I’m
stunned and sadden by the news that John Chase has died. See LA Curbed, and
Gelatobaby.
In
a city full of affected eccentricity, John was an authentic eccentric.
He
was not always easy to take; he was unpredictable—a dandy, a nut, charming,
annoying, exuberant, depressed—but completely sincere. He looked interesting
because he was
interesting.
This
was the man who told the corporate executives of Koo Koo Roo that they might be able to get permission to
build one of their restaurants on Santa Monica Boulevard in the heart of WeHo if
the logo in their sign was in 3-D and if it revolved.
Only
after talking to some other friends last night did I remember that I had a hand
in his Glitter Stucco book. I think I was the first one to read the manuscript for
Verso Press. The whole episode had escaped me because John was completely
without literary vanity, and working with him and making suggestions (did I
make any?) was so painless there was nothing to remember.
And
he was a significant writer. His 1982 book Exterior Decoration did for Los Angeles
architecture what The Velvet Underground & Nico did for pop music. Reyner
Banham put his finger it on it as usual, when he noted its “profound
disrespect.” There’s always a lot of disrespect in circulation, but how much of
it is profound?
Mike
Davis called him the “irrepressible leprechaun of LA planning: sowing ludic
mischief and democratic hope in an otherwise bureaucratic desert.”
I
can’t believe it.
Like
Valéry, John preferred “the brilliance of the least fact that happens.” And
fortunately for me—and a vast and extremely varied crowd of admirers throughout
the world—John was a fact that happened to our lives that will endure.
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