Decade In Review: Architecture
Modernism arrives in the South Bay Architects Grant Kirkpatrick, John Blanton, Pat Killen, Dean Nota, and Michael Lee in front of Nota's 2000 Hermosa Beach Strand home, which helped establish a beach-inspired design aesthetic. Photo In decades past, the South Bay was known more for its utter lack of architectural significance than for anything actually built here. It was a disconcerting experience for architects who came to Los Angeles to explore the cutting-edge inventiveness of places like Venice Beach and Pacific Palisades to drive south of Marina Del Rey. Architect Pat Killen recalls arriving here in 1980 and discovering what seemed to be an invisible demarcation line. “It was like, holy shit, what happened? I mean, is there a fence here that says you can’t practice architecture south of that?” Killen remembered thinking. There were a few pioneers. Architect John Blanton, an understudy of the famed modernist Richard Neutra, opened up an office here in 1964. At the time, he was the only architect listed in the phone book. When architect Dean Nota arrived here a little more than two decades later, little had changed. He saw it as an opportunity, an architectural market about to…
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