Budget Cuts Threaten Hollyhock House
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| Frank Lloyd Wright, living room of Hollyhock House, 1919-21. Photo courtesy Joshua White/Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs |
Mayor Karen Bass' budget cuts threaten access to Hollyhock House, the only Frank Lloyd Wright structure in Los Angeles open to the public. Wright's buildings are famously high maintenance, but the latest problem is staffing. The building and its tour program are managed by two staffers with two further positions currently vacant. Bass' budget would cut three positions, leaving just one person in charge. That would almost certainly mean closing the building to the public.
Bass' budget is constrained by the massive costs of recovery from the January wildfires. Hollyhock House is another example of how the fires are having ripple effects far removed from the burn areas.
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That said, the color of the exterior finish is precisely what LACMA's exterior should have aimed for. So there's that.
We're waiting for the initial crush to die down, and taking refuge at the Met, where shows like "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" and "Sargent & Paris" are keeping us entertained.
As an aside, the Sargent show was busy but not overbearing. But then we realized the whole museum was only half-filled to capacity everywhere we went in the building, from the rooftop exhibition to the café in the American wing.
I suppose I wouldn't visit the U.S. either if our government treated the world like cow dung.