By Alex Khatchadourian
The dense blocks of Hawthorne Boulevard nestled between Marine Avenue and Rosecrans Boulevard are littered with the familiar businesses that have long inhabited the distinct six-lane roadway, which stretches over twenty miles, coursing from Palos Verdes through Torrance, Lawndale, Hawthorne, and Inglewood. A bustling Jack in the Box, a two-story WSS shoe store, a few dental and medical offices, clusters of insurance and tax service companies, budget motels, and nail or beauty salons with hand-painted...
By Mark McDermott
One day last June, Dave Williamson started getting calls and texts about pink flamingos. “What time can I pick up these pink flamingos?” read one text. Williamson was perplexed. He does like beer, quite a lot, so he thought maybe there was a connection. “Man, what did I do yesterday?” he remembers wondering. It didn’t take very many messages for Williamson to figure out something was up. He may be from El Segundo, by way of Florida, but he...
By Joel Peter Elliott
Recognition as an artist didn’t come until later in life for Dave Harris. It was only after he had finally settled into painting as the medium of choice that his creative endeavors began to take on a life of their own. In that space he found a reason to take himself and the work seriously in a way that he hadn’t done before. Dave and painting got along, and Spooky was born.
By JL Cederblom
The young woman sits on a hill in the middle of El Segundo. She has sun-blessed skin, high cheekbones, and angular, striking features. A long black braid of hair cascades down her bare shoulder and her chin rests contemplatively on the back of her hand, a faraway look in her eyes. As you walk through the surrounding park towards where she rests, just beneath the El Segundo Library, you will already be struck by the beauty you are beholding. A tree slants up at an odd, perpendicular angle, flowers bloom...
By Alex Khatchadourian
Discovering the Grateful Dead was the moment that music and fashion came together for a teenage Meghan Fabulous.While indulging in a routine after-school visit to her local record shop, the Dead’s Steal Your Face album artwork beckoned her from across the Orange County hangout. A self-proclaimed MTV girl, who was more into hair bands and heavy metal, she had never seen anything like the ubiquitous and single most recognizable red and blue skull...
By Mark McDermott
Unlikely things tend to happen in El Segundo. The town famously played an outsized role in the Allied Forces victory in World War II, churning out 41,000 aircraft to power the air campaign many believe was a decisive factor in war’s outcome. And those docking modules that made putting a man on the moon possible? Made in El Segundo...
By Mark McDermott
A visitor to the El Segundo Museum of Modern Art could understandably have been stunned last November when snow started falling inside the main gallery. Then, suddenly, railroad tracks appeared, and a familiar little black train pulled into the museum. Somehow, as if by magic, reality was at play. The Polar Express had arrived, courtesy of man with a black goatee and mischievious but impishly joyful grin standing inconspicuously...
By Rachel Reeves
To spend time in Carol Low’s El Segundo home is to feel, by proxy, the exhilaration of the Space Age. You feel it in her energy, in the rapid pace of her voice as she walks you through the house, pointing out markers of the aerospace industry that shaped both her career and the South Bay as we know it. We’ve come to see the 40+ paintings...
By Mark McDermott
Sir Henry the Octopus first came to life at El Segundo High. His benefactor, Casey Montz, was a student at ESHS, and possessed a natural artistic gift. One day, an AP art teacher announced a special task. Students were asked to make 12 different artworks from a single theme. As his fellow students immediately...
By Mark McDermott
Like the city that gave it birth, word of the El Segundo Art Walk began as a whisper. A group of artists led by Holly Socrates had the idea, back in 2015, that El Segundo’s burgeoning creative scene and its rows of low slung warehouses, wide array of businesses, and hometown vibe might be the makings of a great art walk. Hesitatingly, she began making inquiries. The enthusiasm she met surprised even her. Everyone Socrates asked said yes, businesses...
By Mark McDermott
Sailors a few centuries ago knew the moment all too well. The outline of a ship appears, barely visible in the ocean mist. As it draws nearer, there is a moment of apprehension. The crew is weary. They’ve been out at sea, adrift, too long. Everyone wants to know: friend or foe? Finally, a shout goes up on the deck of the ship. “Hoist the...
By Rachel Reeves
Talking to Carmen Zella, the executive director of public art agency NOW Art, is like gathering a philosopher, a businessperson, an artist, and an urban planner around a table. She jumps from talking about heady art theory and how she doesn’t own a TV because technology distracts us from staring at the sky to talking about her organization’s cash flow and referring to cities as clients. Her official bio contains her multitudes by describing her as a producer...
By Ryan McDonald
In his mid-twenties, Andrew Hem was a few years out of art school and working at an animation studio doing character design. It was a good job, but something inside him was pushing him to devote more time to his own projects. He asked his bosses if it was possible to work part-time. When they said no, he faced a choice: Continue working at the studio, or leave and pursue projects entirely on his own. Eventually he came to think about how different such a decision might look in the future. “Obviously my mom was thinking I was crazy. It was definitely...
