Sara Velas is an artist, graphic designer, gardener, curator and Artistic Director of the Velaslavasay Panorama in Los Angeles, CA, US. [1] [2] [3]
Born in Panorama City, Velas studied the panoramic painting style while a student at Washington University School of Art in Saint Louis, Missouri, where she received her BFA in Painting. [4] Velas’ interest in panoramas goes back to her days as an art student. She was researching the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and became aware of the panorama paintings that entertained people there. [1] In 2000, she founded the Velaslavasay Panorama in Los Angeles, CA. Velas also served as the president of the International Panorama Council from 2014 to 2017, which meets annually to discuss the panoramic medium both historically and contemporarily and currently serves as Co-President with Molly Briggs. [5]
When interviewed in 2016 for the journal Museum Futures, Velas noted that: “A few times, I suppose I’ve not been the ideal interviewee because folks would ask me ‘Now that you’ve done this, what would you like to have happen?’ Getting at a higher pinpointed truth or ‘secret meaning.’ My genuine answer is that I want to keep working on it, tending to it and aligning its growth- similar to a garden (and also literally a garden).” [6] Ms. Velas was featured twice on episodes of Visiting… With Huell Howser for her work with the Velaslavasay Panorama (2001 & 2011). [7] An avid architectural preservationist, in 2002 Sara Velas co-authored with fellow Modcom member Meri Pritchett the first nomination in the United States to successfully grant cultural historic preservation status to a trailer park, the Monterey Trailer Park in Highland Park. [8]
California's Gold is a public television human interest program that explores the natural, cultural, and historical features of California. The series ran for 24 seasons beginning in 1991, and was produced and hosted by Huell Howser in collaboration with KCET, Los Angeles. The series ceased production when Howser retired in November 2012, shortly before his death on January 7, 2013, although episodes continue to be shown on KCET and are featured on the page at the station's website about his shows.
U.S. Bank Tower, known locally as the Library Tower and formerly as the First Interstate Bank World Center, is a 1,018-foot (310.3 m) skyscraper in downtown Los Angeles, California. It is, by structural height, the third-tallest building in California, the second-tallest building in Los Angeles, the 24th-tallest in the United States, the third-tallest west of the Mississippi River after the Salesforce Tower and the Wilshire Grand Center, and the 129th-tallest building in the world, after being surpassed by the Wilshire Grand Center. However, the U.S. Bank Tower does surpass both the Salesforce Tower and the Wilshire Grand Center in roof height, making it the only building in California whose roof height exceeds 1,000 feet (300 m). Because local building codes required all high-rise buildings to have a helipad, it was known as the tallest building in the world with a rooftop heliport from its completion in 1989 to 2010 when the China World Trade Center Tower III opened. It is also the third-tallest building in a major active seismic region; its structure was designed to resist an earthquake of 8.3 on the Richter scale. It consists of 73 stories above ground and two parking levels below ground. Construction began in 1987 with completion in 1989. The building was designed by Henry N. Cobb of the architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and cost $350 million to build. It is one of the most recognizable buildings in Los Angeles, and often appears in establishing shots for the city in films and television programs.
Huell Burnley Howser was an American television personality, actor, producer, writer, singer, and voice artist, best known for hosting, producing, and writing California's Gold and his human interest show Visiting... with Huell Howser, produced by KCET in Los Angeles for California PBS stations. The archive of his video chronicles offers an enhanced understanding of the history, culture, and people of California. He also voiced the Backson in Winnie the Pooh (2011).
Descanso Gardens is a 150-acre (61 ha) botanical garden located in La Cañada Flintridge, Los Angeles County, California. It sits on the northern edge of the San Rafael Hills.
Los Angeles Trade–Technical College is a public community college in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the Los Angeles Community College District and is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC), American Culinary Federation, and League of Nursing, among others.
Robert Graham was a Mexican-born American sculptor based in the state of California in the United States. His monumental bronzes commemorate the human figure, and are featured in public places across America.
