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You are here: Home / Photo Blogging / On The Road / On the Road and In Your Backyard

On the Road and In Your Backyard

by Alain Chamot (1971-2020)|  August 28, 20175:00 am| 24 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Open Threads, Readership Capture

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On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.

From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.

Submit Your Photos

Good Morning All,

This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.

So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.

You can, of course, send an email with pictures if the form gives you trouble, or if you are trying to submit something special, like a zipped archive or a movie. If your pictures are already hosted online, then please email the links with your descriptions.

For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.

Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!

 

Just horrible news in Houston, and likely only getting worse. Hopefully some pictures will help distract and lighten the load a bit. I’m collecting eclipse shots for Thursday’s post, so submit some if you’d like to be part. I’ve seen some great stuff!

 

Today, pictures from valued commenter ?BillinGlendaleCA.

After the opening of our new light rail line last year to the beach, I decided to revisit my old college stomping grounds in the Hills of Westwood to get some good pictures. I’d taken some photos back in my college days like the tourists that showed up on campus, but they were, how to put it, crap.

In 1881 the state decided to establish a Normal School(a school to produce teachers) in the backwater known as Los Angeles. Most of the state’s population and commerce was centered in the San Francisco bay area and they had already established a Normal School in San Francisco(it had moved to San Jose) and the University of California had been established in Berkeley. The Los Angeles Normal School was built in downtown Los Angels where the LA Central Library is now situated(5th Street and Flower Street). In the early 1900’s they had run out of room and need a larger space so they moved to Vermont Avenue in Hollywood(now Los Angeles City College). In 1919 the University of California decided that they needed a campus in the southern half of the state and took over the Los Angeles Normal School for the Southern Branch of the University of California. After a few years the “Southern Branch” became know as the University of California at Los Angeles(UCLA). Another thing had also become evident, they were going to need more room than they had at the Vermont campus so a search was begun for a new campus. Several locations were under consideration(Palos Verdes, Pasadena, Burbank, and Westwood), when the Regents visited to look at each location some real estate developers(the Janss brothers, who also developed my home town) hired the driver to show the various locations with Westwood being the last location. I guess he must have been a pretty good salesman, eh driver, since the regents decided to locate the university at the Westwood location. The first structure built on campus was a bridge across an arroyo to assist in building the new campus. It’s still there but has been covered over and the only clue that it’s a bridge is a sign warning about the maximum load on the “bridge”. Four buildings were built on the new campus(a library, an auditorium/classroom building and two classroom buildings) and the new campus was ready for students in 1929.

Royce Hall

Taken on 2016-06-30

UCLA, Westwood, Los Angeles, CA

This is Royce Hall(the auditorium/classroom building) named after California philosopher Josiah Royce. It’s pretty much become the symbol of UCLA. It was inspired by an Italian cathedral, but not the front, the back side.

Powell Library

Taken on 2016-06-30

UCLA, Westwood, Los Angeles, CA

This was the original library, and still functions as the undergraduate library, when the campus first opened in 1929. This is framed by the columns in Royce Hall.

Royce Hall Towers

Taken on 2016-06-30

UCLA, Westwood, Los Angeles, CA

This is a shot of Royce Hall from the main reading room in Powell Library.

Royce Hall in infrared.

Taken on 2016-07-08

UCLA, Westwood, Los Angeles, CA

For my second visit, I took along my infrared camera. I’ve added back some color, since to end up with a blue sky you pretty much get rid of all the red in the picture.

Kerckhoff Hall

Taken on 2016-06-30

UCLA, Westwood, Los Angeles, CA

This is the only gothic style building on campus and is the original student union building. It was donated by the widow of William Kerckhoff, who had a lumber yard in Los Angeles. It’s still used for student government and the Daily Bruin has it’s offices there.

Bunche Hall

Taken on 2016-06-30

UCLA, Westwood, Los Angeles, CA

This was the tallest building on campus when I started at UCLA and was the second tallest when I graduated. It’s named after Ralph Bunche, an alumnus who won the Nobel Peace Prize. It’s where the social science departments are located. The northern part of campus has the arts and social sciences and the southern part of campus has the physical and life sciences.

Stained glass window.

Taken on 2016-06-30

UCLA, Westwood, Los Angeles, CA

This stained glass windows is in one of the campus restaurants, in fact the one I worked in while in college. I always liked it and also spent a lot of time in that room since it was the dining room that allowed smoking.

 

Thank you so much ?BillinGlendaleCA, do send us more when you can.

 

Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.

 

One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email

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Reader Interactions

24Comments

  1. 1.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 28, 2017 at 5:16 am

    Thank you so much ?BillinGlendaleCA, do send us more when you can.

    And I just sent a set?

  2. 2.

    raven

    August 28, 2017 at 5:27 am

    nice

  3. 3.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 28, 2017 at 5:30 am

    Oh, one thing I forgot to note…Powell Library is based on the same cathedral as Royce Hall, it’s the front.

  4. 4.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 28, 2017 at 5:31 am

    @raven: Thanks.

  5. 5.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 28, 2017 at 5:39 am

    There’s a tale they tell incoming freshman about Bunche Hall and the protruding windows. You see the building was constructed off campus(it’s 11 stories, sure) and they were moving it on the 405, but there was an accident and it fell over on it’s side and the windows fell out.

    They also tell incoming freshman about the “bridge” and tunnels, those stories are true(I’ve been under the bridge).

  6. 6.

    p.a.

    August 28, 2017 at 5:48 am

    Nice work. Looks like it was a good day too, or is that redundant when speaking of S. Cal weather?

  7. 7.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 28, 2017 at 5:53 am

    @p.a.: It was a early summer day, so there was probably some marine layer in the morning(June Gloom) which cleared by the time I’d made my way from Glendale to Westwood. We do get summer thunderstorms, but that’s mostly in the desert and mountains.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    August 28, 2017 at 5:56 am

    They knew how to build things back in the day.

