Frank Llyod Wright and Me

My mom has always loved that wacky architect. And so I have grown fond of him as well. Happily, the man worked often in California, so I have had quite a few chances to tour his work.

The first FLW house I saw (or, at least, remember seeing) was actually in Arizona. Taliesin West in Scottsdale. We went there during a trip, probably around the time when I was in middle school. I found the architecture for sure amusing. At some point, there was a music room with a piano at the front. The tour guide asked if someone would play a little something so we could all get an idea of the acoustics of the room. No adult volunteered, and I had taken a little piano by that point, so I went ahead. In retrospect, I was always doing stuff like that, just going right ahead and offering myself up for  embarrassment. I guess that's why improv never seemed overly-daunting to me.

I'm sure I saw some of his other pieces in between, but the next one I remember clearly was only about three years ago when I visited the Bay Area and toured the Honeycomb house with my parents and now husband. Now with more know-how about architecture, I could be more impressed. The house was damaged in the '89 quake and it took many years to fix. I remember something about heated floors. Definitely something I would have appreciated when I was living in the Bay Area.

Later, my mom was visiting me in LA and we were kind of wandering around Barnsdall Park waiting for my mom's hair appointment, we found that the interesting house in the middle of the park was Wright's Hollyhock House. So we took a tour then and there and good thing, too, because now it's under renovation. Cork floors in the kitchen. That impressed my mom. A flat roof that was a constant struggle to upkeep. That impressed me, but in a different way.

Perhaps a year after that, we drove up to the Ennis House:

Which is undergoing renovations and will eventually become a residence, but because it's city, state and national landmark, it will have to be open to the public once a year. I need to keep an eye on that.

But just this past weekend, my mom and I went to see the Anderton Court Shops in Beverly Hills. A small building that holds more than you think, it was fun to get to walk around, even if we couldn't go into the closed shops.

This guy is pretty amusing. I would for sure recommend stopping by a structure of his if you ever have the chance. They're pretty spread out around the country, so chances are there's one near you!