Never Was Magazine

[Never Was Magazine]

Tomorrowland concept art, probably by Herb Ryman

1954 Herb Ryman concept art for Tomorrowland’s entrance with a painting by Collin Campbell

1953 Tomorrowland concept art by Dale Hennesy

Every Disney theme park has its Tomorrowland. The one in Paris has Jules Verne-style attractions. Disneyland Hong Kong this year launched an Iron Man attraction.

The original Tomorrowland opened in California in 1955. It was meant to show visitors what America would look like in the year 1986. Above are some of the original artworks produced for the park.

1965 concept art for Tomorrowland’s Space Mountain, by John Hench

1965 concept art for Tomorrowland’s Space Mountain, by John Hench

Disney redesigned Tomorrowland in the 1960s. One of the new attractions was to be an indoor rollercoaster called “Space Port”. John Hench, a prolific Disney designer, created several concept drawings for the iconic dome of what would later be named “Space Mountain”.

#UnbuiltLA: Disney’s Tomorrowland Concept Art Every Disney theme park has its Tomorrowland. The one in Paris has Jules Verne-style attractions. Disneyland Hong Kong this year launched an…

[Never Was Magazine]

Original design for the Los Angeles International Airport terminal (LAX Flight Path Learning Center)

Original design for the Los Angeles International Airport terminal (LAX Flight Path Learning Center)

Original design for the Los Angeles International Airport terminal (LAX Flight Path Learning Center)

Original design for the Los Angeles International Airport terminal (LAX Flight Path Learning Center)

Original design for the Los Angeles International Airport terminal (LAX Flight Path Learning Center)

Original design for the Los Angeles International Airport terminal (Metropolis Books)

The most recognizable structure of Los Angeles International Airport — indeed, perhaps of Los Angels altogether — is the Googie-style Theme Building, resembling a flying saucer. It for years housed a restaurant with 360-degree views of the airport.

In the original design, which was made by the firm Pereira and Luckman, the site of the Theme Building would have been occupied by an enormous glass dome connecting all the terminals, which are now separate. It was rejected by the Los Angeles Building Department, which thought the plan too radical and worried that the cost of air conditioning the dome might be be exorbitant.

Also, the airlines wanted their own terminals — no matter the inconvenience to travelers changing flights at LAX.

#UnbuiltLA: The Original LAX Terminal The most recognizable structure of Los Angeles International Airport – indeed, perhaps of Los Angels altogether – is the Googie-style Theme Building, resembling a flying saucer.

[Never Was Magazine]

Unbuilt Los Angeles: World Trade Center

#UnbuiltLA: World Trade Center

Proposed World Trade Center for Los Angeles (Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley) The construction of the Vincent Thomas Bridge connecting the city with Terminal Island threatened to make the San Pedro Municipal Ferry Building obsolete in the 1950s. One idea, seen here, was to replace the building with a Los Angeles World Trade Center spanning seven city blocks.

View On WordPress

[Never Was Magazine]

Unbuilt Los Angeles: Elysian Park Heights

#UnbuiltLA: Elysian Park Heights

Elysian Park Heights, as envisaged by architects Robert Alexander and Richard Neutra (Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research) Los Angeles faced a housing shortage after the Second World War. City planners identified Chavez Ravine, just north of Downtown, for development. The plan was to build 3,600 new homes for low-income families. Existing residents, mainly Mexican…

View On WordPress

[Never Was Magazine]

Unbuilt Los Angeles: Tower of Civilization

#UnbuiltLA: Tower of Civilization

1940s Tower of Civilization for a World’s Fair that was never held in Los Angeles Los Angeles was meant to host a World’s Fair in the 1940s, but World War II got in the way. The centerpiece of the fair could have been a “Tower of Civilization,” concocted by real-estate developer William Evans and civil engineer Donald Warren. Almost 400 meters high and 45 meters in diameter, it would have been…

View On WordPress

[Never Was Magazine]

Unbuilt Los Angeles: Lloyd Wright’s Civic Center

#UnbuiltLA: Lloyd Wright’s Civic Center

Sketch of a proposed Los Angeles Civic Center by Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright’s son, commonly known as Lloyd Wright, had his own vision of Los Angeles. He proposed a massive, multi-tiered Civic Center to house all the city’s public services, including City Hall, county offices, courthouses and police headquarters. An “acropolis for the city,” it would have radically transformed Downtown Los…

View On WordPress

[Never Was Magazine]

Sketch by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Doheny Ranch Development, California, circa 1923 (Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation)

Sketch by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Doheny Ranch Development, California, circa 1923 (Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation)

Sketch by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Doheny Ranch Development, California, circa 1923 (Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation)

Sketch by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Doheny Ranch Development, California, circa 1923 (Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation)

Hillside living was the thing in 1920s Los Angeles. Wealthy Angelenos sought luxurious homes close to the hills, the most famous district being Beverly Hills of Hollywood fame.

A large section of what is now Beverly Hills was undeveloped in the early 20s and owned by an oil tycoon, Edward L. Doheny.

Frank Lloyd Wright, the grandfather of organic architecture, pitched a scheme for the estate that would transform it into a dieselpunk-era Shangri-La, with houses, roads and nature in harmony.

Wright’s proposal never went anywhere and he only drew a few sketches, circa 1923.

But what emerges from the drawings is nothing less than an idealized prototype for what American suburbs might have become, but did not, according to the Library of Congress.

As surviving perspectives demonstrate, buildings, roadways and plantings are conceived as an integrated totality; it is the vision of the suburb as one structure.

#UnbuiltLA: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Shangri-La Hillside living was the thing in 1920s Los Angeles. Wealthy Angelenos sought luxurious homes close to the hills, the most famous district being Beverly Hills of Hollywood fame.