A dreamy photograph of the Santa Monica Pier,  a local fixture in Santa Monica, California dating back to 1909. This photograph, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and shot from the roof of the nearby Sheraton Miramar hotel, portrays a far different pier than what has existed since 1996. A 1983 storm destroyed much of the pier - as seen here in the photograph. It came back to life in 1996 with a restored length but with a busy amusement park built on top. This photograph of a quieter and more quaint environment recalls a period that may no longer exist - except in photographs. Black and white. Available in 8x12" full frame. Matted at no extra charge.

A stylish, classic apartment building, photographed from the ground looking straight up 12 stories. The El Royale, located at 450 North Rossmore just past the southern edge of Hollywood, was built in 1928. It has been, and still is, home to celebrities and has appeared in establishing shots on any number of tv shows. Photographed in beautifully lit black and white, available in 8x10". Matted at no extra charge.

A Los Angeles landmark, gone forever. The Cocoanut Grove, located on Wilshire Boulevard at the Ambassador Hotel, was the home of the third Academy Awards "dinner" and the first Academy Awards ceremony to present the Oscar statuette. Photographed with an old school-style point and shoot camera with a wide angle lens. Black & white, available in 8x10". Matted at no extra charge.

The photographer used his press pass to wander beautiful Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, eventually winding up on a catwalk high above the stands and the track. He utilized a wide angle lens to take in the entire view, aiming a flash towards the left to better illuminate the steel beams. He waited perhaps 10 minutes for the next horse race to begin and, as the horses flew down the home stretch, he fired off one shot capturing this remarkable image in time. Black & white, available in 8x12" full frame. Matted at no extra charge.

A Hollywood landmark of the highest offering, standing like a stack of now antique 45 RPM records, complete with record player - record player! - stylus on top. Note the mural at the base of the building by artist Richard Wyatt, called Hollywood Jazz. Photographed looking north towards the Hollywood Hills, the HOLLYWOOD sign off in the distance. Black and white, available in 8x12" full frame. Matted at no extra charge.

A beautiful black and white print of a beautiful piece of architecture: the clocktower at Union Station, Los Angeles, California, considered the last of the great American railroad stations. Completed in 1939, it served as the gateway to the west coast for thousands of American servicemen and women during World War II. The cream colored texture of the building gives this photograph a cepia tone of remarkable beauty. Black and White, 8x12" full frame. Matted at no extra charge.

 

While a photograph may be two dimensional, the act of finding and shooting the picture is three dimensional: if the best picture isn't from the ground looking up, perhaps it is from the sky looking down. The photographer literally snuck up on the roof of a building at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine, hung a sign on the old door to the roof for fear of being locked out on the roof. The photographer recalls seeing quite a bit of graffiti on the roof and, feeling in some danger, made his way to the edge of the roof, looked down and fired off one photograph for the ages. The photograph is looking down Vine Street in Hollywood. The stars on the sidewalk are from Hollywood's famous Walk of Fame. Black & white, available in 8x12" full frame. Matted at no extra charge.

Downtown Los Angeles comes alive in this photograph of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner building at 11th and Broadway, a great, feisty LA newspaper, in a photograph from another era. "Another era?" you may ask, "In a photograph from 1993?" We suggest, yes. The Herald Examiner was the smaller of LA's two great newspapers, the other being the higher and mightier Los Angeles Times. Sadly, the Herald Examiner closed it's doors in 1989, the victim of a massive and self-destructive employee strike and dwindling readership from which it never recovered.

Perhaps we can look back on 1993 as the opening of the closing of the current era, where we see even major newspapers under financial pressure, unable to cope or keep pace with the immediacy and free access provided by the internet. Black and white, available in 8x12" full frame. Matted at no extra charge.

    

Seven o'clock in the morning at Palisades Park, Santa Monica, California, overlooking beautiful Pacific Coast Highway and the Pacific Ocean where, in the words of writer Joan Didion, we "run out of continent." The photographer caught the palm trees in the light of the pacific sunrise to beautiful effect. Black and white, 8x12" full frame. Matted at no extra charge.

 

Photographs of Los Angeles from the 1980's contain an uninvited guest: smog, which conspired to filter most if not all photographs. This hazy picture of the Hollywood sign was taken from a narrow street below the sign; one of many winding hillside roads with teetering hillside bungalows alongside. Framed as it is by the adjacent trees, the photograph is shot from a unique vantage point, far different from the usual overhead shots which suggest a barren mountain top home for the 50-foot high letters which make up the Hollywood sign. Black & white, available in 8x10". Matted at no extra charge.

The legendary Capitol Records Building on Vine Street in Hollywood and, possibly the first round office building ever constructed - though the builders of the Leaning Tower of Pisa may have something to say about that! Black and white, available in 8x12" full frame. Matted at no extra charge.