i just read a bay area resident's blog about nervi's saint mary's cathedral. can you put as many possessives in one sentence? she dedicated her entire blog to dissing the building. adding insult to injury, she reports that the locals see boob silhouettes on the roof. man, how much drug does one have to do in order to see a breast in that image? i respect her opinion but gee, there really is no need for that sort of perpetuation of disrespect. absolutely no love for the genius.
i have a sore spot for regular joes bashing extraordinary structures. diss frank gehry. back off the geniuses.
on to better things. last week on our walk to lunch, rk and i found a local neighborhood gem. i've driven past it oh, everyday for over two years now, and have never seen it. proof that walking is good in more ways than one. anyway, at first glance it looked like a gallery of some sort. there are massive sculptures in the enclosed parking lot. there was a truck in the way that day so i couldn't photograph it. name and address at entrance:
r2, 720 haley
there was no one in sight so rk and i proceeded with trepidation. i kept saying "hello... hello..." as we walked into the alley.
to our right:
lion at the gate
a lettered wall
to our left:
a dynamic water fountain
a giant rusty anchor
and all along the alley:
antique signs
large scale sculptures
more letters
the owner, a woman, came out to greet us, explaining that her husband is the man responsible for the "junk." we learned that r2 stands for residential on the second floor, that parts that make up variations of r2 is still being collected for the ongoing installation, and that the latest trend at r2 involves glass eyeballs.
r2 alley
these pictures are poor and few because it was an overcast day and i didn't take pictures during the owner's narrative. apparently, there have been people coming as far as japan to see the alley. so, swing on by the next time you're in santa barbara. bring your camera.
