Part of the field school involved a trip down to Anaheim, just south of Los Angeles, where we visited Disneyland for a couple of days. Not only is Disneyland a fun place to visit, it is also a fascinating place for anyone who is interested in Urban design, development, architecture, the social construction of space, consumer landscapes, or the postmodern hyperreality… just to name a few things.

We got to meet with some of the architects and landscape architects who work at Disneyland and go on a tour. The tour gave us better insight into the history of Disneyland, as well as an understanding of how it functions today. For me, there was one thing that became very clear on this tour, and that was a sense of “control” exhibited. Whether it was controlling line ups, or making sure that any new development fit in properly visually and wouldn’t bombard a guests experience, there appeared to be a lot happening in order to keep Walt’s vision alive.

This vision Walt created a separate reality– one that allows the individual to escape their everyday life, while being absorbed in the consumption, the rides, the buildings, and the mindless bliss of it all! In fact, Disneyland is often described as a “hyperreality” which is basically a place that is created (an imaginary world), set up, and designed in such a way that it presents itself as being real, or at least really believable. People do buy into the hyperreality as well! One of the architects had mentioned briefly some of the complaints from guests in the past. Apparently a person once complained about the fact that there were bees in the flowers… almost as if they thought this really was a different, more perfect world where bees and other “unpleasant” bugs should not exist!

Another thing I thought that was interesting was that even though Disneyland had a well defined berm that separated it from the rest of Anaheim (and reality for that matter), the presence of Disneyland had overpowered Anaheim’s economy and basically defined the whole region.

Overall it seems that design, landscaping, and planning have helped create and control this “magical” place, this alternative reality that people from all over the world are willing to pay money to come experience. Is it a landscape of consumption? Is it an example of hyperreality? Perhaps it is both, and one informs the other. Either way Walt Disney sure got a few things right. He managed to create his dream and share it with the world, and if you ask me that is a great success story in and of itself. Even growing up with Disney movies, the Disney channel and hearing my friends rave on about their family trips to Disneyland, I myself was always reluctant to believe in the “magic” of such a place. After going there on this field school and seeing the complicated thought process behind everything I can certainly say something greater is happening there, and that’s why people really do believe the magic is true.

On our “free day” we spent about half a day between Venice Beach and Santa Monica. First we took a bus from downtown LA and made our way into the heart of Venice. Venice Beach is quite well known for its unique unregulated funkiness. It is also well known for the canals, muscle beach, it’s skateboard park, sidewalk vendors, which are all basically tied together by a neat oceanfront promenade. Interestingly enough, when Venice was annexed as part of LA in the 1920s, LA decided to pave over many of the canals to make Venice fit in more with the rest of the city, amongst other reasons. However, now those very same canals (or the ones are left anyways) are a real draw for locals and tourists. They also really reinforce the unique image of Venice.

I had a lot of fun exploring Venice Beach, I think what I liked most about it was the eclectic mixed used vibe it gave off.  You have a diverse range of vendors built up along the beach, situated right next to neat home that vary in architectural styling. As for the people, the fact that you don’t know what to expect kind of helps you expect the unexpected, but really you can see anyone- from someone famous, to a random guy wearing a speedo working out at muscle beach. The other thing I really liked about Venice Beach was walking along the canals. Even though the canals weren’t in the most pristine condition, I felt a kind of romantic innocence as I strolled along them…

After checking out the Venice Beach area, most of us wandered along the promenade to make our way to Santa Monica. Santa Monica is an independent city, meaning it is actually not part of Los Angeles at all. There was a point in between Venice Beach and Santa Monica where we immediately noticed that we were in a different place. Things were all of a sudden pushed back from the walk way, the buildings were much more homogenized, cars became a predominate part of the landscape (roads were now separating the buildings from the beach), and it was very clear that there was a higher level of regulation going on. An example of this is the downtown and 3rd street shopping promenade. At one end you can find all the high end stores right next to the parking facility, whereas at the other end of the promenade you can find all the stores targeting a younger demographic clustered together. In terms of regulated planning this layout makes a lot of sense. The people who are most likely to be shopping at the high end stores are also the people who are probably more likely to be driving, more so than teenagers, and therefore it makes sense to have those stores that target those people closer to the parking structure.

