{"id":292,"date":"2008-05-04T18:44:59","date_gmt":"2008-05-05T01:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stiftungleostrauss.com\/bunker\/?p=292"},"modified":"2014-01-09T10:22:59","modified_gmt":"2014-01-09T17:22:59","slug":"its-not-quite-cultural-chernobyl-but-it-is-something","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stiftungleostrauss.com\/bunker\/its-not-quite-cultural-chernobyl-but-it-is-something\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Not Quite Cultural Chernobyl But It Is Something (Revised)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Y<\/b>et another bold outcropping of Americana; this is why we fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them here<\/a>, or why we will be turning the Green Zone into its exact replica, assuming the graft, incompetence, oh and kinetic warfare don’t get in the way.<\/p>\n

Layered Living With Retail Public Closed Gate Public Ambiance, Prices In The Low Priceless<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

F<\/b>irst, we start with a typical Caruso mall extravaganza:<\/p>\n

The Americana at Brand, the new mega-project by mega-developer Rick Caruso, was set to open two days ago. Maybe you’ve already twirled some spaghetti at its branch of the Cheesecake Factory or taken your kids for a ride on its trolley, which runs in a loop around the 15-acre property in the center of Glendale. If so, you probably marveled at the effortless m\u00e9lange of architectural styles, which run from gritty, rusted-steel industrialism to prettified mansard roofs from Paris (by way of Las Vegas). Maybe you found yourself thinking that it looks like a classic Caruso shopping center–a place essentially designed to print money.<\/p>\n

At the very least, it is the biggest thing to hit the ‘Dale since the 134 Freeway went up.<\/p>\n

But Caruso has tweaked his formula this time around, adding 100 condominiums and 238 rental apartments to the mix. That combination is not unheard of: Paseo Colorado in Pasadena is among a handful of other open-air shopping centers built in recent years in which apartments have been stacked above retail outlets.<\/p>\n

But in the case of the Americana, which was designed by Caruso’s in-house architects and Boston firm Elkus Manfredi, along with other firms for certain storefronts, the cheek-by-jowl proximity of residential and retail architecture raises fascinating questions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As the LA Times sums up — <\/p>\n

“That makes the distinction between public and private in the final product almost impossible to untangle. At the Americana, the park is public space masquerading as private space that is masquerading as public.<\/p>\n

Got that?”<\/p>\n

——————————-<\/center><\/p>\n

P<\/b>erhaps that really is a glimpse of our future. Or a part of it. Some sort of “Westworld” meets “Logans Run” kitsch — but camouflaged by a $200 dinner. Naturally, this kind of interweaving achievement will be possible to more Americans only after the “creative destruction” of the markets “work their magic” and we “re-balance” the economy from its current “slowdown.” <\/p>\n

It eventually will happen. In a weird kismet kind of thing, “Wall Street” has been running on AMC. Douglas’ scenery chewing aside, that bubble at least had some inherently identifiable aspects. They are still tangible and resonate today. “Blue horseshoe loves Anacot Steel” pre-dated the Money Honey by some time. Perhaps there is some over sentimentality involved. At STSOZ 1.0 we mentioned our good fortune to be on familiar terms with one of the real life financial figures portrayed in the movie. Truly a personality writ large.<\/p>\n

Today’s frauds, deceptions, thievery, by contrast, are on a scale that almost compels passive acceptance of it all. For the American people reject the dull miasma conveniently labeled ‘the sub prime crisis’ and see the real scope of what has transpired — well, angry voters would be ironic. The ‘sub prime crisis’ terminology is more manipulatively outrageous than “mistakes were made.” <\/p>\n

For Caruso’s vision to soar beyond isolated pockets, we must first move past today’s ‘sub prime crisis’. We as a society naturally still have to perform the small courtesies for the wounded shot and left behind. We are not barbarians yet. Larry Kudlow will honor them for sure with a brief sentence, invoking the lives torn asunder as validation of and lubrication for the wheels of the markets. He may even then remove his glasses in silent tribute. Krauthammer, in yet another perverse exercise of projection and self loathing, will blame the victims. Tweety will toss in the working stiffs in Philadelphia. <\/p>\n

All that’s missing is the larger cultural memorial. The task is beyond Michael Moore, for example. Moore was on Larry King the other day. The whole tragi-comic hour reminded the Stiftung of Rock’em Sock’em Robots of Irrelevancy. So horrific we were transfixed by it all. Both men of yesterday or yesteryears. So instead of Anacot Steel and Oliver Stone, our future film maker will elevate DiTech dot com to a cultural touchstone. <\/p>\n

With that healing done, there is something profoundly revealing about the American Persona living in such a multi-layered existence (and largely oblivious to the layers except by some partially understood visuals tossed in front of them in a real estate brochure). The impossibility of untangling public and private space is It. All while being visited by yet another set of Americans experiencing a different or partially overlapping set of experiences in the same space. And so on.* <\/p>\n

More than LA freeways. More than Rockwell paintings. More than wealthy suburban caucasian children desperate to prove they are ‘gangsta’. Or people playing with others online with Second Life, Wow. This will be The New Us. <\/p>\n

The New Us will not be in just California, Disney, Orlando or Vegas. Net connection makes the contagion semi-pervasive. In some urban areas — pick your favorite — the self aware could turn it into a consciously plastic (in the best sense) and malleable situation. But for the most, it would be passive consumption. And, typically except perhaps for a few neighborhoods in NY City or in California, there is no inherent aesthetic statement at all — by default or consciously. Ridley Scott’s by-now widely hailed Blade Runner (discussed on STSOZ 1.0) as all here know created a vision that permeated Asian and American conceptions of future urban culture and environments. If any reader ever saw Japanese OVA anime<\/i> when it was first coming out in the mid 1980s, created by enthusiasts for enthusiasts (not the Japanese network toy cartoon shows), the impact of Blade Runner was obvious. Today? Who knew that Caruso could crush the whole thing in a flick using the brand power of Abercombie and Fitch. <\/p>\n

In the end, probably the most important question of all? We kid you not. Will the homeowners’ associations like their counterparts now across this turbulent land also get drunk with trivial authority and become power mad lunatics? Now that’s an existential layer many Americans can immediately grok.<\/p>\n

__________
\n* Yes, we know that in effect that this is what happens daily at any art museum especially but since by proportion of population art museum attendance is negligible, we wrote it off as a rounding error.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yet another bold outcropping of Americana; this is why we fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them here, or why we will be turning the Green Zone into its exact replica, assuming the graft, incompetence, oh and kinetic warfare don’t get in the way. First, we start with a typical Caruso […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-pop-culture","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stiftungleostrauss.com\/bunker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stiftungleostrauss.com\/bunker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stiftungleostrauss.com\/bunker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stiftungleostrauss.com\/bunker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stiftungleostrauss.com\/bunker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.stiftungleostrauss.com\/bunker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stiftungleostrauss.com\/bunker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stiftungleostrauss.com\/bunker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stiftungleostrauss.com\/bunker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}