Uncategorized

Here’s a view you can’t really see anymore. They’re tearing down most of the Ambassador Hotel in LA. The school district plans to build a new 4000-student high school which will integrate some parts of the old hotel, but not all. The famed Coconut Grove nightclub will be restored and will serve as the school’s auditorium, while the old coffee shop will be a teacher’s lounge, but most of the structure will be removed and replaced with new construction designed to “suggest” the appearance of the former occupant…

There was something of an uproar over the demolition of the Ambassador. Architecture aside, it was also the site of Robert Kennedy’s assassination in 1968. It’s no secret that yer humble host is a fan of old buildings, but in reality, what could they have done with this one? A big hotel building of this sort isn’t useful as much other than a big hotel building, and if a hotel were really essential at this spot, the Ambassador would probably still be one…

I love this building and I’m really sorry to see it go, much like I was sad to see Carolina Circle Mall in Greensboro go. But there’s almost no realistic way to adapt massive structures like these once they’ve outlived their original puropse. And even if there were a way (usually involving an astronomical public subsidy), the buildings would have to be so significantly altered that there would be little if any historical context left anyway…

I have a similar problem with the “restoration” of Charlotte’s Carolina Theatre. The auditorium has been gutted, the lobby and all surrounding structures have been demolished, and frankly, I question whether there’s enough left there to make it worth the investment to “save”, particularly when that investment is financed through tax dollars…

It’s much more prudent to talk about “adaptive reuse” when it involves buildings that can actually BE adapted for some useful and in-demand purpose. That’s one of the reasons I’m a big fan of Jane Jacobs stern rebuke of the “make no small plans” method of urban planning, which led to so many urban renewal suberblock monstrosities, most of which will also be impossible to adapt or re-use in the coming years…

Again, adaptive reuse is a great thing in appropriate circumstances and when there’s a demand and realistic use for the sapce. Spending a fortune in public money to build something inapproriate from scratch inside the carcass of a big old building reminds me of stuffing and freeze-drying a dead pet and plopping him down by the fireplace. It’s just a little bit creepy…

I bought my first computer ten years ago today. It was a Mac (what other kind is there?) and it came with a 100MHz processor, a whopping 16MB of RAM (which I later updated to the maximum of 64MB) and a massive 1GB hard drive. With a 15″ monitor, I think it cost about three thousand bucks…

A month later, Planet SOMA made its debut. But more about that anniversary later…

Good morning, Midnight. It’s Christmas:

My boyfriend said, “It’s really sweet the way you go for Christmas cheer.”

I said, “We can’t afford the tree.”

He said, “Love is free.”

So we trimmed the cactus with my earrings that we’d meant to pawn.

I’d almost forgotten that it was time for my annual posting of the official Otherstream Christmas anthem…

After waiting several hours for Office Max to deliver something several DAYS late, we finally left Charlotte about 1:00. We made it to Rock Hill, about 25 miles south, before realizing that we’d have to go back because someone (who shall remain nameless because this is his website and he has that privilege) had left his wallet on the kitchen counter.

The brief showers that had been predicted for the Carolinas had become thunderstorms and a tornado watch by the time we cleared Columbia, so the drive was extra fun. We arrived in Savannah just in time to be the last customers of the day at the suckiest Piccadilly Cafeteria in the world. We drove around a bit and opted for sleep, knowing Thursday would be better.

We tried to have breakfast at two different Waffle Houses. The crowd scared us at the first, and the fact that no one would wait on us drove us away from the second. So we moved on to lunch at what is apparently one of the last remaining S&S Cafeterias. We had our Hoppin’ John and our collard greens and our assorted pork products, thus assuring a happy and prosperous New Year.

Finally it was time to walk around downtown. We limited ourselves to Meeting and King Streets, and the verdict was that either is much better north of Calhoun, which is where the hipster shopping mall zone ends, or south of Broad, where it becomes largely residential. All in all, the New Year’s Day crowds were much less infested with hipster clones, although a few could still be found roaming around in ugly shoes and brand new sweatsuit jackets which had been “aged” using godonlyknows what chemicals.

Downtown Charleston, like downtown Savannah, illustrates the history of a city which was initially one of the largest in the southeast, but which had become rather irrelevant by the 1920s. The extremely long, but low-rise main street indicates that Charleston’s day had come and gone long before that early twentieth century period that screams “urban” to most people today. Thus, it seems very small and quaint even though it was clearly once regarded as a very big city.

After covering the commercial strip, one very nice boneyard, a bit of residential, and the Battery, it was time to stop by the Harris-Teeter (simply because it was there) and drive home to Charlotte.