The film REYNER BANHAM LOVES LOS ANGELES (1972) begins with Mr. Banham, architecture professor and historian, crossing a street while narrating in his charming British voice: “You might wonder what I’m doing in Los Angeles, which makes nonsense of history and breaks all the rules. Well, I love the place with a passion that goes beyond sense or reason.”
Thanks for writing this! My time in LA was as deeply formative to me as an urbanist as it was to you as an architectural historian. Banham's work so vividly describes how the city's form, its open and eccentric culture, and its gloriously inventive architectures are three parts of a whole that define the place. This post does something of the same. Well done!
I somehow missed this extremely thoughtful comment—thank you!! I'm glad you have a large dose of LA in your veins. Living there definitely alters you. It's good to read that your experience there changed you for the better, too!
Thanks for writing this! My time in LA was as deeply formative to me as an urbanist as it was to you as an architectural historian. Banham's work so vividly describes how the city's form, its open and eccentric culture, and its gloriously inventive architectures are three parts of a whole that define the place. This post does something of the same. Well done!
I somehow missed this extremely thoughtful comment—thank you!! I'm glad you have a large dose of LA in your veins. Living there definitely alters you. It's good to read that your experience there changed you for the better, too!