after dark

1926 Orpheum Theatre

1927 Tower Theatre

1930 Eastern Columbia Building

Downtown Los Angeles 

1927 United Artists Building, now the Ace Hotel + Theatre at the Ace Hotel

All photographs © Monika Seitz Vega, 2015.

All photographs taken the evening of the 7th Annual Night on Broadway.

postcards, part 4

This time around I chose city scenes from my collection of postcards. I love the linen postcards and artwork from the 1930s and '40s, the feel and color of them are so unique. These selections feature places I've had the opportunity to see myself (New York, Columbus), others to hopefully see in the future (downtown Boston), and the Carthay Circle Theatre, well... it's alive in film and photographs and, in a way, on Buena Vista Street. Enjoy.

front

back, postmarked August 17, 1940

front

back

The Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles opened in 1926 and was demolished in 1969. 

front

back, postmarked October 2, 1938

While the Deshler Wallick was demolished in 1970, the adjoining LeVeque Tower and Palace Theatre still stand.  

front

back, postmarked July 1, 1935 (It looks like I'm not the only one who has sent postcards to myself)

front

back

As this is part 4 of an ongoing and potentially infinite number of postcard entries, feel free to catch up with the previous entries via the links below. I've already got a theme picked out for part 5, so it shouldn't be long.

Postcards, part 1.
Postcards, part 2.
Postcards, part 3.

San Diego's Santa Fe Depot

During a recent trip to San Diego we made it a point to stop and photograph the 1915 Santa Fe Depot. Now referred to as the Santa Fe Plaza, this rail and bus hub was the start and end of many of my traveling adventures during the years I lived there. It was nice to be back and feel the excitement of the station, and to catch a glimpse of some new, classically designed railcars.

Might I suggest listening to Robyn Hitchcock's "I Often Dream of Trains" while looking at the photographs? It's a wonderful song that gets stuck in my head often, while daydreaming.

All images © Monika Seitz Vega, 2013.

New York, New York

It has been nearly ten years since my first and only trip to New York. I'd been thinking of the trip recently, in part because of the decade milestone but mostly because southern California has experienced the complete opposite of winter so far this season. I've been daydreaming of winters past, scarves and sweaters and numb limbs and the wonderful feeling of feet crunching the snow. 

I didn't have much of a plan most days when each morning I'd either take off on foot or by subway from our Times Square hotel. The photos below are ones from my solo trips, seeing what I wanted to see and all that much more along the way.

Robert Indiana's "Love". 

José de Creeft's Alice in Wonderland (1959). The first morning I was there I headed out on foot to Central Park. I knew there was a statue of Alice in Wonderland there, though I had no idea where it was located or what it looked like. Clearly I also had no idea how large Central Park is (1.317 square miles). I stumbled upon Alice and her friends indirectly and without assistance, luckily never once feeling like I was destined to be Jack at the Overlook.

I've never been one for self portraits, the moment warranted it I suppose.

Quintessential Central Park in winter image.

The 1930 San Remo building is absolutely breathtaking.

One morning I got on the subway to go downtown. I was in the Bronx when I realized I had gotten on in the wrong direction. I got off, took this photograph, and got back on in the right direction.

1932 Radio City Music Hall.

I've had a print of this on the living room wall for many years. It's beautiful, but much more so in person.

1928 Hotel Paramount.

1912 Cort Theatre.

1914 St. Thomas Episcopal, 53rd Street.

The most memorable solo outing I had while in New York was my trip to Coney Island. I had long been fascinated with Coney Island before seeing it for the first time. It was in the off season, snowy and freezing and I was one of very few people around. It felt both eerie and magical to have the place to myself. I've read that it has changed tremendously, and while I understand that change has been a constant in the amusement park's 130-year history, I think it'd be hard for me to see it again.

A relevant piece of Cyclone-related trivia -- My favorite song by the Ramones is "Oh Oh I Love Her So". 

1927 Cyclone. 

This bathhouse sits (or sat, I don't want to know) right on the boardwalk facing the Atlantic Ocean. All of the plaster detailing reminds me of the movie palaces I love so much. It is just beautiful. In addition to the building itself, I love that an east coast sky in January could look so blue at certain times of the day.

Savage -n- Peaches left their mark on the bathhouse the day I was born.

1939 Parachute Jump, on the US National Register of Historic Places.

All images shot on Kodak film with the same 35mm camera I've relied on for the past 15 years.

All images © Monika Seitz Vega, 2004.

A visit to the Getty Center

Last month, my sweetie and I braved the notoriously nasty I-405 in Brentwood to visit the Getty Center. In Focus: Ed Ruscha was the inspiration for the trip and it didn't disappoint. Photographers love the architecture of the Getty and flock to it, so it seemed necessary for me to take along a couple cameras of my own.

Getty Center, Los Angeles © Monika Seitz Vega, 2013

© Monika Seitz Vega, 2013

© Monika Seitz Vega, 2013

Charles Ray, "Boy With Frog" © Monika Seitz Vega, 2013

Edvard Munch, "Starry Night" © Monika Seitz Vega, 2013

I was quite happy to stumble upon a painting of Edvard Munch's in the museum's collection. It was a work of his that I was not familiar with previously, which made it that much more exciting.

© Monika Seitz Vega, 2013

I couldn't leave without adding a couple of postcards to my collection. The first is of a wonderful panoramic film photograph of the Center taken by John C. Lewis in 2000. The second is a painting by Belgian artist Fernand Knopff entitled "Jeanne Kefer, 1885", which was my absolute favorite piece of art in the museum.

John C. Lewis, "The Central Garden at the Getty Center, 2000"

Fernand Khnopff, "Jeanne Kefer, 1885"

I purchased a couple postcards for friends as well and wrote them from the museum cafe's seating area that overlooks the gardens. Sending postcards to friends is something I try to do whenever I have the opportunity to visit somewhere special, and I cherish the ones I receive myself.