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- Pre-dawn walk at La Fayette Square.
Lafayette Square was the last and greatest of banker George L. Crenshaw’s ten residential developments in the city of Los Angeles…it was designed as an elegant residential park centered on St. Charles Place, a broad palm-lined avenue with a landscaped median. Early residents of Lafayette Square included the founder of Pepperdine University, George Pepperdine, actors W.C. Fields and Fatty Arbuckle, art collector Norton Simon, boxer Joe Louis, and the Crenshaw family. Houses in Lafayette Square reflect residential styles popular during the 1910s and 1920s such as Craftsman, Italianate, Spanish Colonial Revival, and American Colonial Revival. Several houses, such as architect Paul Williams’ own home, were designed in the Modern style, exemplifying an important trend in Los Angeles’ architectural development.
- My garden with newly-turned compost pile.
- Birds, rabbits, rooster, etc. at LA River.
- Peacocks at Banning Park HPOZ.
- Wrigley neighborhood, Long Beach, near Eucalyptus and 21st.
- PASEOS – network of pedestrian-only alleys – at Carthay Circle.
Carthay Circle is a pretty 1920s neighborhood that’s on my route to practically everywhere. When my family first moved to LA in 1959, we lived for a year on the edge of it. My bro went to the CC Elementary School. But I didn’t remember the six tiny pedestrian-only streets that Gayle took me to explore. Walking down the pretty little alleys, all but one named for a Calfornia mission, I feel an overwheming sense of civic virtue. Wouldn’t it be great if all neighborhoods were this pedestrian-friendly? Later. looking over a pdf about the development’s history, this impression of civic virtue is confirmed:
“When the subidivision was developed the deeds…provided that no buildings could have a flat roof, property could be owned only by caucasions…property had to be kept in a sightly manner…Also at the time of its development, Carthay Center was judged to be one of the most perfect developments in Southern California.”
The good old days, make America great again, etc.
As I walked down Santa Ynez Way, a little bird darded in and out of the hedge that lined one side, so fast and flitting that I couldn’t get a shot. But when I got to the end, there she was, posing on the street sign. I later identified her as a Western Bluebird. Cool.
