremendous impact of the orange on the culture and development of California, and how these two entities have built on one another to feed the imagination and conjure a compelling fantasy.

A third generation Californian, David has a lifelong fascination with the history, culture, achievements and uniqueness of the region. “The enduring image of California as paradise and the orange as unique among all fruit is because, partially, these things are true. These traits have then been magnified by poets and boosters, artists and hucksters, songwriters and bureaucrats—with both artistic and commercial motivation—to appeal to peopleâ€s continuing desire to believe that such exceptional perfection can really exist,” he says.

Event link. Video link.

This month’s tour, hosted by Richard Schave (Esotouric/LAVA) and Nathan Marsak with Kim Cooper, focused on the architecture of Robert Brown Young, including discussion of Clifton’s Cafeteria, the difficulty of preserving or landmarking decorative terrazzo, recent damage to the Art Deco facades of 533 and 735 South Broadway, Swelldom, Bringing Back Broadway, the Tahoma Building, the OT Johnson Building and the OT Johnson Block, as well as a notable freakshow presentation in 1915.    

Read about this tour here or watch the video here.

At the June 2014 LAVA Sunday Salon, Milt Stevens presented (video link) 24 writers: 20th Century Science Fiction

Milt Stevens, a long time Science Fiction fan who for a bit over fifty years has been a member of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society — the worldâ€s oldest science fiction club, and which for many years met down the street at Cliftonâ€s Cafeteria — will talk about 24 writers who are major influences on 20th century SF. By Miltâ€s own admission his presentation will be anecdotal and by no means comprehensive. Some of the writers to be discussed are Jack Williamson, Kurt Vonnegut, Leigh Brackett, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Murray Leinster, Octavia Butler, Philip K. Dick, Poul Anderson and Ray Bradbury.

At the June 2014 LAVA Sunday Salon, Craig Berry presented on The Magical World of Jack Parsons.

The fascinating story of Jack Parsons — follower of Aleister Crowley, pioneering rocket scientist, and early member of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society — has become increasingly well known in recent years. But few have examined his beliefs and practices. To really understand the man who summoned the goddess Babalon into physical manifestation, you need to start with the law of Thelema, proceed through Ordo Templi Orientis, Qabalah and Enochian magick, and continue to the reception of Liber XLIX and the transformation of Witchcraft for a new Aeon. Join Craig Berry, an initiate of Ordo Templi Orientis, on a journey through the magical world of Jack Parsons.

This month’s tour, hosted by Richard Schave (Esotouric/LAVA) and Nathan Marsak with Kim Cooper (with ghostly tales from Scramarama featuring Deniz Tek and Brute Force), Michelle Gerdes and a special guest appearance by Canned Hamm, focused on the architecture of Robert Brown Young. 

Read about this tour here, and watch video of the walk here.