125th - Culture
“Rush hour” is a misnomer on most of California’s freeways, yet the state still has a strong hold on our imagination. (Damian Dovarganes / AP)
Sprawl in Southern California has been more than a geographical reality; it has been a state of mind. As seen from the top of Griffith Park, the region unfolds into viewscapes that have become trademark. (Ken Hively / LAT)
The 101 connects with the 134 and 170 in the Cahuenga Pass, but if you’re a driver in Los Angeles, you probably already know that. The first L.A. freeway was opened in 1940. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
Myles Kovacs is co-founder and publisher of Dub Magazine. (Damon Winter / LAT)
Tony Hawk’s exploits on a skateboard have made him a superstar in a sport that was unknown just decades earlier. (Gina Ferazzi / LAT)
It all started when Sandra Dee got on her board in the 1959 film “Gidget.” Soon after, surf-themed films and music flooded the market, and kids across America wanted to hop on a board and ride the waves, like this surfer at Huntington Beach. (Allen J. Schaben / LAT)
Sharon Stone, with Quincy Jones at the 1996 Oscars, raised eyebrows by sporting a turtleneck shirt from the Gap at the glitzy event. (Robert Gauthier / LAT)
David Hockney
ARTIST
In many ways, David Hockney is a quintessential Angeleno, someone who arrived from another country and made this place his own. An English painter born in the industrial northern city of Bradford, he is most renowned for his paintings of light and swimming pools; an accomplished draftsman, he has deliberately used broad shapes and color palettes, as well as collages composed of hundreds of Polaroids, to comment on the glittery veneer of California life.
Much of Hockney’s art is deceptively simple, almost childlike in its execution, yet emotionally nuanced and complex. Neither a realist nor an experimentalist, he occupies a middle territory, particularly in his portraits, which often convey a longing or a tension just below the surface of the painting, representing something the subject might prefer us not to see. Likewise his California images, which although still are far from quiet, as if evoking the moment before or after something important has occurred.
(Mark Boster / LAT) Much of Hockney’s art is deceptively simple, almost childlike in its execution, yet emotionally nuanced and complex. Neither a realist nor an experimentalist, he occupies a middle territory, particularly in his portraits, which often convey a longing or a tension just below the surface of the painting, representing something the subject might prefer us not to see. Likewise his California images, which although still are far from quiet, as if evoking the moment before or after something important has occurred.
Rapper Ice Cube was the chief lyricist for N.W.A, a group that channeled anger about police treatment and other issues into the album “Straight Outta Compton.” “A police car always put you on the alert because you heard so many horror stories,” Ice Cube once said. (Genaro Molina / LAT)
Everyone needs someone to despise (Ellen Weinstein / For The Times)
Thousands flood downtown streets near City Hall in March 2006 to protest immigration legislation. More demonstrations followed, in L.A. and around the country, as Latinos flexed their muscle. (Gina Ferazzi / LAT)
Sure, local chefs love to brag about their just-picked ingredients. And with ingredients at hand from farmers markets, going green has never been simpler or more satisfying. (Spencer Weiner / LAT)
In this multiethnic city, fusion cuisine just comes naturally. Chef and restaurateur Nobu Matsuhisa’s riffs on sushi thrilled Angelenos and then went global. (Lawrence K. Ho / LAT)
In the beginning, drive-in restaurants offered all sorts of food - including chili, tamales and spaghetti - served by carhops. Eventually, the menu turned to hamburgers. Bob’s Big Boy, like this one in Burbank, invented the double-decker. (Bob Carey / LAT)
An old-fashioned trolley car rumbles through the Grove in Los Angeles’ Fairfax district an area that represents the new wave of city planning. (Spencer Weiner / LAT)
Vegas named its strip after L.A.’s more famous real estate. Though Tower Records faces bankruptcy and the hot spots constantly change, the Sunset Strip continues to hold a fascination for Los Angeles and the world. (Mel Melcon / LAT)
Simon Rodia completed the Watts Tower project in 1954 after three decades of work. (Luis Sinco / LAT)