IVIV (11) 168

[Clément Lévy]

On we go!

- "the old L.A. tradition of architectural whimsy"
See the Bradbury building (1897)
http://www.laconservancy.org/tours/downtown/bradbury.php4

The Gamble House in Pasadena (1908)
http://www.gamblehouse.org/

The Million Dollar Theater (1918)
http://www.milliondollartheater.com/Entrance.html

Hollyhock House, by F. Lloyd Wright
http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/04/no-12-hollyhock- 
house.html

Samuel-Novarro House by F. Lloyd Wright (1928)
http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2008/04/no-130-samuel-novarro- 
house.html

Storer House by the same architect (1923)
http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/12/no-96-storer-house.html

Bullocks Wilshire by John and Donald Parkinson (1929)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullocks_Wilshire

Grauman's Egyptian Theater
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grauman%27s_Egyptian_Theatre

as well as Grauman's Chinese Theater (1926)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grauman%27s_Chinese_Theatre

or St. Sophia Cathedral (Byzantine as it can be, and it's near Pico,  
where the end of the chapter takes place)
http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2008/03/no-120-saint-sophia- 
cathedral_07.html

And you'll find many more examples on the website afore mentioned, like
http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2008/09/no-184-site-of-tower- 
of-wooden-pallets.html

Van Nuys City Hall
http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2009/01/no-202-valley- 
municipal-building-van.html

LA City Hall (there's something phallic in this)
http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2009/01/no-202-valley- 
municipal-building-van.html

The Castle on Bunker Hill (burnt to the ground in 1969)
http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/05/no-27-castle.html

and another Frank Lloyd Wright's houses, like the Ennis-Brown:
http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2008/06/no-149-ennis-brown- 
house.html

I won't go further on this, but I couldn't find many contemporary  
buildings

- sans-serif face readig Golden Fang Enterprises, Inc. \ Corporate HQ
the font here is mimetic to the expression, just like the building  
itself imitates its name. Tautology here!

- Xandra, a variant of Alexandra. Could this be an allusion to  
Alexander the Great: emperor who ruled, for a very short time, on  
Greece, Egypt, Persia and the biggest part of Central Asia? He  
gathered a treasure that was long thought as forever lost, and  
pictured as an enormous golden ball in an Italian comic book by Hugo  
Pratt, Corto Maltese, La casa dorata di Samarcanda (The Golden House  
of Samarkand).
It was found in 1978 and secured for 25 years in Kabul, according to  
the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/oct/19/afghanistan.arts

- the general impression made by Xandra is somewhat threatening  
(distant expression, black vinyl jumpsuit, dojo hours, semi-Brit  
accent) and it works.

-Dr. Blatnoyd. His name suggests something unpleasant about him  
(blatant), endings in -noy are present in Russian names, but the - 
noyd may suggest something like nerd.

- a small yellow-framed feng shui mirror … not promising: according  
to this website, feng shui Bagua mirrors (their form as very  
distinctive, whereas any other mirror can be used according to the  
feng shui rules, but one cannot guess it just by seeing them) should  
never ever be placed inside a house. They are meant to bring good  
energy inside, and repel bad energies.
http://fengshui.about.com/od/glossaryofterms/g/baguamirror.htm

- Golden Fang is near lower Sunset blvd.