REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Rural Residents Strike Back at Lucas Film Empire

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Thursday, February 16, 2012 07:44
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Saturday, February 11, 2012 8:24 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Quote:

Luke Skywalker would be proud. A rebel alliance has formed in the hills north of San Francisco to fight a perceived Evil Empire.

The alliance is a group of Marin County homeowners. Their phantom menace is George Lucas, the world-renowned filmmaker whose Star Wars Trilogy sky-rocketed him to acclaim and fortune.

The plot is simple: Lucas wants to expand his filmmaking empire in the quiet valley that has been home to his Skywalker Ranch for three decades, building a 270,000-square-foot digital media production compound on historic farmland known as Grady Ranch. Neighbors say the massive structure will constrain their lifestyle with additional noise, traffic and harmful environmental impacts on the pristine countryside.


Artist's rendering of the proposed buildings.

But the plot thickens. Other neighbors say Lucas has been a stellar neighbor and a steward of the land who has protected massive swaths of agricultural acreage from housing developments, while bringing jobs and tax-paying residents to the community.

It will all play out before what is likely to be a wide audience at the Marin County Planning Commission meeting on Feb. 27.

Residents of Lucas Valley Estates, a subdivision of 174 midsize to upscale homes about a half-hour drive north of the Golden Gate Bridge, are leading the charge against Grady Ranch. They believe the latest Lucas compound is simply too big for Lucas Valley, named for a 19th century rancher and no relation to the 67-year-old filmmaker.

"This is really the last gateway of historic farmland up here," said Liz Dale, an economist who specializes in land policy. "This is a nonsensical location."

The neighbors say Lucasfilms Ltd. pulled a stealth move on them, quietly taking a master plan that was passed in 1996 by the county supervisors, and then presenting a revised plan before the planning commission in December with what they say was little public notice.

That plan includes a 51-foot-tall, mission-style compound with two 85-foot towers, two indoor sound stages as well as an outdoor stage of nearly 7,000 square feet. There will be screening rooms, guest housing for visiting production teams, a general store and cafeteria for employees, as well as a 4,000-square-foot wine cave for private tastings and storage of the wine and olive oil produced on the working ranches.

Lucasfilm hopes to have the necessary permits in place and break ground by next year, with construction taking 18 months to two years.

"When the plan was passed in 1996, everybody had George Lucas stars in their eyes and whatever he wanted, they were happy to give," said Rachel Kamman, a water resources engineer who lives in another nearby subdivision.

"They wanted him to stay in Marin County," she said. "We still want him to stay in Marin County; people value his job, we value his industry, the creativity, and people think it's reflective of this county. But this is a big-boxed, outsourcing facility with significant unmitigated environmental impact."

Lucas' other projects include Skywalker Ranch and Big Rock, all adjoining the Grady compound. Combined, they comprise some 6,100 acres of grassy knolls, valleys and steep hillsides. Yet 95 percent of that land remains undeveloped and protected.

Skywalker houses sound and recording studios used for film and television scores and sound effects. Big Rock houses Lucasfilm Animation, multimedia office space and the George Lucas Educational Foundation. More at http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/rural-residents-strike-b
ack-lucas-film-empire-15562545

Mixed feelings. He HAS been a good neighbor, and has protected a lot of land out there. He's also kept a low profile...you get no indication of what's up the road from where the driveway leaves Lucas Valley Road. At the same time, he leased a large portion of the Presidio in San Francisco when the Army gave it over for commercial purposes, so I'm not sure why he has to cluster everything out at Lucas Valley. On the other hand, he has pulled a few "sneakies" out there on his land, and I'm not sure I don't worry along with them that his expansion isn't going to eventually take over.

He used to live down the road from us and fixed up a median across from our local market (where people saw him from time to time). Was kind of neat to have him as a "neighbor". When he bought the land out at Lucas Valley, we giggled that he found a place with "his" name on it to set up shop. I also giggle at his naming one of his buildings "Big Rock". Shortly after leaving the freeway on Lucas Valley Road, you come upon a large rock, named of course Big Rock, which has been covered with graffiti, cleaned, covered again, over and over for decades.

