#silicon beach

[sentivium]

omg this is so disturbing

so many startups AI companies in LA, are they hit badly?

[laconservancy]

From Goose to Google Part 4: Ratkovich to the Rescue

Most people saw a bunch of dilapidated industrial buildings taking up valuable Westside real estate. Wayne Ratkovich saw a singular opportunity.

In 2010, the former campus of the Hughes Aircraft Company was a ghost town. No longer buzzing with thousands of employees pioneering advances in aviation and electronics, the once-mighty 1,300-acre campus—complete with its own runway—had shrunk to twenty-eight acres. One of the last remaining links to Southern California’s aerospace industry was wasting away.

Looming over the site was the Cargo Building, one of the largest wooden buildings in the world. Built for the construction of the Hughes Flying Boat, also called the Hercules and widely known as the Spruce Goose, the vast hangar stood empty except for occasional film production.

The Spruce Goose hangar before rehabilitation.

Plans for the site had come and gone since General Motors acquired the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1986. Many of the complex’s historic buildings had been demolished, both before and after the site was deemed eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. The buildings that survived languished in a steady state of decay.

As founder and CEO of The Ratkovich Company (TRC), visionary developer Wayne Ratkovich had seen this type of thing before. The stripped-down Wiltern Theatre, ready for demolition. The exquisite Oviatt Building, his first project, bought for a song in 1977. Since then, along with new development, his firm has revitalized some of L.A.’s most important landmarks.

Ratkovich saw past the rotting wood, flooded basements, and boarded-up windows. In 2010, TRC, in partnership with Penwood Real Estate Investment Management, bought eleven buildings on the site’s remaining twenty-eight acres.

The developer was determined to give the site new life for a new generation. With tech companies and startups flocking to the Westside’s Silicon Beach, Ratkovich envisioned a site for innovators, which couldn’t be more appropriate.

He enlisted renowned architect Brenda Levin to design the restoration and adapt the site for new uses. No stranger herself to preservation, Levin also worked with existing buildings as part of her design practice. She had partnered with Ratkovich on a number of historic landmarks, including the Oviatt and the Wiltern.

TRC Senior Development Manager (and Wayne’s son) Milan Ratkovich led the ambitious effort to transform the property into a creative campus. Actually, calling the project ambitious is a bit of an understatement.

These were plain, industrial buildings made of industrial materials—largely wood, for the ones built during World War II when metal was unavailable. After decades of neglect and deferred maintenance, most of the structures were literally falling apart. There was no power or water (except for fire water). There were no sewer connections.

Buildings 1, 2, and 3 on the East Campus before rehabilitation.

The team pumped tens of thousands of gallons of water out of basements; removed lead paint and asbestos; patched, cleaned, and painted; and restored almost 800 windows—among many other things. The giant Cargo Building/Spruce Goose hangar was structurally sound (thanks to dozens of 75-foot-tall double arches), but its large clerestory windows had been boarded up during its days as a soundstage. The wood was coated with layers of paint, much of it lead. As a nod to the site’s history, they did keep some remnants of the signature “Hughes green” paint that once covered all the buildings on the site.

EPT Design created a landscape and open-space plan fit for innovators, with common areas that engaged young, creative employees. They also honored the site’s heritage: flowing concrete walls suggest aerodynamics; grid layouts evoke the orderly nature of the buildings and the work that once took place inside them.

TRC also rebranded the site to tell its story. They renamed it from Hughes Industrial to the Hercules Campus, in honor of the Flying Boat. They harnessed the power of Howard Hughes’ rich legacy as an innovator—as well as his enduring mystique—to appeal to media, entertainment, and technology companies. “We want those kind of firms that are looking for unconventional space,” Wayne Ratkovich told the Los Angeles Times in 2010. “That’s what these buildings represent.”

It worked. The first tenants on the Hercules Campus included YouTube Studios, advertising firm 72andSunny, and video-game developer Konami. The once-dilapidated old buildings leased more quickly, and at higher rents, than their brand-new neighbors. As Ratkovich told the L.A. Times in 2012, “It is just amazing how companies prefer these industrial buildings to squeaky-clean, brand-new structures.”

YouTube Studios was one of the first tenants of the Hercules Campus.

The project earned a Preservation Award from the Los Angeles Conservancy in 2014. In 2016, TRC and Penwood sold the hangar and some other campus buildings to Japanese investor ASO. Since then, the Spruce Goose hangar has been transformed into the centerpiece of Google’s Playa Vista campus. 

Join us on May 4 for our annual benefit!

