Born Under A Sign

I was born under the Hollywood Sign, at the Queen of Angels Hospital, Los Angeles, California.  The medical operation is no more, but the building remains- now called "The Dream Center."

Hollywood, the city and the film industry it spawned, has often been called the "dream factory"  both for the celluloid visions it produces and for the ambitious dreamers who arrive to produce the visions. They have left a deep imprint in the collective unconscious of the country and even of the world.

For the folks growing up under the sign, the imprint is multidimensional- not just celluloid images, but also first person memories on the streets and in the buildings.  In my mind, personal and cinematic memories are confounded.  Hazily recorded images from a half forgotten infancy and ever more distant youth become indistinguishable from old black and white photos and mental flashes of movie and TV scenes

Hollywood sign atop Mt. Lee in the distance. The Queen of Angels Hospital  is one of the large buidlings beneath the sign

Hollywood has ghosts. If you believe in the paranormal, the city seems rife with such activity.  And if you have no patience with or belief in such spirits, there are still ghosts.  They are found in the places (and the memories of places) that still echo with the laughter and cries of those distant dream makers.  These places resonate with history.  They resonate with an emotion that only the passage of time and the accumulation of history calls forth- nostalgia.

The artworks presented here depict buildings chosen for that kind of resonance.  Some are gone, demolished, living on only in someone's memories and in those old grainy black and white photos which long ago captured an instant of vitality. Others have been remodeled (or one might say defaced) beyond recognition.  Some still stand and shine with their former and present glory.