Lemonade day 23: Left to WPA, hard right to Art Deco - J. Chris Launi

We're making Community Lemonade in Long Beach.  Come and make lemonade with us!

!  I'm on a 100-day odyssey for community and creativity in Long Beach.  We've got such an amazing city, and I'm a huge fan.  I'm seeking out the creatives and the facilitators of creativity, the art and the locations that inspire art.

I call it .

Reminder: Pan in Long Beach at the Heartwell Park concert on Wednesday, sponsored by the office of 5th district councilwoman Gerrie Schipske.  5801 E. Parkcrest Street.  6:00-8:00 PM.

Today was Day 23 of Making Lemonade.  I met with J. Christopher Launi, Photographer. 

I'd wanted to meet with the photographer who did the work for the Historical Society of Long Beach 2011 exhibit.  That exhibit documented the Works Progress Administration (WPA) murals and mosaics, which were part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal.  J. Christopher had just been over to the Lafayette, where he was removing his previous exhibit and installing his new at The District wine bar.

Moderne, what we now know as Art Deco

Entering J. Christopher's apartment that he shares with partner John Thomas, however, it's hard not to talk about Art Deco.  The apartment is filled with Art Deco fixtures, embellishments, casts of actual facades, photographs, railings, furniture, clocks, so much more.  So we launched into a long discussion of Art Deco... it's start with the 1928 Paris World Exhibition, then described as Moderne (new).  The American fascination with the style, and the adoption of Moderne styles in Montgomery Wards and Sears.  The coining of the term Art Deco in the 1980s.

One might ask, "Why so much Moderne... Art Deco... in Long Beach?"  One word - Earthquake!  The 1933 Long Beach earthquake caused damage to many buildings.  Facades crumbled, many buildings were damaged beyond repair.  As might be expected, new buildings, new facades, were done in the style of the day - Moderne... Art Deco.

A popular architect at the time was Cecil Schilling.  Cecil designed the Art theatre, the Art Deco elements of the Lafayette building, among others.

J. Christopher and John Thomas have met Cecil Schilling's son, 92 year old Robert.  In fact, they have had the pleasure of visiting him and poring over the hand-drawings of his father that became the architectural motifs.  Blueprints, too were hand-drawn.  J. Christopher had the pleasure of photographing many of these drawings.  In fact, on one of the Art Deco architectural tours that J. Christopher and John Thomas have led, the tour ended at the Lafayette, where Robert and his daughters had brought in an actual wooden mold that was used to form the details on the building's exterior.  How cool is that!

They expect to be hosting one or more Art Deco Long Beach tours in the fall.  Reservations are expected to be available on the Long Beach Heritage website.

An interesting fact is that some of the beautiful facades have been "entombed" in plaster.  The exterior that we now see when we pass by the Arts Building was one such entombed facade.  On one building the beautiful Art Deco exterior was simply panelled over and stucco added over it.  It is anticipated that more of the old buildings may actually have hidden treasures underneath their non-descript exteriors.  As some of the work aged, it was easier for property owners to simply cover up the work.  It's a matter of the right owner caring enough to take the chance and see what's under the plaster exterior. 

Luckily, Long Beach has its' own Restoration Architect, Yan van Dijs, who discovered some of these treasures and is now well known for his skill in Art Deco architectural restoration.

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

The conversation eventually turned back to the WPA works exhibited in the HSLB space in 2011.  J. Christopher's work on the Art Deco book made him the right person to do the photography for the WPA display.  He was contacted by new Patch blogger, Maureen Neely  (Both are active in the Long Beach Heritage association), who did much to gain access to the murals and smooth the carpet for J. Christopher's photography.

The WPA murals and mosaics introduced some interesting photographic problems.  Their sizes are often quite large, and J. Christopher had to teach himself some new techniques before the project was over.  Adjustments of perspective and stitching together of sections was necessary.  In some cases, parts of the mural had been affected by changes to the building. An example is a plane wing with a thermostat presenting itself on the wing.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt provided the overall guidance for the artwork used for the mosaics and murals.  The scenes are often of technology being used, indicating progress.

One of J. Christopher's favorites is a mural of the history of flight, starting with Icarus's flight too close to the sun, leading to man attempting to fly by flapping, to balloons, blimps, airplanes and eventually space.  In fact, there is a new method of flight that being tested by folks around the country.  The mural could not anticipate this!

Long Beach has a large share of WPA works, as the 1933 earthquake created a need for new building around the time of the New Deal.  Many schools had been critically damaged in the 1933 earthquake, making it necessary to re-build. Some of these are at risk.

It is anticipated that some of the schools may have 'entombed' murals.  At least one school with known works is scheduled for demolition.

J. Christopher has kindly provided me with a cd of images from the 2011 exhibition, which I have uploaded to the photos.

And J. Christopher, Photographer

Surprisingly, but yet not, is the fact that J. Christopher actually has a day job.  He manages a large retail store when he is not photographing. 

He has had to learn a lot of techniques over time, including perspective correction, stitching of photographs, high dynamic range photography.  There are more.  J. Christopher modestly characterizes his talent in this manner... he has learned which buttons to push and how to push them.

J. Christopher supports his historic photography activities by offering photography services for weddings, work for non profits (capital campaign photography), photographing houses as a service for realtors,  photography for architects working on restorations.  One of his projects was photography for the Crystal Cove Alliance which saw to the restoration of the Crystal Cove cottages in Newport Beach.  His work on that project also provides him with a place to sell his work, as there is a retail outlet in that location.  His contact information is on his site.

Want more lemonade? 

The Hunt will continue

There's more today, as I  did make it to the Long Beach Steel Drum School, but that was a very special visit, and deserves a day of its own.

I also stopped in at the new 8th City Councilman's field office - Al Austin's field office - and met his new field assistant, Melody Ngaue-Tuuholoaki.  Surprise!  Councilman Austin was just sworn in last week.

AND... In preparation for the  concert on Wednesday, I found on Councilwoman's Schipske's Facebook page: "I have written three books on the history of Long Beach published by Arcadia Publishing and available on line and in the bookstores: "Rosie the Riveter in Long Beach," "Early Aviation in Long Beach," and "Early Long Beach."  Hm... Very Interesting... I asked for, and received, a copy of Early Aviation in Long Beach.

Tidbits and Things.

• John Thomas is the President of the Art Deco society of Los Angeles.
• There are Art Deco societies in the far reaches of the world: Australia, New Zealand, China, New York.
• The next World Congress of Art Deco will be held in Cuba.  It travels around the world, and features lectures, tours of the various buildings, and more.
• I have a nice CD of J. Christopher's work and a copy of the Long Beach Art Deco book which he co-authored.
• I also have a copy of Early Aviation in Long Beach.
• Long Beach is very lucky to have the likes of J. Christopher Launi!

And Tomorrow

Pan in Long Beach at the Heartwell Park concert, sponsored by the office of 5th district councilwoman Gerrie Schipske.  5801 E. Parkcrest Street.  6:00-8:00 PM.

Need to contact me?  info@handmadepenguin.com

Trish Tsoiasue writes as herself about creative and maker topics for the Belmont Shore Patch and as Handmade Penguin for the Handmade Penguin Blog.