Category: Essays
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Notes on Atlantic-World Painting from a Visit to the National Gallery of Art
From Joshua Reynolds to John Martin and Gilbert Stuart to David Lynch – painting!
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Local Notes No. 8 – The Prehistory of Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena
Now home to the NHL’s Kraken, the Climate Pledge Arena has a long history as a modernist icon. How can we tell the story of Seattle since mid-century through it?
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Local Notes No. 7 – ‘Iolani Palace, the US’ Only Royal Residence
Hawaii is justly famous for its modern architecture. But what can this symbol of an independent Kingdom of Hawai’i teach us about the history of American empire in the Pacific?
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A Visitor’s Guide to A Coruña, Spain
My attempt at a proper travel guide for Spain’s Portland, a town that shouldn’t be missed!
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Local Notes No. 5 – Fort Ross, the Frontier Outpost of Russian America
For thirty years, boatfuls of unlucky Russian serfs were ported thousands of miles away from their homes to grow crops on the California coast. How did they stay Russian in what would become NorCal?
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Local Zoning and Hukou – Systems of Mobility Management in the US and China
I want to compare the restrictions on mobility imposed by local control of zoning in the US with the top-down system used in China – rather remarkably, the natural whims of homeowners in Marin County and the Upper West Side have come to align with the technocrats at the CCP.
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Misreading Malthus – The Life and Death of Family Planning Policy in China
Why did the Chinese government seek to grow rich by shrinking its population?
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Re: The NYT Piece on Extended Stay America and Modern SROs
Regarding a recent NY Times piece on how precarity interacts with a new slice of the housing market, which itself is old as time.
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Local Notes No. 4 – Civic Architecture on Sunset Blvd
Fighting for the people that keep Hollywood running was a tough gig in the 1930s – what can we learn about labor history from two buildings built for crew unions?
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Local Notes No. 3 – The Brock & Co Jewelers Building in Downtown Los Angeles
Happily, I got to go to Dodger Stadium yesterday to watch my Nationals lose the third of a three-game series and slink back east, well and truly swept. The loss didn’t bug me too much though, as going to Dodger Stadium means going downtown and going to downtown Los Angeles means getting to see some…
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