L.A. NOIR

2009-08-28T19:10:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles is portrayed in popular culture as a city of concrete and sprawl, spread out beneath a cloudless sky of Technicolor blue, illuminated by a white hot sun. But there was another LA, the LA of Raymond Chandler, an LA of dark foreboding and moral ambiguity punctuated by garish neon that offered the promise of a brighter future. That LA still exists, if you look for it in the right places...

I've always thought that LA was much more beautiful (and mysterious) at night than during the day so, last month, I began a project to capture that nocturnal imagery. While the lights and classic theater facades of Wilshire Boulevard's "neon corridor" are not the focus of the project, they are, nonetheless, artifacts of Chandler's LA and utterly irresistible to the photographer. Below is the first installment of images collected during my expeditions into LA Noir.

The Asbury Apartments. In the foreground is the facade of the now-closed Park Plaza Hotel.

The Bendix Aviation building of 1930. The sign was built as an aviation navigational aid. It stands 150 feet tall; the letter "B" alone is 25 feet tall and 16 feet wide.

The Eastern Columbia building of 1929 is a classic Art Deco design.

The El Royale apartments tower over the neighborhood, bathing the area in an eerie green glow.

The Los Angeles Theater of 1931 is now closed but was re-lighted as part of the LUMENS project.

The Palace Theater of 1911 was also re-lighted by the LUMENS project.

Perino's, while certainly not of the others' era, is at the same location of the original Perino's and its neon sign is so bright that it illuminates the whole neighborhood. Its pure violet power must be personally experienced to truly appreciate it. My take on it is more "artistic" than documentary.

The Wilshire Ebell has been an LA fixture since 1927. This image is my omage to Ed Ruscha.

The Wiltern - so named because it resides at the corner of Wilshire Blvd. and Western Ave. - is one of the premier music venues in the country.

The Wiltern's marquee...

The former Broadway Hollywood department store, looking north on Vine Street.

The Fashion District - after hours...

This is a work-in-progress. I'll be returning for a re-shoot when the Orpheum's marquee is lit.

Don Howe

L.A. NOIR