LA Central Library

Posted on July 15, 2026 by Chronicles of a Blogaholic

“I imagine heaven
must be some kind of library.”
Jorge Luis Borges

Today the Los Angeles Central Library is celebrating its centennial anniversary. This headquarters for the Los Angeles Public Library system, includes a total of 72 branches of libraries. The Central Library complex is the third largest public library in the United States in terms of book and periodical holdings. Its subject departments contain more than 2.8 million books, 5,000 magazine subscriptions, more than 3 million photographs, 10 million digital access U.S. patents, plus language learning and multi-media materials. It also has nine subject departments that provide a variety of reference services over the counter, by telephone, mail, e-mail, or chat. Materials can be ordered by patrons throughout the city and shipped to the borrower’s local branch.

The historic Central Library opened July 15, 1926 to rave reviews and has been welcoming Angelenos and visitors ever since. On opening day, the building featured 538,000 square feet of space on eight floors, nearly 89 miles of shelves, and seating for more than 1,400 people. Hailed as an architectural gem, the building is renowned for such iconic features as the tiled pyramid on the roof; the vast, mural-lined Rotunda; and its more modern Atrium wing, which opened in 1993.

The historic Central Library Goodhue building was constructed between 1924 and 1926 and is a Downtown Los Angeles landmark. Designed by architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, one of Los Angeles’ most elaborate original Art Deco and Beaux-Arts structure. Goodhue was born in 1869 in Pomfret, Connecticut, and became widely known in California for his influential masterplan and building designs for the Panama-California Exposition held in San Diego’s Balboa Park in 1915. For the Exposition Goodhue developed an ornate version of the Spanish Colonial Revival style.

His library design with its rectangular forms layered against a central tower, could only be experienced one facade at a time. The interior is even more spectacular than its exterior. Goodhue created an interior that centered on a great domed rotunda surrounded by stacks and reading rooms. Decorations consisted of mural paintings and patterning stenciled directly on the main ceilings.

The entrance with its sculptured concentrated on portals with sheer surfaces and pylon-like shapes resemble ancient Egyptian temples. Together with the pyramid that crowns the tower, it makes the library an early example of the Egyptian flavored version of early Art Deco style. The unique Central Library design, echoes of sources of inspiration that range from the Ancient NearEast to the Mediterranean as well as Native American southwest. Sadly, Bertram Goodhue died of a heart attack a year before the completion of one of his architectural masterpieces.

The library is having a month long celebration. Included in the celebration, is the opening of the 1926 time capsule they placed in the entry pillar during their opening ceremony.

I’ve lived in California over half a century and never visited this library. But, that will soon change. I certainly will be taking the time to visit this beautiful iconic LA Central Library.

Shine One

Keaton Connoisseur

Posted on July 8, 2026 by Chronicles of a Blogaholic

“A comedian does funny things
A good comedian does things funny.”
Buster Keaton

Buster Keaton was one of the most talented writer, director, producer, stunt man and actor of silent films. His acrobatic ability and his films paved the path for future films. Today, there are several writers, comedians and directors who attribute their success by studying and replicating Keaton’s talent for comedy and action movies. From Orson Welles, Mel Brooks, Steven Spielberg to especially Jackie Chan, they all have copied scenes and stunts from Keaton movies.

As a fan of the TCM channel, I enjoy watching their “Sunday Night, Silent Movies”. A few years ago, they showed several Buster Keaton silent movies I had never seen before. Enamored with Buster’s talent, I found myself watching every silent and talking movie Keaton ever starred in or produced. Most of these century old movies can be found on YouTube.

Obsessed with everything Keaton, friends and family began calling me the Keaton Connoisseur. So I created an Instagram handle dedicated to this amazing talented man, which I appropriately named, Keaton Connoisseur.

As a teenager, Keaton was my favorite silent movie star. Point of fact, he lived just a few miles down the street from my house in the San Fernando Valley but unfortunately he died on February 1, 1966 before I could ever get my chance to meet him.

If you are one of the rare people that’s never heard of Buster, please go to YouTube and watch any of his brilliant silent movies. I suggest starting with, The General which he wrote, starred and directed. It is the first movie produced with Buster performing all his own dangerous and exciting stunts. The film is a comic masterpiece. The best stunt in the movie involves him pulling a railroad tie out from being lodged into the track. Then, with the train steadily approaching, he’s sitting on the cow-catcher of the slow-moving train while carrying the tie. He then tosses it at another tie to dislodge it from the tracks. All seamlessly performed with pure Keaton perfection.

When I first saw The General, I couldn’t help but realize this film is one of the first silent action movies. As I watched, it reminded me of the best action movie from 1981, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Coincidently, I recently saw an interview with Steven Spielberg talking about how The General inspired his movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The General was released a century ago in 1926 at the end of the silent era. Buster’s hobby was model trains and the history of trains. He had read the 1889 book, The Great Locomotive Chase by William Pittenger and wanted to make a movie based on this book. At the time of its initial release, The General was billed as an action comedy adventure film and was not well received by critics and audiences.

In a 1963 interview, Keaton said, “I was more proud of that picture than any I ever made. Because I took an actual happening out of the history books, and I told the story in every detail too.”

If you’re interested in learning more about Buster Keaton, I highly recommend starting with watching The General on YouTube. Then I recommend reading James Curtis book, “A Filmmaker’s Life”.

There was no CGI, special effects or even professional stunt men when Keaton made his early movies. He preformed his own stunts; often he sustained major injuries and several times risked his life.

He was the real deal in movies and in life. A rare performer, writer and director and my favorite silent film icon of this Keaton Connoisseur.

