To most people the word Dingbat means either a typography style or Edith Bunker. The word does have another meaning. It is the name of a quirky architectural style. A Dingbat building is a style of architecture very popular in Southern California in the mid-century.
The Dingbat is notable for its tucked under parking. The ground floors of these buildings have parking spaces and the living space starts on the second level. They were very popular in Los Angles with its dense population and narrow lots. Dingbats are usually apartment buildings with normally two or threw stories.
The Dingbat has its detractors claiming them to be cheap looking and not the safest places during an earthquake. There is some truth in this reaction but they also have an essence of the mid-century modern Los Angeles look. Dingbats are now being looked at in a new light and being appreciated. The shear silliness of man of the buildings now have a quaint old time feel and very kitschy names.
Tucked in between two nondescript buildings on Whittier Blvd. in East Los Angeles is a building known as The Tamale because it was built to look like one. It is one of the rapidly disappearing pieces of Programmatic Architecture. Whittier Blvd was once lined with buildings shaped like oil cans and air planes but they are long gone leaving just the old tamale
The Tamale was built in the 1920's to house a restaurant that served you guessed it tamales. The building right now houses a hair salon but still looks like a tamale. Because the tamale is in an unincorporated section of Los Angeles it is not covered by the architectural preservation laws now in force. The building and a separate building containing a two bedroom house on the property is up for sale and unfortunately is what is known in LA as a tear down. Unless some ponies up the $459,000 needed to save the building The Tamale could be no more. It will have gone the way of the "Tail o' the Pup" and "The Brown Derby".
The building known as the "Superman" building in downtown Providence is about to go dark. The building built in 1927 as the Industrial National Bank Building was at one time the tallest building in New England. The 428 foot art deco edifice is about to go completely dark as its sole tenant Bank of America is vacating the space for more modern offices. The current owners of the building High Rock Development has decided to let the building go dark after BofA moves out rather than "glut" the market with new office space bring down the square foot value of available office space. The 85 year old building one of the most distinctive parts of the Providence skyline called the "Superman" building because of its similar look to the "Daily Planet" in the old "Superman" series.
Providence's economy has be devastated in the current economic decline with a very high (9%) unemployment rate. The darkening of the building and its 27th floor beacon are just another example sad times. High Rock Development would like to get the okay and tax credits to turn the historic office tower into luxury apartments. If there is no business who will be buying these luxury apartments?
Palm Springs is a Mecca if you love mid-century modern architecture. Municipal and commercial business as well as home owners embraced the modernist style. Icon architects like Neutra built master pieces in Palm Springs and the surrounding cities. There is a week during the winter, which is Palm Springs' busy season, dedicated to everything mid-century modern.
One of the first things one passes on highway 111, the route into town, is the Welcome Center. Built originally as a gas station the building now stands as a welcoming beacon to modernists. We stopped into the Welcome Center where there is an entire section of the room dedicated to modernism. We purchased a map detailing the locales of some of the masterpieces. The commercial and municipal sites on the map are mainly preserved and well maintained. Many of the private residences are hard to see as most are behind walls and hedges. We found many residences not on the map that were fantastic modern houses and much easier to see from the road. Just driving around in the residential neighborhoods is a modernist's delight.
Re-use and re-purposing is play a big part of modern Palm Springs. In an effort to safe the modernist buildings from the wreckers ball Palm Springs has embraced saving the buildings but filling them with different businesses. The Welcome Center is one example. Another one time gas station is now a KFC. On almost any corner one can find a quirky mid-century modern landmark.
Providence, Rhode Island is a city with a lot of American "firsts". The first Baptist church, the first diner and the first indoor shopping center. The Arcade is the first shopping center. Built in 1828 the Arcade was designed to look like a Greek temple. It is a temple of commerce. The 216 foot building that spans a lot between Westminster and Weybosset streets was designed by architects Russell Warren and James C. Bucklin and is basically symmetric except for one little difference. The buildings facades are different.
One side has a stepped pediment the other a simpler one. The story is that the two architects couldn't agree on which was best so they each had their way. The three story building is covered with a glass roof allowing natural light to fill the open space inside. The ground floor has traditionally been filled with food stalls and restaurants the second with small shops and the third with a mixture of shops and offices. The Arcade has many times been doomed to be torn down but in 1976 it was designated a National Historic Landmark saving it eternally from the wreckers ball. This however doesn't mean it is considered a successful money maker. The Arcade has been sold dozens of times over the years. It is currently owned by Granoff Associates a Rhode Island development company. Granoff closed the Arcade in 2008 with plans to rehab the building into a single store. This did not come to be and it has recently been announced that the Arcade will once again reopen as a shopping mall.
The facades are the building's most striking feature. There are 12 massive monolithic 21 foot columns that were dragged 13 miles by oxen from a local quarry. These columns are enormous. The interior is equally beautiful. There are two upper shopping levels with bridges connecting them over the ground floor. Running along the edges of the upper levels are filagreed wrought iron rails topped with oak. The shops on these levels tradionally house non-chain jewelry and clothing stores as well as not for profit organizations.
Providence is a city with scores of architectual gems and the Arcade is the jewel in the crown.
If you love modern architecture you love Googie. What is Googie? If you have seen a sweeping arch or building shaped like a space ship you have seen a Googie building. The modern style known now as Googie was more or less created by John Lautner when he designed a coffee shop in West Hollywood called Googie's. Built looking like a Jetson's building Googie's inspired Lautner and his contemporaries to create spaces fit for the space age. Angles were re-thought and skewed, soaring lines and dramatic cantilevers replaced the Bauhaus box. Drive-in restaurants favored the style and made it popular. It was a new world and it was time for a new architecture.
Los Angeles embraced this new form of architecture and made it its own. To this day it is impossible to drive through LA without passing a Googie building. Made to be looked at from the seat of a convertible car Googie buildings are always a delight to the eye.