  9. 9.

    eclare

    August 28, 2017 at 6:03 am

    Nice pictures! Drove by UCLA once, back in the 90’s, looked absolutely beautiful.

  10. 10.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 28, 2017 at 6:08 am

    @Baud: Actually not, Royce Hall had pretty significant damage in the Northridge earthquake in 1994. It had a good amount of work done to make it safe. The old Powell library stack were also damaged and just were just removed.

    As far as architectural style goes, most of the new building on campus are trying to match the same style as these buildings(that was not always the case). U$C is doing this as well.

  11. 11.

    Baud

    August 28, 2017 at 6:09 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: They knew how to make it pretty.

  12. 12.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 28, 2017 at 6:11 am

    @eclare: Thanks, it’s a really nice campus. It’s the smallest campus in the University of California(excluding UCSF, which is just a medical school).

  13. 13.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 28, 2017 at 6:12 am

    @Baud: I anticipated your comment, don’t let this happen to you in a debate.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    August 28, 2017 at 6:13 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: You’re the puppet.

  15. 15.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 28, 2017 at 6:14 am

    This what the bridge looked like.

  16. 16.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 28, 2017 at 6:15 am

    @Baud: Puppet? No, puppet, you’re the puppet!

  17. 17.

    JPL

    August 28, 2017 at 6:51 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Merry Christmas!

  18. 18.

    Debbie(aussie)

    August 28, 2017 at 6:51 am

    Beautiful buildings, great photos. Thanks Bill.

    Were these buildings used in the tv series Numbers?

  19. 19.

    rikyrah

    August 28, 2017 at 7:44 am

    Bill,
    Thanks for the pictures. Have you ever done an exhibit?

  20. 20.

    HeartlandLiberal

    August 28, 2017 at 7:55 am

    Some beautiful pictures of what is clearly a beautiful campus. Thanks for sharing.

    We live in Bloomington, Indiana, which hosts Indiana University, one of the most beautiful residential campuses in the nation, so we are lucky. We have been here now for 32 years. Several years ago, we were driving back from visit in Rockport, Illinois, with woman who was my adviser in grad school, so on the way home, since we were passing Champaign-Urbana, the home of University of Illinois, where I went to grad school MANY decades ago, we decided to pull off the freeway and tour.

    I will not be posting pictures.

    The school has allowed the campus to grow in the 40 plus years since we were there like an uncontrolled, ugly cancer. No continuity of style. No management to retain open spaces. Every thing was cramped, ugly, shoved in at random. Streets in heart of campus virtually impossible to navigate. It was a real downer, because we remembered four years of great experience on a beautiful campus in the early seventies. My wife was almost in tears by the time we left.

    The choices administrations of universities make in their physical plant are critical. You are lucky to have such a beautiful campus to return to and visit.

    It is a thing of no small pride that Indiana University, where I was a staff member for 25 years, is still laser focused on understanding this. It has grown immensely in the years I worked there, yet is still as beautiful, planned, and coherent a campus as when we arrived. We took some friends from Alabama who were on the way to take their sun to grad school in Madison for a driving tour of campus a couple of weeks ago, and they were as impressed with the campus as we have been for decades.

    I just realized I took the time to write a paen of praise for Indiana University. So be it. It is a great university.

    Now if only it had a football team that as not historically among the worst in the nation. The opener against Ohio State here at home in Bloomington is this coming Thursday at 8 pm. It will keep me up past my bedtime, but I will be there, row 10 seats. I recentlyI visited with the guy who took my job in the department when I retired six ears ago. I will be holding my breath, because it will be national broadcast ESPN Game Day special, and so much of the infrastructure of the stadium is in shambles due to new south end zone construction, new temporary scoreboard, with new scoreboard vendor and site support during games, and new efforts to address needs for wireless by visitors, press, and officials, I would not be surprised to see a disaster unfold. I actually woke up this morning from a dream in which I was telling the athletics director off for his failure to support computing staff. This six years after retirement.

  21. 21.

    Ruviana

    August 28, 2017 at 9:33 am

    Absolutely wonderful to see my old stomping grounds! After the damage to Powell they redid the entire inside and it’s beautiful down in the stacks with tile work and study places. Seeing what I still think of as “home” warmed my heart.

  22. 22.

    TomatoQueen

    August 28, 2017 at 10:17 am

    How eerie. My mother and her sister both went to Glendale High School. Daddy went to Eagle Rock H.S. (Squab Stone, Mom called it.) After getting out of the Navy (San Diego, where I was born), Daddy got his BA at UCLA, then his MLS. We lived at that time in veterans’ housing in Westwood (barracks floated on barges from Seattle, full of roaches). I remember Dr Powell just barely. After UCLA, Daddy had a fellowship at the Lilly Library for a year. I remember a fountain with a mermaid, and seeing snow. My grandparents escaped the Northridge event by moving away from their mobile home about a month beforehand. How very eerie.

  23. 23.

    Mnemosyne

    August 28, 2017 at 10:41 am

    An indoor sight to see at UCLA is the mural at the Jules Stein Eye Institute by Walt Disney’s favorite artist, Mary Blair. I believe it underwent some restoration work fairly recently, but I can’t find anything specific about that.

  24. 24.

    Origuy

    August 28, 2017 at 11:48 am

    @HeartlandLiberal: I was born and grew up in Bloomington, worked on campus one summer. But I went away to UIUC. I agree with you about the campuses. Illinois has a few beautiful buildings, but they are marred by the others.
    My father was an operating engineer; he graded the sites of many of the buildings built since the 50s, including the library, which was built of Indiana limestone.

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