See for yourself how this incredible space has been stunningly transformed for tech giant Google. Attend our fundraiser, From Goose to Google, on Saturday, May 4, 2019.

The former Spruce Goose hangar has found new life as Google Playa Vista.

Learn more and attend the From Goose to Google benefit >

[obscurevideogames]

Dark Castle (Silicon Beach - Mac - 1986)

[calilili]

“tho she be but little ,

she is fierce!

—- that’s Shakespeare boys!“

Is a line of dialogue from one of my favorite films, #seabiscuit - because it applies to the projects we make at my tiny #sustainable studio

Dear Friends,

Proud & Humble

to announce

(yay 🎭🎬🎶🎉🌊🐬🦋🌊)

my movie

An Oscars 2020 Contender

#evengodthisfemaleisnotyetrated™☯️

Movie Review 2022 NYC

📰

https://t2conline.com/cali-lilis-eve-n-god-this-female-is-not-yet-rated-with-original-soundtrack

Cali Lili’s : Eve N God This Female Is Not Yet Rated (with original soundtrack) | Times Square Chronicles

After the first minute, I knew this would not be an LA – guns – and – car – crash film. eVe N’god this female is not yet rated™ ©CaliLili™ f

has been selected

by the #siliconbeachfilmfestival

@silicon_beach_film_festival

to screen

at the epic #graumanschinesetheatre @chinesetheatres

On #hollywoodboulevard

In #hollywood #losangeles

Starring

#WingsHauser

#CaliLili™️ (me! 🏄🏼‍♀️)

Candace Burney @lvngsmply

&

Isriya McFillin

We know Sept 12 at 12 pm is a challenging time of day to attend a film,

but if you can -

please support the #screening

plan a play date

& BRING FRIENDS

to this historic beautiful #cinema

This #sleeperhit movie includes a completely original highly eclectic soundtrack, (my debut album) Ranging from #rap to gospel to #altcountry #jazz , world groove & always - all out #rocknroll

was made with an #allfemalecrew & the story is empowering / fempowered with themes addressing social & environmental justice issues that our world grapples with on a daily basis :

#mybodymychoice #blacklivesmatter #climateactionnow #womensupportingwomen #harriswalz2024 #lgbtq🌈 #feministfilm #filmfestival

#filmfestivals

#losangeles

#calilili #calililiindies™

More details on the way !

please help us share !

@wearemovingstories @ladyfilmmakers @latimes #losangeles @losangelestouristguide @lalgbtcenter @losangeles @whmwesthollywoodmagazine @hollywoodreporter @outoftheclosethollywood @wehoarts @otc_weho

This #sleeperhit movie includes a completely original highly eclectic soundtrack, (my debut album) Ranging from #rap to gospel to #altcountry #jazz , world groove & always - all out #rocknroll

was made with an #allfemalecrew & the story is empowering / fempowered with themes addressing social & environmental justice issues that our world grapples with on a daily basis :

#mybodymychoice #blacklivesmatter #climateactionnow #womensupportingwomen #harriswalz2024 #lgbtq🌈 #feministfilm #filmfestival

#filmfestivals

#losangeles

#calilili #calililiindies™

More details on the way !

please help us share !

[reportwire]

RapportBoost.AI Chief Data Scientist Dr. Michael Housman to Present Machine Learning Solutions at Los Angeles CTO Forum on September 28

RapportBoost.AI Chief Data Scientist Dr. Michael Housman to Present Machine Learning Solutions at Los Angeles CTO Forum on September 28

Artificial Intelligence Luminary to Deliver Original Research on “How Machines Understand Text – Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning In Practice” to Los Angeles Chief Technology Officers Forum Press Release – updated: Aug 31, 2017 LOS ANGELES, August 31, 2017 (Newswire.com) – Dr. Michael Housman, Co-Founder and Chief Data Scientist of RapportBoost.AI, a Los Angeles-based startup…

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[mrlocationscout]

Playa Vista sunset

[pursuitist]

Daily Dream Home: Westchester

Daily Dream Home: Westchester

This brand new contemporary home with stunning views is the definition of contemporary luxury in the Silicon Beach area of Los Angeles in the town of Westchester. Westchester is known as being one of the smaller enclaves in the area and is mostly home to older homes.

Newly built, this thoughtful design features soaring 14 ft. ceilings, an abundance of natural light combined with a seamless floor…

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[mrchrisreese]

The official poster from my 2018 short film, ‘The Reckoning.’  Currently, the film is an official selection of two film festivals:  The Las Vegas Black Film Festival and The Silicon Beach Film Festival