Documenting the ‘dingbat’

In the small headline to James Verini’s “Quintessentially L.A.” (Oct. 23) about Clive Piercy’s book of photography “Pretty Vacant: The Los Angeles Dingbat Observed,” it reads: “It took a Brit to find the beauty in the ‘dingbat’ architectural style.”

In fact, dingbat architecture has been well observed by L.A.-based artist Judy Fiskin long before Piercy’s book. A series of 50 photographs by Fiskin, titled “Dingbat,” was shown in 1983 at Newspace Gallery in Hollywood. They are in the collection of MOCA, where they have also been displayed.

Linda L. Kent

Los Angeles

*

For nearly two decades, L.A. native Lesley Marlene Siegel has been photographing the dingbat. Siegel has taken over 2,000 photographs of dingbats, architecture and signage. She has been featured in media as well as in group shows and has just returned from Australia where the Outre gallery featured her work on the dingbat in a solo show.

Celia Colton Schwartzman

Santa Monica