April 2010
5 posts
“He shall sit solitary by avoiding the company of men, he shall hold his peace by...”
– Saint Bonaventure
#1 - The Bona Vista Social Club
High atop the Bonaventure’s central cylinder is an icon of American engineering — the revolving restaurant. It seemed fitting that we begin our culinary adventure in this great rotating chamber, looking down upon our fair city, enjoying a happy hour beverage.
The lounge turns at a slow, yet still nauseating 75 minutes per revolution. I say nauseating because only an inner ring of...
“Architects in the past have tended to concentrate their attention on the...”
– John Portman, Architect
Bon Voyage
The Westin Bonaventure Hotel.
Herein lies the site of an epic adventure about to unfold. The Bonaventure is a Los Angeles icon, an enduring gem amongst a wash of underwhelming mid-century architecture. Already immortalized in cinema, print, and interactive media, it is hard to imagine architect John Portman’s 1974 masterpiece surprising anyone in 2010. But most people have not stepped...