Just found this amusing. Combination of Marin's attitude toward the land and semi-rich people not wanting their area "invaded". Lucas Valley Road is GORGEOUS, I agree with them on that point (and it's a FANTASTIC motorcycle road, really winding and challenging, used to love going out there to "run the road"), but he's kept Skywalker so out of sight and low profile, half of me thinks it's kind of NIMBYish...especially as THEIR housing development is both more visible and chewed up a lot of the land out there.

And on the OTHER hand, the protected land and hiking trail would be cool for the rest of us who can't afford to live out there!

Ahhhh...Marin. The typical dichotomy between the rich, semi-rich, and the rest of us...

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Saturday, February 11, 2012 8:52 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


Hello,

The proposed building seems rather handsome.

I'm rather inclined to think he should be allowed to proceed with his building on his land.

--Anthony


_______________________________________________

"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner


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Saturday, February 11, 2012 9:04 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


That's a tricky one. Should someone who can afford to buy a LOT of land always be able to build whatever they want on "their" land? How about an amusement park, while we're at it? I think it's trickier than that...he put forth a proposal years ago which was approved, then changed it without much public notice to something that might NOT have been approved...that gets iffy in my book.



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Saturday, February 11, 2012 9:17 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


Hello,

It's not an amusement park, to which someone might posit a legitimate complaint (noise, traffic, rubbish, etc.)

I'm dubious as to whether the proposed picturesque structure can even be seen from the surrounding territories.

I'm also dubious that the changes to the structure since its initial approval contain some diabolically evil component. Phantom Menace is right. As in, the menace seems to be in the minds of the complaintants.

It truly feels like much ado about nothing. I doubt the housing community lodging complaints is more attractive or environment friendly.

--Anthony



_______________________________________________

"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner


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Saturday, February 11, 2012 9:33 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Ugh. Looks like a McMansion on steroids to me. That, or a recreation of Disneyland's castle. Hideous. Grotesque. A blot on the face of the earth and an affront to good taste!

And now, let me tell you how I REALLY feel...!

I guess I'm senstive to mansionization... my whole neighborhood is turning into McMansion afer McMansion... no charm, no welcome feeling, just one blaring architectural statement after another that THIS owner has MONEY! The only good thing about the collapse of the housing bubble is the halt to 9000 sq foot monstrosities.

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Sunday, February 12, 2012 7:07 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Anthony: NONE of Lucas' structures are visible from the . This is all you see from Lucas Valley Road:
http://ludb.clui.org/ex/i/CA3191/

I'm not that fond of his style of architecture, either, but I like his appreciation of the land...


Existing main house


"Ewok Lake"
Quote:

The Ranch contains a barn with animals, vineyards, a garden with fruits and vegetables used in the on-site restaurant, an outdoor swimming pool and fitness center with racquetball courts, the man-made "Lake Ewok," a hilltop observatory, a 300-seat theater called "The Stag" as well as multiple theater screening rooms, and parking that is mostly concealed underground to preserve the natural landscape. Skywalker Sound was moved onto the ranch in 1987, now occupying the Technical Building. The Main House has a company research library under a stained-glass dome. Skywalker Ranch has its own fire station, which is part of the Marin County Mutual Aid system, and is often called on to assist firefighters in nearby Marinwood.
He does it up right for his employees...you wouldn't believe the perks they get (I know, 'cuz the insurance company I worked for in the City handled their account and I got to go to where several of their offshoots (like LucasArts and their educational facility) were located back then. They've since been moved, sadly...I'd love to have gotten a peek! He created an easement ages ago to hook up one of our Open Space areas to another, but it's just open, dry areas so I've never hiked it.


Found the answer to my question as to what he's done with his Presidio land: "The headquarters of Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic, and LucasArts are located in Lucas's Letterman Digital Arts Center in the Presidio of San Francisco." I went to ILM loooong ago when I was working for one of their model makers (the guy who came up with the speeder bike that raced through the redwoods...which was filmed by the way in our own Roy's Redwoods). Back then it was in a building right here in San Rafael, and quite a thrill.

