Take Roadside Journey of California Kitsch With Jim Heimann
One hundred years ago, the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco opened its doors to the world in celebration of the opening of the Panama Canal (as well as to show that San Francisco was back on its feet after the 1906 earthquake). This year the city marks the 100th anniversary of the expo with enough exhibits and programs that just about all of us are bound to find something of interest!
An event that I think will be of particular interest to all of you MCM and/or funky-architecture fans out there is tomorrow night’s presentation by Jim Heimann. (In case you are wondering who Jim Heimann is, he is an author, historian, and the guru of California’s roadside vernacular architecture.)
Heimann’s illustrated talk will take participants on a roadside journey of architecture and, along the way, explain how the Panama-Pacific Expo influenced some of California’s wildest pop-architecture. From teacup-topped coffee houses, giant ostriches and exotic Tehauntepec Village facades in PPIE’s “Joy Zone” to chili bowl shaped diners and giant hot dogs in Southern California, tomorrow night’s presentation at the California Historical Society in San Francisco is bound to be entertaining.
For more information visit Stucco Fantasy: How the PPIE Influenced Roadside Architecture in California.
Photo: SF Chronicle 1915
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