Sometimes, life gives you answers

Back in October, I walked from my old condo to see the space shuttle Endeavour as it was getting ready to do its slow crawl through the streets of LA to its final home at California Science Center. That was the one and only time I ever walked down La Tijera to the airport. On the way there, I took a picture of what I thought was a garage door:

At the time, I was curious what the story was behind this, but I was there to see the shuttle, so I quickly moved on. Well, today, the LA Times had a story about the owner of the house to which this wall is attached. You'll see in the story, that he has added a grid to the chalkboard. I think I prefer the free form version better. People were so creative in how they expressed themselves.

It's great to get an answer to a fleeting question when you least expect it.

AIA Spring Tour, 2013

This year's tour covered some facilities in Skid Row. First was Inner City Arts, a facility that provides weekday arts education for low income children throughout LA, as well as weekend classes open to all children. The campus is a wonderfully open yet safe environment for creativity, staffed by top notch artists. What really captured our attention was the art that the kids had created, on display throughout the facility.

The second stop was the Skid Row Housing Trust facility for the staff. This organization provides permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless individuals (that is, they also provide services to assist homeless individuals to improve the conditions that contributed to their homelessness). We were also able to tour one of their residences. I was able to chat with a couple of people who now work for the organization but used to be residents.

These are two amazing organizations staffed by amazingly talented and energetic individuals. Here's a link to my photos of both facilities.