Jul 08 2024
We are used to the words “totem pole” to mean those long poles with carved figures on them. Usually we see totem poles with wings from birds or other animals. But in the Pacific islands, these pole structures are called Tiki poles or Tiki totem poles. Tiki totem poles from the islands of the Pacific …
Jun 26 2024
Before you hang a Tiki mask in your home, you might want want to learn more about the history of Tiki masks and the chosen mask for your house in particular. With the correct Tiki mask, you might invoke a blessing or serenity, or yikes, fertility! Deciding whether to decorate with a Tiki mask …
Jun 19 2024
Drive through the older neighborhoods of Los Angeles and eventually you are likely to see one: a low, boxy apartment building hovering above an open row of carports, perhaps decorated with a starburst, mosaic panel, geometric screen, or a name written in swooping script. It might be called the Polynesian, the Capri, the Flamingo, the …
Jun 18 2024
When my sister went to Hawaii years ago, she brought me back a small Tiki wooden carving. The perfect gift from Hawaii, I thought. Every time I look at this carving, I think of Hawaii and the island culture. Of course I also think of my sister! Tiki statues, the totem poles, masks and all …
Jun 12 2024
Few restaurants capture mid-century Southern California quite like Bob’s Big Boy. There is the towering neon sign glowing beside the boulevard, the smiling Big Boy mascot holding his double-decker hamburger, the sweeping roofline, the expanses of glass, and the parking lot filled with automobiles. Add a chocolate shake and a plate of fries, and the …
Jun 10 2024
Perched high above the Hollywood Hills like a spacecraft that has stopped briefly on its way across Los Angeles, the Chemosphere House is one of the most instantly recognizable homes of the mid-century era. Its octagonal living space appears to float above a steep hillside, balanced improbably on a single narrow concrete column while broad …
May 29 2024
Palm Springs looks a little like someone dreamed up the perfect mid-century vacation town and then placed it beneath a wall of mountains in the California desert. Tall palms line streets filled with low-slung modernist buildings, swimming pools shimmer behind privacy walls, vintage signs survive beside stylish hotels, and the San Jacinto Mountains rise so …
May 23 2024
Rising above Brussels like an enormous molecular model dropped into the landscape, the Atomium is one of the most extraordinary survivors of the Atomic Age. Nine gleaming spheres are connected by giant tubes, forming a structure that seems equally suited to a science-fiction movie, a laboratory of the future, or a 1950s vision of life …
May 04 2024
Few movie robots have as much personality as R2-D2. He does not have a human face, speak a recognizable language, or even have arms in the conventional sense, yet a few whistles, beeps, nervous movements, and turns of his dome are enough to tell us exactly what he is thinking. Since his first appearance in …
May 01 2024
Walking the Streets of Moscow (Я шагаю по Москве, Ya shagayu po Moskve) is a lighthearted look at everyday city life in Moscow for youth in the ’60s. We see an opening scene in the airport, city sidewalks in the rain, taxi rides through the streets, evening traffic flows, and a concert in Gorky park. …
