Photo by lilypenelope

Downtown Los Angeles. A sunny day on top of the Lofts. Photo by lilypenelope

Walking around the streets of a city it often happens to discover hidden architectural treasures such as this one. The Tower Theatre opened in 1927 with a sneak preview of Warner's "The Jazz Singer". Designed by S. Charles Lee, the Tower was his first major cinema building. A Spanish-Romanesque-Moorish design the building was constructed in a very particular way: long and narrow (only 50 feet wide). 1000 seats and a retail store were contained within the long building. It was the first theatre downtown wired for sound.
Known during the 40's as the Newsreel and later as the Music Hall this theater has been closed for movies since 1988.

The exterior and interior have appeared in many movies such as "Fight Club", "Coyote Ugly", "She's so lovely", "Mambo Kings", "Ed Wood", "Mulholland Drive" (interior), "The Good German" and many other.

It is designated a Historic-Cultural Landmark.

I was walking on a hidden street in the town of Cannobio, where I spend almost every weekend, when I saw a very colorful facade. Blue walls with a very powerful massive green entrance door. I tried to take a picture of the whole context but, I had only my 50mm macro lense with me. I divided the image in two pieces. And something got to me:

The big door, heavy beyond beliefs and a madonna holding a child on top of it.

The first, as a symbolic protection from the outside world, from the intruders. The second one a symbolic maternal protection. Yet the door was unlocked.

Luckily the madonna is always there, protecting the house. From what? From who?

At night things assume a total different characteristic. These were shot by the Louvre. I passed by during the day but, for some reasons, the image of this fragment of urban reality didn't catch my eye. The city at night doesn't obviously have the same personality as during the day!

I am not really into Christmas decorations but these, displayed at the Galeries Lafayette, are breathtaking. It's funny how there are complaints about the economy all over the world but, during Christmas noone seems to care. At least with decorations! Power of consumption???