About 5 — 5 PLACES

Episode 16

Barbara Bestor, FAIA is the principal and founder of Bestor Architecture, recognized for the inventive integration of architecture, urbanism, infrastructure and landscape at multiple scales. Bestor Architecture has designed a number of award-winning projects —homes, restaurants, technology and fashion headquarters, and community arts buildings, such as the Silverlake Conservatory of Music and Ashes & Diamonds Winery. The varied, creative, and aesthetically progressive body of work expands the territory of architecture into atmospheric urbanism. Recent projects include the upcoming Summaeverythang Community Center, re-envisioning the ICA LA, and a number of custom residences in Southern California, Seattle, and beyond. Bestor Architecture is also one of ten of Los Angeles’ leading architecture firms joining the Case Study: Adapt initiative to develop build-ready, stylish, and sustainable residential designs that merge timeless design with climate resilience. The program is a response to the January 2025 wildfires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades.

Barbara received her undergraduate degree at Harvard University, studied at the Architectural Association in London England and earned a Master of Architecture at SCI-Arc. She is the author of Bohemian Modern, Living in Silver Lake.

Though this episode was recorded in February of 2024, Barbara’s viewpoint on the city is timeless. Show notes, below, are extensive and in many cases provide updates on the people and places discussed.

Show notes and Barbara’s Five Places:

1. Port of Los Angeles and Terminal Island (see also: Tuna St. buildings on Terminal Island, which are in danger of demolition pending action to designate them as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments; and a book on the History of Terminal Island: Terminal Island - Lost Communities on America's Edge

2.Wayfarer’s Chapel by Lloyd Wright, and a June 4, 2025 LA Times article by (Episode 03 guest!) Sam Lubell on the chapel’s rescue from its unstable site: Lloyd Wright’s Wayfarers Chapel: Inside the rescue of a national landmark

3. Mattachine Steps in Silverlake and the Mattachine Society

4. Musso + Franks (and a sidebar about the Schindler house in the background of a Buster Keaton movie)

5. The Blue Ribbon Garden at Disney Hall, designed by Melinda Taylor, more here, and a story about the secret edible garden.

Who would you choose to ask about their Five Places? Artist Lauren Halsey

Interview Date: 02-28-24

Related Links / Also Mentioned in this episode:

Bestor Architecture website, Instagram, and news

Architectural Association London England

SCI_Arc in Los Angeles

Morphosis Architects

Repo Man movie

Artists David Salle, Paul Klee, Joseph Albers

E. Fay Jones chapel in AK: Thorncrown

LA Cleantech Incubator (LACI) and truck electrification

Frank Lloyd Wright – Taliesen

Frank Gehry obituaries in the New York Times (by Nicolai Ouroussof) and the Guardian (by Charles Jencks and Oliver Wainwright)

Gregory Ain

History of trolley lines in Silverlake by Eric Brightwell. See also: Secret Stairs A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles, by Charles Fleming

JR Davidson houses

Los Angeles race riots of 1992 (many sources, here’s Brittanica, and here’s Mike Davis’ piece A Tale of Two Riots)

Bohemian Modern: Living in Silver Lake, by Barbara Bestor

Bohemian Los Angeles and the Making of Modern Politics, by Daniel Hurewitz

The Black Cat on Sunset: The 1967 Black Cat Demonstration marks one of the earliest moments in US history that the LGBTQ community organized and gathered publicly to peacefully protest the harassment, brutality, and persecution they were suffering for being queer.

Mike Davis, beloved writer, activist, and theorist, profiled here in The New Yorker by Hua Hsu, and remembered here by (Episode 14 guest!) Mike Sonksen, aka Mike The Poet, and other key voices.

Robert Moses and the Power Broker book. Also, a new podcast series on Moses and The Power Broker, by 99% Invisible.

Map of oil wells in Los Angeles, and L.A. Times article: “As a century-old oil field winds down, what’s next for Baldwin Hills? A sprawling park or housing?”

The American Bar in Vienna by Adolf Loos (wiki, American Bar home page)

Deborah Sussman exhibition at the WuHo gallery, 2013: “Deborah Sussman Loves LA”

Los Angeles Plays Itself by Thom Andersen

Theme building at LAX – and Bestor Architecture’s winning proposal to redesign the LAWA train wrap!

Pulitzer Prize-winning L.A. food critic Jonathan Gold, and his article The Year I Ate Pico Boulevard

The Quilts of Gee’s bend

The Bradbury Building

Grand Central Market and California Plaza by Arthus Erickson

Moneo Cathedral in DTLA and Coop Himmelblau High School

Sunshine & smog: Barbara Bestor at TEDxOlympicBlvdWomen