I decided to take today off, in order to do mundane tasks such as my laundry, wash my hair, repair a small hole appearing in my rucksack... Ah, the glamour of life in LA. I took a walk around the neighbourhood in a direction I haven’t been so far. It’s quite liberating just to get one’s bearings and become more familiar with the immediate area. I came across the Shrine Auditorium (pictured) close-up for the first time. I have seen it from a distance before, but I didn’t realise how impressive it was.The Arabic-derived architecture is down to this being the headquarters of the local temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (affiliated to Freemasonry) which, like all things ancient here in the US, was established in 1870. More famous is its some-time use as a venue for the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, SAG awards and so on. It also houses the home court of the Trojans basketball team.
It is also where, in 1984, Michael Jackson had his hair set on fire.
The size of this building really doesn't come across in photographs. Something to do with the classical proportions (the masons probably used the Golden Mean for every single aspect of the design) means that it really could be of any size. But if you look at the pavement in front of the building, and follow it to where it disappears under the archway next to the palm trees, you see that the very bottom panes of glass in those front "windows" are actually 9 or 10ft high double-doors.
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