But yeah, I think the residents are being pretty NIMBY...they raised a fuss decades ago, too, when he wanted to put up an electrified deer fence. THEIR housing development is relatively new and just ugly (big) modern houses, so "they should talk!" I've driven through there (it's one way to avoid the freeway when there's a jam), and they're all Eichlers (which I personally HATE and think are uglier than sin):


AND there are plans for further development off Lucas Valley:
Quote:

Thirty two homes are proposed for development across LV Road from LV Estates. The development proposed includes high density low income units adjacent to LV road, and 2 story estate units (30 ft roof heights) on knoll hilltops above the valley floor.
Yeah, THAT's gonna be unobtrusive, you betcha!

From what I remember, all the housing is on the "developed" side of Big Rock, whereas Skywalker is way down the road from there. Given our "corridor" development rules, I don't think they CAN develop on that side of Big Rock...but it is densely developed from there to the freeway.

Hey, I found a shot of Big Rock (adorned with its latest graffiti)


All in all, yes, much ado about nothing. Kind of a case of "I got mine, screw you!" I think.



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Sunday, February 12, 2012 7:12 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Sig, same is true here, too. We're among the oldest residents, and we've watched as the others died off or moved, yuppies have moved in (with KIDS no less...we see the--all Latino of course--nannies pushing them around the neighborhood all the time). Each time, they've added to the homes until now our older homes are interspersed with these huge things that take up almost all the property. It sucks.



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Sunday, February 12, 2012 8:06 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


It bothers me when people love a place so much they develop it to death, and all of the charm that was there is no longer. I mean, WTF????


I think wistfully of Portland. Those people did it right- a couple of decades ago, they drew a line around the city and said "Beyond here there shall be no development". They are masters of infill and redevelopment... given that they have to work with a set footprint, there are NO blighted areas of the city.

And I look at the charmless city that I live in... wall to wall 1940-1950s suburban homes... and I think UGH. It was all modern in the 1950s, now it looks dated, George Jetson style. It is possible to create a vibrant attractive community- densify the city core... create a mixed-use architecture with historic details (Pick a theme, I don't care which: Spanish colonial, colonial, prarie-style, just pick one and stick with it) and have three-story buildings of living space over storefronts, restaurants and amusements for a bit of "city life",

open some areas to mansionization, keep other areas cottage style, make sure there are enough parks, create walkable communities...

Heck, there is a lot of money going into re-development, over time. But the thing that keeps development from becoming just another unattractive hodge-podge is long-term PLANNING. And that is what our city lacks- long-term planning. But our city fathers believe "the market" will solve everything, so we have a bunch of unfinished, uninhabited 8000 sq foot testaments to economic overreach dotting our city, just waiting for a match or a spark from July 4th for their eventual fate.

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Sunday, February 12, 2012 8:54 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)


Quote:

And I look at the charmless city that I live in... wall to wall 1940-1950s suburban homes... and I think UGH. It was all modern in the 1950s, now it looks dated, George Jetson style.



Wha-wha-WHAAT?! Sorry, but I *love* mid-century modern architecture. Some of my very favorite houses and neighborhoods in Austin are mid-century modern, 40s and 50s "Jetson Style" homes.

http://www.modernaustin.com/category/architecture/mid-century-modern/a
d-stenger
/



http://www.uptownmodernaustin.com/

To me, this IS the charm of Austin - a reminder of a time when the city was looking forward to a bright future, yet still wanted the workmanship and craftsmanship of the old world. It's modern, it's urban, but it's still got style, and is far from charmless or boring.

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Sunday, February 12, 2012 9:04 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


I guess we can agree to disagree. It could be that most of the houses here were built in the post-war boom, but were built cheaply. You can see it in the nearly-flat roofs (takes more lumber to build taller), eaves that are 3" wide, and the uniformly narrow aluminum or steel window frames and plain stucco exteriors. Maybe that seems charming to you, but to me it looks penny-pinching. Plus, I just really don't like the style. Which is curious, because I like Texas-style limestone and metal-roof houses.

