On the Saturday I visited and photographed the Department of Water and Power building at 4030 Crenshaw Blvd. I wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn’t stopped to videotape a Juneteenth Day parade in front of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza with my iPhone. Out of the corner of my left eye I saw it, and was so excited I started photographing it immediately from across the street.
Exhausted and hungry, following a busy morning at BLK MKT FLEA, I ignored the urge to go to the Krispy Kreme next door for a doughnut, and explored the site instead. While this Art Deco Modern building was conceived in 1954 and it has the “rounded edges and smooth wall finishes” indicative of the style the aspect that most fascinated me was how crisp, timeless, and glamorous it looks compared to the bustling urban blocks surrounding it.
A natural landscape of trees, grass and bushes effectively shade its walkways, and the variegated palette of green compliments the red brick and light brown walls of the structure. Overall, after perusing the site, and noting all of its diverse features, the most memorable thing about it was the way squares and rectangles are consistently repeated without making it look bland or boxy. As strong and bold as the Department of Water and Power Distributing Station No. 59 I visited previously, at 11701 Venice Blvd., this one also has an added touch of lightness representative of the early 1950s.
Department of Water and Power (4030 Crenshaw Blvd., Los Angeles, CA. 90008)
Every Day Fashion: Style for the Mainstream 