GOOGIE MODERN: ARCHITECTURAL DRAWINGS OF ARMET DAVIS NEWLOVE
Spring 2022. Angel City Press.
“Santa Monica Pleasure Pier: A Look Back to 1917 from Today” is a side-by-side comparison that juxtaposes the past and present in ways that puts today’s landscape in the greater historical play. Scores of vintage images appearing in a 1917 ‘Prospectus Book’ - created by its then owner, Mr. Looff (who built the first carousel) hoping to sell shares in his Santa Monica “Pleasure Pier" - now archived in the Stephen Raul Anaya Collection present a rare and mostly unseen look at the attraction and its surroundings. No detail goes unturned for this historical treasure trove which is clearly a labor of love. It is with great pleasure that we share and celebrate this book with you as this 1917 collection of images serves as a reminder of our own continuity, specifically as it relates to time and place, in the case one of most popular and traveled destinations on the West Coast.
110 Photographs from the Same Place,Over 115 Years Apart
Over one hundred years ago, volunteer firemen sold a book titled, “Santa Monica Fire Department, Souvenir Book of Santa Monica, 1902” door to door. Legend has it that the newly-established fire department promised to fight fires for those who purchased the book, but made no such promise to those who didn’t.
LookBack Art is proud to celebrate the Golden Age ofLos Angeles history in postcards from the 1930s & 1940s.LookBack Art is a side-by-side comparison that juxtaposes the past and present in ways that puts today’s landscape in greater historical play. No detail goes unturned. This is a labor of love.
We would like to thank the Tichnor Brothers for their postcards and their silent photographic partners who shot these pictures that enabled us to create these look backs almost a century later.
Relating on a physical level with a place that stood before them. It is a vestige that liberates the viewer to a broader perspective. Opening them into dialogue of continuity in place and people. LOOKBACKS are a magical window into a past that many never knew existed. The viewer is suddenly in a dance with time and place. LOOKBACKs are celebrations & landmarks of arich living heritage. LOOKBACKs expand the visual playground to a world of history that lives all around us.