Shine One

Persistent Illusion

Posted on February 5, 2021 by Chronicles of a Blogaholic

“People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction
between past, present and future is only
a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
Albert Einstein

Shine On

Heal and Recover

Posted on January 13, 2021 by Chronicles of a Blogaholic

“Once you choose hope, anything’s possible.”
Christopher Reeve

Bust of U.S. President Zachary Taylor covered with plastic. Blood was smeared on it
when a pro-Trump mob broke into the U.S. Capitol building January 6, 2021

On Monday morning I watched the ESPN news from our Capital. Washington DC Mayor, Muriel Elizabeth Bowser answered questions regarding the attempted take-over of the capital. She sadly reported how many of the capital police officers that had served our nation in the war in Iraq had stated they were more fearful of their lives on January 6^th then when serving in Iraq. These veterans also told of their experiences of protests in other countries and never believed they would see similar violence in our country by its own people.

Men carrying weapons and zip ties into our Capital are not there to take friendly selfies of the Capital with our representatives.

Our previous Republican and Democratic President’s condone Trump and his incitement to cause violence. I can’t comprehend how anyone believes what these people did when storming, killing and violently attempting to take-over our capital was okay.

Later this morning, to add more salt to the wound, I read that some House Republicans sent essentially an extortion letter to Joe Biden asking him to get Nancy Pelosi to back off. “A presidential impeachment should not occur in the heat of the moment, but rather after great deliberation,” they said. Adding that “impeachment would undermine Biden’s priority of unifying Americans, and would be a further distraction to our nation at a time when millions of our fellow citizens are hurting because of the pandemic and the economic fallout.”

Vice President Pence late Tuesday evening, stated in a letter to Pelosi that he would not invoke the 25th Amendment. He does not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution.

Pence continued to say he “did not yield to pressure to exert power beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcome of the election” last week, referring to when he oversaw the congressional tally of Electoral College ballots. Mr. Trump had falsely claimed that Pence had the power to reject Electoral College results from certain states.

“I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our Nation,” Pence said.

He also wrote, “the country needed to focus on the orderly transition of power and healing as a nation in the wake of last week’s attacks. I urge you and every member of Congress to avoid actions that would further divide and inflame the passions of the moment.”

My point of view is, Vice President Pence’s decision is no surprise. House Representatives and especially Trump, don’t give a rat’s ass about the people. All they care about is legal consequences from their actions and possible jail time.

As more and more large business pull their PAC money from Republicans and Trump affiliates, this will highly influence the Republicans decision to vote to remove the President from office. These two issues of jail time and money tells a great deal about our Representatives.

Our government leaders should be less concerned about the timing and more about their commitment to convicting a president who has lied about voter fraud, attempted to intimate and coerce government officials to flip the vote and incited violence which caused deaths. I want to believe that these Republicans have more to offer the republic than disloyalty, sabotage and treason.

My hope is that we can have open discussions without violence and hate. This country has a great deal of healing to take place. However, I believe without accountability for the actions from the perpetrators and our leaders who fed the fire of January 6^th, there will be no healing. Healing not only from the Coronavirus but from the inflammation caused by lies, mistrusts and conspiracy theories.

We have been a dysfunctional family of people for a very long time. But, just like any dysfunctional person, we must be honest and we must admit we are dysfunctional before we can heal and recover.

Shine On

Musketeer Mania

Posted on December 28, 2020 by Chronicles of a Blogaholic

“One for all and all for one.”
Musketeer Motto

BBC TV series, Musketeers – from left Aramis, Porthos, Athos, and D’Artagnan

As a child I was captivated by the French writer Alexandre Dumas 1844 novel, The Three Musketeers. Dumas was the Stan Lee of his time, creating the first youthful super heroes, Aramis, Porthos, Athos, and their protege D’Artagnan. The only difference is, Musketeers actually did exist and Dumas based his characters on some of the most famous of Musketeers.

Anything I could find to read or watch about the Musketeers was on my radar. Mostly because they were excellent equestrians and fencers, two of my favorite combinations, and all Musketeer entertainment had plenty of those two activities.

My late great uncle was an Olympic fencer. I never had the honor of meeting him, but I like to imagine his passion and talent for fencing was passed on to me. I was fortunate to attend a high school that offered beginning fencing, and this was my first hands-on introduction to this 14^th century sport. It’s amazing how much fencing requires a great deal of mental and physical stamina, balance and fast reflexes. I took to this sport quickly, learning all the common moves and French words for them such as, Advance Lunge, Assault, Extension, Flick, Touché and the most famous En-garde.

Most are introduced to fencing through Hollywood movies. There have been numerous movies about the Musketeers dating as far back as the 1921 silent film adaptation starring Douglas Fairbanks. The first movie I remember watching about the Musketeers was on TV in the 1960s, and was the 1948 movie with Gene Kelly. It’s still one of my favorites because it not only had fencing and horses, but as an extra bonus it had Gene Kelly performing ballet type moves while fencing.

In the 1970s the studios came out with a Raquel Welch and Michael York Musketeer version, which wasn’t one of my favorites. As a little trivia note, this movie was originally proposed in the 1960s as a vehicle for The Beatles.

Disney released their Musketeer movie adaptation in 1993 starring Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Oliver Platt and Chris O’Donnell. This became my favorite version of all time, until now.

A few weeks back, I discovered on Amazon Prime a 2014 BBC Musketeer series. This exceptional rendition of the swashbuckling Musketeers is now one of my top go to TV series. The acting, costumes, romantic locations, storylines and cinematography is awe inspiring. If you’re looking for some great entertainment to fill your evenings, I highly recommend this series. It certainly is fulfilling my Musketeer mania.