Last week's link to the Google video of Reyner Banham's 1972 visit provided some delight to at least one reader:

 Wow. All I can say is wow. I am SO appreciative and happy you decided to post this.

I have watched almost every syndicated episode of The Rockford Files to see images of what Los Angeles used to look like. It's like, "oh man, there was a gas station there?" and "Wow, that place is the Standard Hotel now!" For hours I do this, and lament how homogenized the LA landscape has become, with corporations, not Mom-N-Pop operations, building most new sites.

And then there's that whole thing where developers tear down the old apartment buildings and build bland sleek ones so they can exploit a loop-hole in the rent control laws. Pretty soon, it could all be gone.

Still, there are some signs of life (you can't watch the footage of Venice in the early 70s and not feel like Echo Park today is something like the same kind of place.)

Here's to hoping LA can retain or reinvent some of its former character.

Thanks again!

Diallo Riddle