I think the thing that bothers me about the houses here is their horizontal line. The houses look like bunkers and the windows are often wider than tall- more like gunslits. (Narrow tall windows are prolly holdovers from castles, which needed the vertical range for archers. So each has their utility on warfare, but the vertical lines also remind me of cathedrals. Plus, I still have an east-coast orientation, I think.)

So I would be curious what you would think of our housing stock.

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Sunday, February 12, 2012 12:40 PM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up


What's the old saying? "A conservationist is someone who already has a house on the mountain."

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Sunday, February 12, 2012 1:04 PM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


I'm with Sig...for all the reasons she listed. I've NEVER liked Eichlers, flat rooves, open interiors...but then I'm a Victorian lover, so that probably explains it.

We've got some really beautiful Victorians around us...not even counting in The City. Even here in junky little San Rafael. We pass two of them on the way to walk the dogs up at the Divide, and I always drool. My favorite is in the National Register of Historic Places, it's a Queen Anne Victorian which they've just spent years redoing in true "San Francisco Victorian" style. I can't find any photos of it without the scaffolding, I guess because it's been like that for several years! I wish you could see it up close, it's amazing, the details:


And the one next to it I drool over too, tho' it's nothing like as fancy:


Believe it or not, that second one was built in 2001! They're both single-family dwellings, which blows my mind, and the second one sells for around two million, which is also surprising, given home sales!

They both stand alone in the middle of "regular" housing in Sun Valley, just over the hill from us, and I wish oh how I wish I could live in one! But only if I had a maid...can you imagine trying to CLEAN ONE?!?



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Sunday, February 12, 2012 2:17 PM

FREMDFIRMA



We don't seem to have that problem in this podunk little township - heck, they can't even finagle a way to bulldoze the wrecked and rotting condemned apt complex down the road a bit...

Of course, since a couple of the residents have refused to move while patching up their units as best they can - and in fact CAN'T just move cause for various reasons no one else will rent to them, I am somewhat sympathetic to their cause.

Either the township relocates em on it's own dime (and I don't mean a short term one month in a friggin sleaze motel, I mean a longterm lease, renewable, somewhere) or they can damn well leave well enough alone!

Current fracas is the township illegally shutting off their (paid for!) utilities to try to drive them out, and the utility companies, who don't wanna get sued, turning them right back on, yadda freakin yadda....

And it's their own fault, they gave a huge chunk of money to some slimy delevoper from freakin BALTIMORE who I flat out warned them about, who instead of using it to level and rebuild the property with, immediately folded the LLC and ran for the Caymans, just like they did five times before in Maryland.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Sunday, February 12, 2012 4:40 PM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)


May well have something to do with my height, my armspan, and my back. I've lived in multi-story housing, and I won't do it again by choice. Not to mention the Texas summers, and the fact that no matter how well your house may be insulated, the upstairs always feels a good 10º warmer than the downstairs.

I like big room, high ceilings, recessed lighting. I don't like scraping my knuckles on the ceiling just trying to put on a shirt. Open floorplans and low, wide furniture (Danish modern from the 50s is a favorite) help me to get the feeling that I'm some distance from the ceiling, too, but they're hell on my back when it's time to get up!

Victorians always seem tiny to me, but they do tend to have higher ceilings and taller doorways, which is a plus. But I just love the smooth, clean, uncluttered modernity of the mid-century style. It is, to me the difference between a "Victorian" car like the 1910 Rolls Royce and a 1950s Raymond Loewy-designed Studebaker.





And yeah, the Rolls is worth a fortune, but the Studie is just gorgeous, and still practical today. :)

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Sunday, February 12, 2012 8:23 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht


Portland does have development limits, but one can still build new houses in the city limits. Plus we have suburbs which do grow, when I was a girl of 10 Sherwood was a little farm town, when I was a girl of 16 it had turned into a little city full of new houses. That whole thing seems to have slowed lately though.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Sunday, February 12, 2012 9:56 PM

FREMDFIRMA


Quote:

Originally posted by Kwicko:
I don't like scraping my knuckles on the ceiling just trying to put on a shirt.


As opposed to them dragging the ground the rest of the time ?

Oh I could NOT resist that one....

