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Arts and Culture

World Heritage Site new “Tentative List”: Places to Love: Civil Rights Movement Sites

by Jamie Rhein on Feb 22, 2008

For the Gadling series “World Heritage Site new “Tentative List”: Places to Love” we are covering the 14 sites that have been submitted for possible inclusion as an official World Heritage Site in the United States. The sites will not be posted in order of importance or in the order they appear on the list.

Number 1

Name of site: Civil Rights Movement Sites

Location: Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama.

Reason for importance (in a nutshell): Three churches, Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery and the Bethel Baptist and 16th Street Baptist Churches in Birmingham, all historically African-American, played significant roles during the Civil Rights Movement.

Jamie’s Take: Of all the places on the new Tentative Sites list, these are perhaps the most humble and each hold enormous significance to American history. During Black History month, this is a fitting time to pay tribute. Here’s why:

Picture Martin Luther King Jr. standing at the simple pulpit of what was then called Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. From 1954 to1960, he was the pastor of this church, preaching his message that pulled people into a movement that changed history. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was organized from here. The church today looks similar to what it did back then–even the pulpit is still there.

In Birmingham on September 15, 1963, a bomb exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church. Hatred killed four girls while they were putting on their choir robes. Members of the Klu Klux Klan were responsible. The bombing played a large role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act. The church, in the heart of the Civil Rights District of Birmingham, still operates as a church today. In 1873, when it was founded, it was the first African American church to in Birmingham.

From 1956-1961, the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) was headquartered at the Bethel Baptist Church. The early Civil Rights movement efforts were organized here, including the Freedom Ride bus trip that helped lead to the desegregation of bus transportation. This church was bombed several times and is now a National Historic Landmark.

Hey, no pictures!

by Aaron Hotfelder on Feb 22, 2008

Sometimes it’s just not appropriate– or legal– to pull out your camera and snap a photo. Like when you’re standing in front of the Mona Lisa, or getting the run-around from a Customs official, or at the scene of a criminal investigation. Thankfully, not everyone feels so constricted by “No Photography” policies.

A website called Strictly No Photography describes itself as “Photo-sharing for pictures taken where you are not allowed to take them,” like art galleries, religious sites, and government buildlings. The photos are divided into different categories— Government, Live Music, Transport— and the site encourages submissions from amateur photographers.

Check the photos out here.

And got an illicit pic you’d like to share? [And, no, not that kind, sicko.] Register and submit your own photos here.

Paris Paparazzi: Organized tours to track down French celebrities

by Anna Brones on Feb 21, 2008

With their President Nicolas Sarkozy married to a fashionable ex-supermodel, and getting a lot of publicity on account of it, the French are currently consumed by the lives of celebrities. So what better way to feel truly part of French culture than taking part in the celebrity craze yourself?

Browsing through some French newspapers this morning I came across the Paris Paparazzi walking tour run by Parisian travel company Nomade Aventure. It’s basically a Hollywood star map inspired tour infused with some French flair; running around the city of lights — and apparently, stars — in the hopes of crossing a famed French celebrity hiding behind big black sunglasses. But in all the gallivanting around Saint Germain and Place de l’Odéon, the amount of celebrity sightings probably stays at a minimum.

It’s just another way to experience the romantic French capital. There is one catch however: the tour is only run in French. But maybe that is the only thing that makes something like this bearable.

WHS new “tentative” list: Places to love — Frank Lloyd Wright buildings (part 2)

by Catherine Bodry on Feb 21, 2008

Number 4

Name of site: Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings (Part 2- There are ten buildings on this list, each deserving a mention. Therefore, we are presenting the ten buildings in two separate posts. Here are the final five; the first were posted here.)

Location: Various locations in Arizona, California, Illinois, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin

Reason for importance (in a nutshell): Let’s break’em down by building:

The S.C. Johnson and Son, Inc., buildings (1936-39; 1943-50): Soft light, round forms — is it possible the building was meant to convey wax? Likely not, but that’s what came to my mind when reading the description of the structure. The Great Workroom was built for Johnson’s secretaries, and there are no interior walls or cubicles. Natural light is let in through a series of glass tubings.

Price Tower (1953-56): This building is Wright’s only freestanding skyscraper — it uses a central mast for 19 floors. The design mimics a tree’s form; a “trunk” holds four elevator shafts and the floors are tapered much like branches. I read that Wright solved the dilemma of building a skyscraper (he wanted his structures to mimic nature, which is why most are flat and wide) by designing it after a tree. This is his tallest building.

Marin County Civic Center (1960-1969): The Civic Center, in San Rafael, California, was one of Wright’s last works and the only one built for a government entity. Indoor and outdoor elements blend together, as was Wright’s trademark. Parts of the building are built into the hills (see top photo for an example of how the building enjoys a nearly seamless connection with its surroundings).

The Guggenheim Museum (1956-59): On 5th Avenue facing Central Park, the Guggenheim is, like Fallingwater, a quintessential Frank Lloyd Wright. The UNESCO site describes the Guggenheim better than I could: “The three major components are the main spiral Rotunda, which coils five times around to a sky-lit dome or oculus 95 feet above the floor; the smaller, circular “monitor” to the north; and the horizontal cantilevered bridge that connects the two and wraps around three sides of the building at the second-story level. The entire design is based on geometric modules of circles, triangles and lozenges through a series of interlocking forms.”

Taliesin West (1938): This was Wright’s Arizona winter home, as well as his school and studio. Wright used materials from his surroundings — gravel, sand and stone — for basic construction materials, and a redwood and canvas roof lets in mellow winter light. Indoors and outdoors flow into each other.

Catherine’s take: As Jamie wrote, we’re talking about Frank Lloyd Wright, here! What’s not to love?

IKEA accused of teasing Denmark

by Anna Brones on Feb 21, 2008

I recently wrote about the language of IKEA and how the global furniture giant names all of its products. If you remember, many pieces of furniture, like sofas, wardrobes and bookshelves, are named after places in Norway and Sweden. Denmark on the other hand gets stuck with doormats and carpets. Apparently this has caused a recent Danish uproar, blaming IKEA for naming products of lesser value after places in Denmark as a way to spite it.

“It [IKEA’s naming system] is too systematic for this to be random because IKEA is a very professional company. This can only be a way of teasing Denmark,” stated Nyhedsavisen, a free daily Danish newspaper, on Valentine’s Day.

This may all seem like a joke, but some Danes are taking it very seriously, as pointed out by Assistant Political Communication Professor at the University of Copenhagen, Klaus Kjøller, “It seems to be an example of cultural imperialism. IKEA has chosen the objects with the lowest value and given them Danish names.”

Cultural imperialism you say? I didn’t realize IKEA could be such a touchy subject. But then again, would you want a carpet named after you when other countries get the flashier items like beds and coffee tables?

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