arcCA joins the architecture community of Los Angeles in mourning the death of John Leighton Chase, Urban Designer for the City of West Hollywood and Chair of the arcCA Editorial Board. The Web is filled to bursting with tributes to John, as he was filled with an all-embracing love of buildings and urban places:
Alissa Walker (www.gelatobaby.com): “John was a tremendously outspoken voice in planning and politics, a larger-than-life fixture at architecture events, and honorary cheerleader for an entire generation of young writers and designers.”
Frances Anderton (www.kcrw.com): “Dear friend . . . brilliant writer, outrageous wit, . . . and secret weapon in West Hollywood, where, as urban designer, he was responsible for nurturing urbane and adventurous real estate development.”
Christopher Hawthorne (www.latimes.com): “When he wasn’t taking part in a panel discussion or a civic meeting he could be found in one of the front rows at such events, always easy to spot because of his elaborate color-coordinated outfits. Indeed, Chase cultivated a public persona that was flamboyant but also approachable. Like those stucco boxes he wrote about, he was a hedonist and a pragmatist both—a down-to-earth dandy, an earnest provocateur.”
And, so perfectly echoing my own experience,
Marissa Gluck and Josh Williams (la.curbed.com): “Perhaps John’s greatest trait was his belief in others when they didn’t believe in themselves. We know we’re not the only ones who made dismissive comments about something we were working on, and John would insist it was important, that what we were doing could make a difference.”
John’s passing reminds us to acknowledge the gifts of our colleagues and reminds me, especially, to recognize those who contribute their time and expertise by writing (without compensation—as I tell prospective authors, “solely in the certain hope of continued obscurity”) for this publication.
p.s., John would have loved the third annual Modesto International Architecture Festival, October 21-23, 2010, State Theatre, 1307 J Street, Modesto, www.modestoarchfest.com.
Originally published in arcCA 10.3, “Design Education.”
