Fish on a Hook
by Pasadena Adjacent
In a project that never seems to happen, it’s great to find yourself a big fish in a city named after a lake that doesn’t exist.
Over that ridge is the desert floor of the Antelope Valley. Near Saddle Butte State Park (pictured) is the location of Los Angeles counties most far flung community. The charming hamlet of Lake Los Angeles.Former film location for the television series Bonanza, outlaw hangout and the only community willing to hire me.
Wiki Lowdown: The eponymous lake is mostly dry today. In 1967, during the 1960s land speculation boom in the Antelope Valley, land developers bought 4,000-acres in the region, sub-divided it into 4,465 lots and artificially refilled the natural lake and named it Lake Los Angeles as an enticement to landbuyers. Advertisements showed a water skier on the lake, and a showcase home on the top of the nearby hill, giving the impression of a resort town. The lake was allowed to evaporate after the initial developers sold their interests. Much of the land was sold to buyers who never visited the area. Those who stayed discovered that maintaining a lake came with a “lake tax” so the lake stayed dry; but they kept the name.
Pasadena Adjacent 
Patricia Neal: January 20, 1926 – August 8, 2010
that face / that voice
Hud 1963
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You’re a born historian, PA. The words succinct, deft, and visually arresting always come to mind when you’re exploring something new.
I was wondering when your next job would begin and I’m glad to see this one coming up soon. What is the subject matter?
I left you a message on my blog.
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Yeah, they tried 2 run me outta town, but look who’s still back!
PA, are u a pilot?
How did the county know your PH#, PA?
This is not the best UTube Vid you’ve shown.
The last time I visited Lake LA it was by accident. I wunder if I wood recognize it.
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I was wondering what was going on with this project. If the county is like some of my former bureaucratic clients, I shudder to think what “October, maybe November” really means.
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Freakology!
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Go ahead and celebrate. Pretty sure she means the month after October but the one before December.
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“the lake was allowed to evaporate”–this sounds poetic . . . . the “lake came with a ‘lake tax’, so the lake stayed dry” –sounds like an unintended effect of taxation. Great story.
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The poor developers, They must have been just as shocked as anyone.
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YEAH!
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PJ: Why thank you PJ, thats high praise indeed!
1.) A multiple panel painting mixing the present and the past. The panels are divided by tooled leather.
2.) High fired (stoneware) ceramic tiles around the front entrance to the community center based on animals of the desert environment. The last post showing a horned toad and lizard.
Cafe Pasadena: I took that zoom photo from the highest point of the San Gabriel mountains. The ridge in the foreground is Mount Williamson (I think) and I’m near Mount Baden Howe (I think)
Susan: Yes! bingo! your spot on. Last year at around this time I ran into three of the arts administrators (in the Arroyo of all places) who had gotten my hopes up then. October ended up November that ended up being the beginning of the next year (Jan 2010). So as you say, “shudder” from that point in 2009 might mean NOW!! Mr V thinks 2011….maybe?
Linda: Freakology…I think my next post is going to further our exploration of the Freakish connections that make life worth living.
AH: Perhaps, but in what year? (read my comment to Susan) …but there is some good news. We have two up-coming meeting scheduled in September. That IS movement (plus they’ve added a substantial amount of g’s to our end of the project….ssshhhh…yay)
Jean S: Blame Wikapedia for the poetics…..but the last part, shedding light on the lake tax, was my addition. There is an actual tiny weeny oasis near what is referred to as the sister buttes.
D: They weren’t shocked at all. They put in some cheap tarp contraption to hold the water in. It wasn’t really evaporation as much as disintegration that did in the seasonal lake. Underneath the Antelope valley is water
QV: Wait till the contracts signed before you pop the cork
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I showed your tiles to the interpretative department. Debra and I recommended that they commission your tiles if they ever rebuild the reptile area (probably not in our lifetime). They thought they were beautiful.
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I’m working on a screenplay based on this fiasco; naming the movie “Chinatown”.
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Nice, I liked hearing the message, actual proof that there is movement of some kind on a project involving art, makes me hopeful about things in general…plus your gorgeous tiles are closer to finding a home
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Ooh! I’m so excited that those beautiful toad and lizard tiles are part of the project.
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I think you are very creative and I like a lot the picture , the landscape is adorable.About the video I need to confess that my English is awful, so that…sorry :(
Thanks a lot for your kind visit in WE LOVE LUNA, yes, full of cat lovers there.Luna is a snowshoe kitty, she came from Brazil with us , for sure we could not leave her there, she is part of our family!
I’m curious about your ARTWORK project, good luck.
hugs from Luxembourg
Léia
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I heard the message before it was taken down. Sounded good to me! Very good. Slow, though in happening, I take it…
The tiles are really beautiful !!!!!
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QV: kind of hard to commission me if I’m dead! but thanks anyhow
Ray: We’ve got several Valleys and the one your thinking of isn’t this one
Mary: Homeless tiles. It’s so sad
Susan: A couple of the tiles have a cockroach on them. You’ll have bragging rights when you come to the opening (knock on wood)
BL: Yes, this conversation might be a bit confusing. The tiles will hopefully be used in a building in one of our desert communities. I love Luna too!
Shanna: Thank you Shanna. Yes… s l o w – m o
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I was just looking at the tiles again. Albrecht Durer comes to mind, with his investigation of the natural world – bird wings, beetles etc.
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I’ve never understood buying property you’ve never laid eyes on. Does that make me a rube?
Your photo makes one perspective–the arid one–on that landscape really clear.
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Such a cool vantage point…where, oh where is the lake??? When I first heard from you the name, I expected it to be near LA…and then I expected a lake…silly me. I’ll have to ask the girl who is from there, who works at the soaring field, how her parents happen to move there. Did you go by Crystalaire airport?
I’m still jet lagged…and flying to Altus AFB Oklahoma for meetings…104 & 50% humidity…thank goodness for air-conditioning. I know I will love the warm evenings and am hoping for thunder stroms.
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Shanna: Such flattery! I took on Durer in a “copy the master” assignment. A dandylion gouache. Mine wasn’t nearly as good
http://ptldme.blogspot.com/2010/06/albrecht-durer.html
banjo: Notice how land speculation always centers around water? Here Lake Los Angeles and the Salton Sea (netflix: Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea)…and scroll down a few posts to Eugene Savage
I thought it kind of looked like a lone pimple at a distance
Tash: “I expected it to be near LA”…When I got the application I thought the same thing.
I’ve met only one other person who had ever been, that is until recently (which will be a future post in that connect the dots way I have)
ditch the bra and business suit and go out and get some pics of the Federal Building monument (if your in O city)
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Hurray for cockroaches!
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What a fascinating piece of greater L.A. history. But did I miss a video? I’m reading the comments and feel a bit confused. I get the gist though – hope the project starts soon.
Now I want to watch Chinatown again.
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First Susan: always
Second Susan: I took the video down. It’s about a certain commission I received that has dragged it’s heals. I’ve been in fear that it might be cancelled. Every once in awhile, I get a call, get my hopes up then get the run around. It’s a chance to let others in on my frustration (but I don’t want it to show up in google searches)
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PA, thanks for clarifying. It looks like an amazing project that was meant for you. Fingers crossed.
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