Photo by Ken Hively, The Los Angeles TimesAmericana at Brand is a "mixed use" development that recently opened in Glendale, a suburb of L.A. Americana is an ultra-high end, open-air retail center, wrapped around a perfectly manicured "Green" with a standing clock, a showy fountain and statuary, traversed by an old-timey trolley, and capped by several storeys of luxury apartments. I could go on about these "new urban" faux environments which are popping up all over L.A. and the country for that matter. But for now, let's dwell on Americana. Here's a higher vantage shot to give you a better idea of the, uh, "grandeur":
Last week I went with some friends to see the Pixar film WALL-E at the Pacific Theatre at Americana. WALL-E is about an endearing robot whose purpose is to clean up the (literally) mountains of garbage left by humans over centuries of wasteful and unsustainable consumption before they abandoned the Earth entirely. As we stepped out of the spectacularly over-air-conditioned theatre into the "street" where tour-i-dents photographed each other by the dancing fountain, the air was as thick with irony as it was with the canned refrains of various Greatest Generation crooners.
Ah, Americana. Why is there a little Eiffel Tower perched atop your cute steampunk elevator shaft? Was it a gift from the people of France to the people of Glendale? If I climb up to the top, will I have better cell reception? And how should I characterize your style, you coy jewel of the San Fernando? Is it that you bring to mind the faux Belle Epoque charm of that other tres jolie gem of the desert, the Bellagio, or that you remind me of Japan's idea of pre-World War II Europe, as I've so often seen it imagined in anime films? Or are you, perhaps most evidently, the wet dream-come-true of that empire-building cartoonist who lived and died not far from where your fake turn-of-the-century street lamps now stand sentry in the somewhat dark night...at least until 10p.m.?
