Tonight’s episode of KCET’s arts and culture-focused series, Artbound, is going to have a little something for everyone—the planning nerds, the architecture lovers, the history buffs—as it’s an exploration of what LA Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne calls the "Third Los Angeles," a LA that's ready to move beyond sprawl and suburbs and cars and onto whatever comes next.
People may have read about the concept or even heard it discussed by Hawthorne himself (he's had two lecture series at Occidental College), but the video takes it up a notch. The episode goes back and forth, mixing history with the present and peeking into what the future might hold. Hawthorne criss-crosses the city, discussing the forthcoming arrival of the Crenshaw Line in Leimert Park, the Hollywood Sign access wars, the evolution of Boyle Heights as they relate to issues of gentrification, public access, public transit projects, and neighborhood change. He even manages to squeeze in a quick stop at John Lautner’s awesome Sheets-Goldstein house.
The episode, the finale of Artbound’s eighth season, airs today at 9 p.m. on KCET. The full episode is also streaming online.