Even though Santa Monica was vey different from Santa Monica, there were things I liked there. I would have to say the outdoor shopping promenade, which previous functioned as a street with vehicle traffic and has now been shut down for pedestrian traffic only, was pretty interesting and works well in that type of climate. The other thing I really liked was the Santa Monica pier, because for me it really stood out as its own unique entity amongst the semi-generic/semi-pseudo wealthy landscapes that dominate the rest of the city.

The really great thing about going on a field school is that you actually get to be in “the field”. Who would have thought!? But seriously, there is something so much more powerful about standing next to a building than looking at a picture of it in a textbook, or walking along the streets of Los Angeles (even if it is raining) instead of looking at a map. That powerful feeling comes from the experience, and the long lasting memory it creates. A really good example of this, for me, was when we visited Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall (see image to the left).

On one of our field school adventures, we took a small stroll through a forest of skyscrapers, only to end up standing in front of this captivating building! It really is unlike anything else, and to be right there in front of it truly felt surreal.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall was not unfamiliar to me before this trip, in fact it is probably one of the most predominate examples of postmodern architecture today– I’ll base that conclusion off that fact that if you Google “postmodern architecture” it is the first image to come up… Never the less, getting to go on a tour of this famous building captivated me on a whole new level.

On our tour of the building we got to weave inside and out, which helped explain the juxtaposed feeling of “coldness” on the outside and “warmness” on the inside portrayed through the built environment and the use of certain materials. However, what stood out to me was the fact that a lot of the building’s materials (stainless steel, wood, glass and a mosaic of fine china) were all things that could easily be found in a modern kitchen. In a house, the kitchen is often a popular gathering place for mingling and entertainment, which seemed to parallel nicely with the purpose of the Concert Hall. I don’t believe this was Gehry’s intention, but it seemed like a strange coincidence…

We also learned about the rationale and inspiration behind some of the design. For example, some of the design makes reference to Lillian Disney, who donated $50 million dollars to the construction of the Concert Hall. Lillian Disney enjoyed flowers and had a huge garden at her home, which is where Gehry spent a lot of his time searching for inspiration. This, plus Lillian’s love of fine china led to the creation of the “Rose Fountain” found on the patio of the Concert Hall. The flower’s in Lillian’s garden also inspired the carpet pattern, and the design found on the seat cushions inside.

It is also said that the exterior of the building is suppose to resemble the sails of a ship. I think if you look at the image below you can almost see a beautiful ship coming to life, docked in the cement streets of downtown Los Angeles.

Last week I was lucky enough to go on a geography field school and travel to California with some wonderful people. We spent most of our time in Los Angeles and Anaheim Disneyland! The first couple of days we stayed in downtown Los Angeles and used the metro system to get around (which was a surprisingly positive experience). I thought the best thing about staying downtown was that it provided us with a good context that we could use to compare the rest of our field school experiences to.

Downtown LA has an interesting feel to it. There are some great historical buildings with beautiful texture to them. It seems like you don’t see this kind of detail put into a lot of modern buildings  (specifically those with post modern architecture) mainly because it costs way more to do so today then it did 100 years ago. In some ways this saddens me a little, but it also makes me appreciate the value of those historical buildings more. For example, we got to go inside the Bradbury building (see image below) which was constructed in 1893. Unfortunately my photo doesn’t really do it justice, but the inside of the building is stunning. It is almost hard for me to believe that it currently operates mostly as an office building.  Most of the office buildings I’ve see lately are bland, with plain white walls and cubicles that pretend to add texture to a room.

Downtown LA also has built character over the years because of the way it has survived, and more so the way it has struggled to stay alive in times when everyone was running (or should I say driving) quickly outward into the suburbs, or as the city sprawled and amalgamated new areas. Only now is it starting to fill back in with an influx of residents. Even then, there is a vague empty feeling that lurks as you walk through the jewelry and shopping districts. It just seems so contradictory to the image I have when I think of a downtown area.  So it is a little strange that it doesn’t feel as busy as one would expect, particularly considering LA is one of the largest populated cities in the world (currently ranked around 12th).

However, I did notice that we encountered a lot of people walking dogs while making their way to local cafes and restaurants, which really activates the streets and makes them feel alive. Always a step in the right direction! Also, Los Angeles is lucky since it has only ever experienced population grow, which I believe will provide the downtown area with a lot more potential for the future!