Hopperesque

Hopperesque

Wednesday 31 July 2019

Where Hostility Begins


       It might be dangerous not to decide who is the host and who is the guest, who gives and who receives, who is the parasite and who is the table d'hote, who has the loss, and where hostility begins with hospitality.

Michael Serres
The Parasite
1980

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James Avati
1955

Big Lonely City #54

W. Eugene Smith

Weegee

Ray Simone

unknown

Art Shay

Arthur Rothstein

 unknown

William Klein

Fred Stein

unknown

 Gordon Parks

 Gregoire Alessandrini

 Herb List

unknown

unknown

Gita Lenz

Jericil Cat

Louis Faurer

Max Yavno

Sabine Weiss

unknown

 Russell Lee

 unknown

unknown

Walter Sanders

Tuesday 30 July 2019

Drunks

Nightmare Alley

The Verdict

Angel Heart


After Dark My Sweet

Factotum

 Black Angel

Leaving Las Vegas

In a Lonely Place

Round Midnight

Hammett

Smash-Up : The Story of a Woman

 A Walk Among the Tombstones

Feux Rouges

 Key Largo

Mikey and Nicky

Farewell My Lovely

Ironweed

In the Electric Mist

Bad Lieutenant

Killing Them Softly

Petla (The Noose)

Barfly

The Cecil


         Downtown LA feels haunted - the towering Beaux Arts and Art Deco buildings conjure the lagubrious film noir era that the city could embrace as a much-needed conterbalance in this sunny and often homogenous place.
                                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        On Main Street is the establishment formerly and still intermittently known as the Cecil Hotel. It is one such grand, old Beaux Arts building flanked now by preppy newcomers.
                                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        Nowhere does the form mention the murders and murderers that have captivated so many creative minds, despite the fact that people keep going there to make Youtube videos of there "haunted" stays.
                                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        Like much of downtown LA - and the city more broadly - the history and culture are rich and often willfully ignored. There's something there ; it's not necessarily the haunting of cinematic lore. It's a film noir feeling that could be tantamount to an identity for this city.

excerpts from
Postcard from a Film Noir LA
Massoud Hayoun
2017
reblogged via Explore Parts Unknown