That's how architect Brenda Levin, FAIA, describes her adopted city of Los Angeles, where she's spent the last 30 years helping the city's urban form evolve.
Recently Ms. Levin received a Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects/Los Angeles. In her acceptance speech, she talked about her arrival in L.A. from the East Coast and how it changed her perspective on cities:
"For me, great cities were Eurocentric constructs of 19th and 20th Century architecture-built upon an organized pattern of streets, with pedestrian scale sidewalks, large public parks, navigable public transit, and water that defined the urban edge."
"Once in practice, it did not take me long to realize, that Los Angeles is actually a petri dish for dreams and unafraid dreamers-unusually open to experimentation, receptive to change, self invention, "the new, new thing," including a young female architect from Boston.
With each successive architectural commission, I grew to appreciate how other immigrant transplants like myself, were embraced based on merit, and given opportunities that were often beyond the reach of women professionals in more tradition-bound cities. "
FULL STORY: AIA/LA Gold Medal Awarded to Brenda Levin for Contributions to Los Angeles’ Revitalization
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