As I peaked out of the van window today I saw something amazing--the place I call home. You'd think that after 10 years of living in Los Angeles I would feel as though I already know what to expect from this city of dreamers, but what the new discoveries I saw today in the Hollywood Hills and surrounding areas made me fall in love with the city I call home.
Driving up to the Hollyhock House, I watched the city in movement. I watched as billboard signs and store signs changed from language to language as well as the people of Los Angeles. When I saw the House my first instinct told me that it was odd for such a house to sit in the middle of this breathing city. In fact, this Hollyhock House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright did not look like a house at all to my eyes.
But just as the dreamers of Los Angeles call this vast city their home, I tried to imagine Hollyhock as the home that highlighted Wright's craft as an architect. With each detail, each representation of the abstract Hollyhock flower and artistic traits embedded within each corner, Wright turned this House into a lasting masterpiece. In fact, Wright was an artist, a storyteller, all of which is portrayed in this home. Hollyhock House is eccentric, but it like any other home equipped with its garage (carriage house), dog house (animal pens), a kitchen (conveniently located next to the servant's entryway), and a living room (complete with a fireplace and pond).
Hollyhock serves as a hidden gem of the city, one which defines Los Angeles as a home of home's such as this one--a home, a city, that I have yet to discover.