Event and Tour BUILT BY BECKET: CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION In March 2003, the Modern Committee presented a salute to the legendary Los Angeles architectural firm Welton Becket and Associates and its founder Welton Becket. More than 700 people attended a centennial celebration at Becket's historic Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, which featured films on Becket's legacy, a presentation by architectural historian Alan Hess, reminiscences by Becket's friend Art Linkletter, and a panel discussion moderated by architect Leo Marmol with landscape architect Ruth Shelhorn, the firm's publicist Martin Brower, and architects Stephen Kanner, Lou Naidorf, and Robert Tyler. The following weekend capped off the celebration with a docent-led tour of several of Becket's classic buildings, including the pristine 1964 Music Center Complex downtown and the lavish interiors of the recently refurbished Bullock's (Now Macy's) Pasadena. 3-D Slide Show MODERNISM IN THREE DIMENSIONS: The Stereo Photography of Jack Laxer, 1953-1965 In November 2001, the Modern Committee hosted an evening with legendary 3-D photographer Jack Laxer. This narrated slide show at the California ScienCenter IMAX Theatre included architectural photography depicting never-before-seen images of Southern California's commercial landscape between 1953-1965. Many notable architects including Paul Williams, William Cody, and the masters of the California coffee shop, Armet & Davis, hired Laxer to document their newly completed works. His amazing views offer a full-color, three-dimensional glimpse into a world that no longer exists. Nearly 500 guests donned special polarized glasses and enjoyed an original music score written for the evening as they viewed this lost world of googie coffee shops, tailfinned cars, and sleek office towers -- all in stunning 3-D! National Trust Bus Tour and Self-Driven Tour HOW MODERN WAS MY VALLEY: Touring Postwar San Fernando Valley Launching pad of explosive growth in the second half of the 20th century, the "Valley" is home to some of Los Angeles' best examples of Mid-Century Modernism. The Conservancy and Modern Committee organized a full-day bus tour for the National Trust Conference, then repeated the tour for the general public in November 2000. The tour centered around a mecca of California car culture: coffee shops, car washes, bowling alleys, retail centers, schools and "indoor/outdoor" living, all fueled by the aerospace, automotive, and entertainment industries. Lecture and Exhibition A PLACE IN THE SUN: The Architecture of Wayne McAllister, 1928-1961 Southern California architect Wayne McAllister was honored on the occasion of his 91st birthday with an exhibition and opening night lecture by Alan Hess. The month-long exhibition took place in 1998 at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood and highlighted McAllister's enormous contribution to the architectural character of both Los Angeles and Las Vegas. It featured four decades of highly influential work ranging from flashy streamlined drive-ins and dinner houses (Simon's, Herberts, Van de Kamps, Melody Lane) and Beverly Hills' Restaurant Row (Lawry's Prime Rib, Richlor's) to the birth of the Las Vegas Strip (El Rancho, Sands, Fremont). His Bob's Big Boy restaurant in Toluca Lake was declared a California State Point of Historical Interest. The exhibit traveled to the Los Angeles Valley College Art Gallery for the National Trust Conference Valley Tour and is available for display. Self-Driven Tour CRUISING INDUSTRIAL L.A. Over 1,000 participants experienced this tour in 1997 and witnessed the tremendous variety of magnificent industrial buildings constructed in greater Los Angeles over the last 100 years. Loosely following the Los Angeles River, the industrial backbone of the metropolitan region, the tour took visitors to architectural marvels ranging from factories with brick smokestacks to Spanish Colonial Revival warehouses and Art Deco power plants. Bus Tour SUBURBAN METROPOLIS This two-day tour was conducted in conjunction with the 1996 Society for Commercial Archeology Conference and was co-sponsored by the Automobile Club of Southern California. The tour explored two principal regions of Postwar development: the San Gabriel Valley and Route 66, along with the Interstate 5 corridor into Downey and northern Orange County. Highlights included the Bullock's Pasadena department store, the Covina Bowl (an Egyptian/Aztec Modern bowling alley), the Eastland Shopping Center, and the oldest surviving McDonald's located in Downey. Self-Driven Tour CRUISING POSTWAR LOS ANGELES This tour conducted in 1994 was co-sponsored by the Society of Architectural Historians. The tour was subtitled "A Day in the Life: April 17, 1964," and put the participant in the role of sales representative for Modern furniture maker Herman Miller. The tour featured landmarks across the city from Hollywood through Beverly Hills to Mar Vista, taking a meandering route past International Style office buildings, 'Googie' coffee shops, and open plan tract housing, all in need of fine Modern furnishings! House Tour ARCHITECTS' OWN HOMES This two-day tour in 1994 featured eight houses spanning eight decades from the 1920s to the 1990s. The works of A. Quincy Jones, Pierre Koenig, Ray Kappe, Charles and Ray Eames, Richard Neutra, Mare Angelil, Peter de Bretteville, and R.M. Schindler were included. An architect's own home may contain multiple meanings - it can be a test of architectural concepts or a manifesto of principles, it is an expression of self and a demonstration of unusual preferences in aesthetics and lifestyle. A comprehensive booklet with personal interviews with several of the architects was designed and produced for this insightful tour. Lecture and Exhibition ARMET & DAVIS: POSTWAR COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTURE This twenty-year retrospective (1946-1966) exhibition was held in 1993 at the Union Oil building in Los Angeles in conjunction with a three-part lecture series featuring noted historian Alan Hess and photographer Julius Shulman. The exhibition included plans, renderings, blueprints, and 3D models. It reunited the office staff including architects, designers, photographers and original clients. Self-Driven Tour CRUISING L.A. This 1991 tour was one of the earliest driving tours to explore the car culture of Los Angeles. The tour covered downtown L.A. down the Wilshire Corridor into Hollywood. The logo and cover art were designed by Jim Heimann! House Tour YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW: CASE STUDY HOUSE TOUR Held in 1990, this tour gave Angelenos one of the first peeks inside private Case Study homes. Seven homes represented a spectrum of diverse design solutions that epitomized the Case Study Program. Members-Only Tours The Modern Committee has also conducted informal tours exclusively for Modcom members of such diverse sites as Glendale, Palm Springs, The Pomona Valley, 'Tikiland,' Terminal Island, Palos Verdes/South Bay, Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village, San Gabriel Garden Centers, Knott's Berry Farm, and Tomorrowland.