| September 2015 |
| Billie Silvey |
Architecture
and Design
and Design
Los Angeles in 1965 was a wonderland—
sundrenched, with a distinctive architecture
deriving from the 20s and 30s that I found
beautiful in all its expressions.
The first house we lived in on 79th Street
(above) in South Central Los Angeles was
designed in the popular Spanish style.
The campus of Pepperdine College across
the street (left) was Streamline Moderne, with
elements like the curved lines and multiple
windows and glass bricks like my mother
and daddy had added to the house they
designed for us to live in in Happy, Texas.
The church we attended, Vermont Avenue
(right), had elements of the Mission. And the
house we’re living in now (above right), near
Sony Studios, is Spanish as well, with its red
tile roof and curved windows. Sony itself—
the former MGM—is Streamline Moderne, as
are many of the businesses in the area.
Natural Disasters
Los Angeles has always suffered from
drought.
Recently, Ron Cox, our assistant minister,
stopped by and looked at some of the quilts
my grandmother made, listened to family
stories, and heard the news that my papers
will be archived at the Brown Library on the
Abilene Christian College campus.
Before he left, he read Psalm 75:3: "When
the earth and all its people quake, it is I who
hold its pillars firm." We've been through a
lot of quakes in L.A.--beginning when we first
left Abilene to come out--right into the Watts
Riots! There have been several literal
earthquakes since. We've never expected
things to be stable here.
sundrenched, with a distinctive architecture
deriving from the 20s and 30s that I found
beautiful in all its expressions.
The first house we lived in on 79th Street
(above) in South Central Los Angeles was
designed in the popular Spanish style.
The campus of Pepperdine College across
the street (left) was Streamline Moderne, with
elements like the curved lines and multiple
windows and glass bricks like my mother
and daddy had added to the house they
designed for us to live in in Happy, Texas.
The church we attended, Vermont Avenue
(right), had elements of the Mission. And the
house we’re living in now (above right), near
Sony Studios, is Spanish as well, with its red
tile roof and curved windows. Sony itself—
the former MGM—is Streamline Moderne, as
are many of the businesses in the area.
Natural Disasters
Los Angeles has always suffered from
drought.
Recently, Ron Cox, our assistant minister,
stopped by and looked at some of the quilts
my grandmother made, listened to family
stories, and heard the news that my papers
will be archived at the Brown Library on the
Abilene Christian College campus.
Before he left, he read Psalm 75:3: "When
the earth and all its people quake, it is I who
hold its pillars firm." We've been through a
lot of quakes in L.A.--beginning when we first
left Abilene to come out--right into the Watts
Riots! There have been several literal
earthquakes since. We've never expected
things to be stable here.
Spanish Mission
White stucco and red tile roofs. The style of both
our rental house on 79th Street (left) and the
house we bought in Culver City (below).
The church we attended where Frank led singing
and the kids grew up, the Vermont Avenue
Church of Christ, had elements of the Mission
style.
White stucco and red tile roofs. The style of both
our rental house on 79th Street (left) and the
house we bought in Culver City (below).
The church we attended where Frank led singing
and the kids grew up, the Vermont Avenue
Church of Christ, had elements of the Mission
style.
Sony Studios (above) at the end of our block is
part of the constantly unstable entertainment
industry, which began in Hollywood in the 1920s
(below).
part of the constantly unstable entertainment
industry, which began in Hollywood in the 1920s
(below).
Bullocks-Wilshire (left) is in the popular art-
deco style. Daddy made the art-deco desk
(below) in shop class for his mother. I
remember seeing it in her house, then at the
shop, and now it's in our house with an art-
deco style lamp on it and a picture from
Frank's sister Irene hanging above it.
deco style. Daddy made the art-deco desk
(below) in shop class for his mother. I
remember seeing it in her house, then at the
shop, and now it's in our house with an art-
deco style lamp on it and a picture from
Frank's sister Irene hanging above it.