The Wrigley Memorial & Botanic Garden is a botanic garden on Santa Catalina Island, California, operated by the Catalina Island Conservancy. It also contains a memorial to William Wrigley Jr.
Salvation Mountain is a hillside visionary environment created by local resident Leonard Knight (1931–2014) in the California Desert area of Imperial County, north of Calipatria, northeast of Niland, near the Slab City squatter/art commune, and several miles from the Salton Sea.
SS Lane Victory is an American Victory-class cargo ship used in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War. The ship was preserved in 1989 to serve as a museum ship in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles, California. As a rare surviving Victory ship, she was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark.
The Greystone Mansion, also known as the Doheny Mansion, is a Tudor Revival mansion on a landscaped estate with distinctive formal English gardens, located in Trousdale Estates of Beverly Hills, California, United States. Architect Gordon Kaufmann designed the residence and ancillary structures, and construction was completed in 1928. It was a gift from oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny to his son, Edward "Ned" Doheny Jr. and his family. Following the purchase of the estate by the City of Beverly Hills in 1965, it became a city park in 1971, and was subsequently added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 as Doheny Estate/Greystone. The house and grounds are often used as locations for film and television shows. The house's descending staircase is one of the most famous sets in Hollywood.
Point Fermin Light is a lighthouse on Point Fermin in San Pedro, California.
Hollywood Reservoir is a reservoir located in the Hollywood Hills, situated in the Santa Monica Mountains and north of the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is maintained by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The reservoir and surrounding neighborhood lie east of the Hollywood Freeway and are overlooked, from a distance, by the Hollywood Sign.
Queen Anne Cottage and Coach Barn is a Victorian style pair of buildings at Baldwin Lake, on the grounds of the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, located in Arcadia and the San Gabriel Valley of southern California.
The Exposition Park Rose Garden is a historic 7-acre (28,000 m2) sunken garden located in Exposition Park in Los Angeles, California. It has been called "one of the city's best-kept secrets". It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
Clifton's Cafeteria, once part of a chain of eight Clifton's restaurants, was the oldest surviving cafeteria-style eatery in Los Angeles and the largest public cafeteria in the world when it closed in 2018. Founded in 1931 by Clifford Clinton, the design of the restaurants included exotic decor and facades that were "kitschy and theatrical", and would eventually include multi-story fake redwood trees, stuffed lions, neon plants, and a petrified wood bar. Some considered Clifton's as a precursor to the first tiki bars. The name was created by combining "Clifford" and "Clinton" to produce "Clifton's".
Pershing Square is a small public park in Downtown Los Angeles, California, one square block in size, bounded by 5th Street to the north, 6th Street to the south, Hill Street to the east, and Olive Street to the west. Originally dedicated in 1866 by Mayor Cristóbal Aguilar as La Plaza Abaja, the square has had numerous names over the years until it was finally dedicated in honor of General John J. Pershing in 1918.
The Pig 'n Whistle was an American restaurant and bar located in Hollywood on Hollywood Boulevard.
The Saban Building, formerly the May Company Building, on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles, is a celebrated example of Streamline Moderne architecture. The building's architect Albert C. Martin, Sr., also designed the Million Dollar Theater and Los Angeles City Hall. The May Company Building is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. The building was operated as a May Company department store from 1939 until the store's closure in 1992, when May merged with J. W. Robinson's to form Robinsons-May. The building has been the home of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures since 2021.
The Velaslavasay Panorama is an exhibition hall, theatre and gardens in Los Angeles, California, featuring the only painted, 360-degree panorama created in the United States since the nineteenth century. The Velaslavasay Panorama was originally established by artist Sara Velas in 2000 at the Tswuun-Tswuun Rotunda on Hollywood Boulevard. The museum's name combines Velas' last name with her mother's maiden name, Asay. In 2004, its original venue threatened with demolition, the panorama moved to its present location at the Union Theatre in Historical West Adams.
The Yamashiro Historic District is located on Sycamore Avenue in the Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States.