Archive for the ‘Architecture’ Category

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Zipparchitecture on two coasts

October 30, 2017

Two recent Zippys offer remarkable vernacular architecture on the US coasts:  a great rocky pile of a fantasy home, created by a performer of enormously popular entertainments — a castle on the Connecticut! — on the east, restaurants in the shape of a parasol — SoCal novelty architecture! — on the west:

(#1) Castle built a hundred years ago by actor William Gillette; reminiscent of the house in the Flintstones animated tv series; topped by the Carvel soft ice cream symbol

(#2) Parasol restaurant in SoCal’s Seal Beach (1967), sister to the first Parasol in Torrance (1961)

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Posted in Architecture, Diners, Language and food, Linguistics in the comics, Pop culture | Leave a Comment »

In camera

August 17, 2017

Today’s Zippy takes us to photographic LA:

(#1)

While namechecking the famous American photographers Diane Arbus, Edward Weston, Berenice Abbott, and Weegee, Zippy peers in the window of the Darkroom at 5370 Wilshire Blvd. in LA, now a bar and restaurant, originally a camera shop in the shape of a camera.

Looking for buidings in the shape of a camera will then take us around the world, thanks to a construction company in Karawang, West Java, Indonesia.

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Posted in Architecture, Art, Linguistics in the comics, Photography | Leave a Comment »

Two European estates in America

August 14, 2017

The Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores MI (which brings us a satisfying instance of the –palooza libfix); and the Castello di Amorosa near Calistoga CA (which offers a range of California wines and also Belgian-style chocolate). The first designed to reproduce the vernacular architecture of the English Cotswolds, the second a fantasy re-creation of an Italian castle.

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Posted in Architecture, Language and food, Libfixes, Names | Leave a Comment »

Ruin or architectural masterwork?

December 13, 2015

Yesterday’s Zippy, a reflection on art and architecture:

(#1)

Not too far off Gehry’s own house in Santa Monica.

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Zipparchitecture

November 21, 2015

Today’s Zippy takes us to Seattle:

(#1)

The pop-culture experience of the EMP Museum.

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Posted in Architecture, Linguistics in the comics, Music, Pop culture | Leave a Comment »

Flintstone days

September 3, 2015

In the local real estate news (from NBC Bay Area yesterday), “‘Flintstones’ House in Hillsborough Listed for $4.2M” by Tamara Palmer and Ian Cull:

Hillsborough’s most recognizable piece of real estate has hit the market.

The home at 45 Berryessa Way, though relatively small by the town’s standards at 2,730 square feet, is seeking a big price tag of $4.2 million

(#1)

A story that will take us through several twists and turns of pop culture.

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Posted in Architecture, Books, Language and animals, Linguistics in the comics, Movies and tv, Pop culture | Leave a Comment »

Architectural notes

June 13, 2014

Today’s Zippy:

(#1)

cornice, soffit, fascia, frieze board, dentil — technical terms of architecture that get Zippy off (so much so that he uses soffit, fascia, frieze board as a mantra).

(more…)

Posted in Architecture, Linguistics in the comics, Ordinary vs. technical lg | 1 Comment »

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