Post #288380 by Swamp Tiki on Mon, Feb 26, 2007 8:05 PM

I agree with the last series of posts. Modern architects and designers have a real problem with recreating vintage style. I believe it is primarily due to a very limited understanding of scale, depth, and aesthetic relationships. Today's academic institutions spend very little time discussing historic architecture...in the depth for true understanding anyway. It doesn't matter if a building's attributes are associated with a high style Queen Anne house, a turn of the century commercial building, or the Beverly Hills Trader Vic's, a complete understanding of the elements of style is required for proper restoration, rehabilitation, or reconstruction. It is my opinion that in academia too much time is spent on "mind-numbing theory courses" rather than down and dirty work. As a result, these upstart professionals marching from our sacred institutions tend loose site of what is preferred among the masses. The incessant desire to "one-up" the previous generation has resulted in an unexpected drop in quality. Innovative architectural style began to wane by the mid-1970s, by the 1980s it had completely died. From the 1980s to the present little advancement has been made. What has been built, large and small, is typically created from inferior, mass-produced, pre-cast materials. Money doesn't always buy quality these days. Sadly, the modern buildings that are washing across our sprawl-induced landscape painfully lack the creative inventiveness of the artisan-enriched architecture of old.....aarrrrrgh!

Sorry 'bout the rant, but I needed to vent.

I have contacted the Atlanta Trader Vic's. The person I spoke with stated that would like to take part in a nation-wide link up celebratory event to generate interest in preserving Trader Vic's 90210.

Any news on the nation?

Swamp
(Proud supporter of the Trader Vic's Preservation Action Committee)