Multiplicity: Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

I am often told that "American high society" is an oxymoron, either by those who hold the quaint, bien-pensant belief that the United States is a classless society in which opportunity is open to all or by Europeans who believe themselves to be superior and look down pejoratively upon the social aspirations of a country that is younger than many families, social clubs, educational establishments and even socks in the Old World. Of course, America does have its high society and to pretend otherwise is simply fatuous. To quote the great sage and society figure Oscar Wilde, "Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals." It is those individuals—the very many men and women who comprise society today—who have made the pageant of American society so entertaining and engrossing. The truth is that the United States is no longer a young country; it is a middle-aged nation with its own social codes and structures locked into its collective DNA. It has its prominent families, an untitled aristocracy, who exerted such a profound effect on the nation—or who have just been around for so long—that the doings of their descendants are still a source of interest. There is, of course, the plutocracy: men and women who made so much money that they simply pay to rise to the pinnacle of the social structure, building huge mansions and amassing automotive art collections that remain among the most impressive the world has ever seen.

Once a year, 200 of the most prized collector cars in the world roll onto the famed eighteenth fairway at Pebble Beach; standouts receive official recognition for style, technical merit and historical accuracy surrounded by hat-clad ladies in lace and gentlemen in seersucker and aviators. In 2011, the event showcased early antique Benz and Mercedes tourers, Edwardian Silver Rolls Royce Ghosts, Jaguar E-types and the legendary Ferrari 250 GTOs. There were also few hot-rods, including Stutz, Dusenberg and Packard. Since its inception in 1950, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance has donated more than $14 Million to charitable organizations in the greater Monterey Peninsula area.

In The Beginning All Cars Were Sports Cars: Historic Races At Laguna Seca

“The biggest thing,” says Dan Gurney about racing, “is to learn to trust in the amount of grip you have. The earlier sports cars were very different to the F1 cars of today. It was different because you had to learn to push through an invisible barrier to get the aerodynamics working. After that it gripped like crazy, but a lot of people who buy sports cars to race at weekend events never get beyond that barrier and end up being constantly scared of it.” At the Monterey Historic races, I am fortunate to meet Bob Bondurant from McLaren/Lola, Dan Gurney from Ferrari and BRM, Jay Leno the late night provocateur and Jesse Alexander who produced some of the most indelible Porsche photography between 1953 and 1962. The Monterey Historic races possess a distinctive sense of camaraderie and the fleeting moment of automotive racing that is lacking from the F1 circuit. Here visitors have full access in the paddock to the racecars, drivers and enthusiastic fans.

Even with the high safety standards of the world-renowned raceway, accidents still happen. Today, three vintage cars were part of a pile up that was caused by a driver missing a shift and slamming into another causing a chain reaction. Subsequently one of the cars flipped over but no injuries took place. Further proof we still can't overcome the rules of physics.

Home By The Sea

Every summer we make a pilgrimage to the East-Coast to bathe in the splendor of humidity and the natural ocean. My spouse is at home here. I am happy to go on our hikes, runs, watch plays, and enjoy phenomenal meals. Ah, rejuvenation in Eden.

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Everything Is Cinematheque

I think we’re all a bit crazy; those of us outside the asylums only hide it better–and maybe not that much better. We’ve all known people who talk to themselves, people who sometimes squelch their faces into horrible grimaces or pick their nose when they believe no one is watching, people who have some hysterical fear of snakes, the dark, the crick in their neck, the long drop, and of course, the worms waiting ever so patiently underground. When we pay our twenty bucks and seat ourselves in a comfy movie theater we are daring ourselves to go for a ride and to escape from within. We go to the movies to re-establish our feelings of essential normality. Movies provide psychic relief on a level inviting us to lapse into simplicity, irrationality and even outright madness for an extended period of two, sometimes three hours. If we are all insane then sanity becomes a matter of degree. Exercising our emotional muscles helps maintain the status quo of our civilization. Love, friendship, loyalty and kindness are emotions we applaud, emotions that have been immortalized in motion pictures and in poetry. The mythic movie has a job to do. It deliberately appeals to the worst in us, and what we aspire to be. It unchains our most base instincts while realizing our fantasies.

Strange Things Happen

Los Angeles is an overflowing ocean awash in wit, kitsch, horror, cartoons and the ultra chic rebel yell-it's a city with a future and a remote control past. Residents of Los Angeles are a remarkable bunch of people. It is a strange place, but far more relaxed than you might expect. If you suddenly find yourself here talking to Hollywood royalty you’ll find Los Angeles is a warm generous place filled with talent, opportunity and remarkable insight. If you take the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu, Ocean Front Walk, Venice and then to Hollywood Hills–you’ll see the charm that is Los Angeles. Mulholland Drive or Sunset Boulevard is the spine that connects the valley to the rest of the city. When you are on Mulholland you can see both sides of Los Angeles. It is serpentine; all at once it locates you as nothing else would here. Los Angeles does not feel like anywhere else on earth and this is good but soon everywhere else is going to resemble Los Angeles. Pulsating daily into the airwaves the dream is alive and well in the entertainment capital of the universe. Now go out and watch a movie at a nearby cinematheque.

Culture You Say

Architecture, sculpture, painting, photography, music, film, cartoons, advertising and graffiti are relics of our time. Each serves as purveyor of change within a social context. The culture we perceive remains a force but largely for consumerism. The post modernism of resistance arises as a counter-practice to question rather than exploit cultural norms.

Embracing Sustainability As Necessity

Architecture vocabulary is overflowing with timely buzzwords like sustainable architecture, ecological architecture and green architecture. Green implies energy management to reduce pollution by using solar, wind, water recovery and recyclable or reused materials as the basis for design. At a time when the world is experiencing a serious energy crisis, when the planet is dangerously overheating and when the population explosion brings with it a frightening increase in urban squalor – sustainability has become an urgent necessity. Neither architects nor anyone who is concerned about the future can ignore the effects of climate change and ecological responsibility.

7000 Years Of Stylistic Evolution

In the 7000 years of human civilization, the story of architecture has principally been the story of great buildings. Shapes of dwellings have represented to us the image we have of ourselves as societies, cultural beliefs, codes and values. The aesthetic today, however, includes ornamentation and a concern for renewability for future generations. This new context imposes moves beyond the minimal, embraces the culture of high technology and purity of line in design.

Imagine New Shapes With Information Modeling

In architecture invention, imagination and progression – continuously flow into one another. The architect is a creator who confronts past values with new ones ripe for the picking. New materials and technology such as lightweight metals and polycarbonate allow architects to get closer to the dream of infinitely malleable structure and space. The computer has also proven to be a real ally with 3D information modeling, allowing extraordinary leaps of the visual imagination. Architects now more than ever, are able to stretch their imagination and aim for the stars.

Structural Expressionism

Computer Aided Design (CAD) technology lets architects play with form unlike ever before. 3D Autodesk software not only helps put together what buildings looks like, it also tells exactly how much an extra curve here or projection there would cost the client. Structural expressionism for newer shapes and styles is also improving collaboration between architects, engineers and building material contractors who measure, cut and construct the emerging designs. CAD technology has been liberating for architects to bring forth new designs and for clients who commission the buildings.

A Cultural Rebirth Of The City

The brave new world of early architecture was based on capitalist ideals of the industrial revolution. By the second half of the twentieth century, the rise of the aesthetic resulted in a rush to live in the suburbs and decline in urban centers as places to live. Today, there is a rebirth in the cities around the world. Integrated approaches to new dwellings – encompassing environment, culture and community are making downtown as a place people want to live.