LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio (SCPR), a member-supported public media network. Hear our news on-air at our partner site:
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Did this classic-but-down-on-its-luck apartment building inspire Disney Hall? We can't be sure, but we are reasonably certain that it was Frank Gehry's first home in Los Angeles.
At Monday's press conference, he said the first place he lived in LA was at 9th and Burlington; he took the red car from there to his job as a truck driver in the Valley. When he mentioned that the building still stood, we had to check it out — luckily we remembered that part of 9th street was renamed James M. Wood a few years back. Of the four corners, only one was residential (and you're looking at it). It had no pipes on the outside, no curved walls, no titanium. It's just a plan old apartment building ... maybe that was the inspiration.
Where was the first place that you lived in LA? Is it still standing, too?