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Monday, February 13, 2012 2:29 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)


Quote:

Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
Quote:

Originally posted by Kwicko:
I don't like scraping my knuckles on the ceiling just trying to put on a shirt.


As opposed to them dragging the ground the rest of the time ?

Oh I could NOT resist that one....

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.




You'll pay...

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Monday, February 13, 2012 7:41 AM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...


Quote:

Originally posted by Niki2:



Looks like a pretty villa on Naboo... seems rather appropriate.
Seriously, we're at a point where we feel that we can tell people (rich people) what their tastes should be?
For everything covered it appears that Lucas has been a great custodian of the land, and probably better than most land developers are. Why do people want to take a chance with someone else? Or maybe they're just trying to extort some shut-up money?

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Monday, February 13, 2012 7:42 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


Hello,

This may be more Prequels backlash... ;-)

--Anthony



_______________________________________________

"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner


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Monday, February 13, 2012 7:50 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


PIZMO- What, I can't even express my opinion of this horrific architecture?

GEEZER- I think you're being unfair. I don't have a mansion on the hilltop, I'm in a 60-year suburbanized/ developed community. That doesn't mean that I can't appreciate the irony of people moving out "to the country" because of its rural appeal, and then turning it into a suburb. Seriously. Can't you also see the contradiction there? If not, you're no as smart as I thought.

-----------
Yanno, there are those who think the best development is "organic"... that is, market-driven in a milieu of rich and poor. The rich should be able to develop what they want, wherever they want. Planning is anathema to "market forces", and "market forces" will always create the best outcome.

But in biology, there is a word for unbridled, unregulated growth, and that is called "cancer". Just a thought.

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Monday, February 13, 2012 7:58 AM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...


Quote:

Originally posted by SignyM:
PIZMO- What, I can't even express my opinion of this horrific architecture?



You no like Florence? Have you seen traditional Hollywood sound stages? WWII airplane hangars... ugly ones... stop hating on poor old Jar Jar Lucas.

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Monday, February 13, 2012 8:20 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


Quote:

Originally posted by pizmobeach:
Quote:

Originally posted by SignyM:
PIZMO- What, I can't even express my opinion of this horrific architecture?



You no like Florence? Have you seen traditional Hollywood sound stages? WWII airplane hangars... ugly ones... stop hating on poor old Jar Jar Lucas.

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com





Hello,

In my humble opinion, (sorry Signy) Signy's resistance to this 'architecture' has nothing to do with its appearance and everything to do with socio-economic philosophy.

If this same building was being used to provide housing to the homeless, or being used to provide for the community in some way, I suspect it would become substantially less repugnant.





_______________________________________________

"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner


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Monday, February 13, 2012 8:29 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


No, Tony, if this same architecture would provide housing for the homeless it would STILL be ugly! A pseudo castle-villa, with towers (towers???) and a three-story entrance which needs a littler door, kinda like in the Wizard of Oz. So, where's the moat and drawbridge?

And, this isn't Florence.

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Monday, February 13, 2012 8:44 AM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...


Quote:

Originally posted by SignyM:
No, Tony, if this same architecture would provide housing for the homeless it would STILL be ugly! A pseudo castle-villa, with towers (towers???) and a three-story entrance which needs a littler door, kinda like in the Wizard of Oz. So, where's the moat and drawbridge?

And, this isn't Florence.



You are right, more Lake Como.
http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/s/sw_attack.html

If it were me it would be modern and black with a big "Home of Star Wars," in giant white block plexi lettering on the side. This at the very least seems to fit the rural location better than a Borg cube would, AND it is an ode to his own films, and again, for a sound stage? It's yet another sign of his trying to accommodate his neighbors. Bell Towers? Of course! What else are they going to ring to alert Yul Brenner when the Mexican banditos come charging up the valley?

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Monday, February 13, 2012 9:09 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


Quote:

Originally posted by SignyM:
No, Tony, if this same architecture would provide housing for the homeless it would STILL be ugly! A pseudo castle-villa, with towers (towers???) and a three-story entrance which needs a littler door, kinda like in the Wizard of Oz. So, where's the moat and drawbridge?

And, this isn't Florence.



Hello,

So what is beautiful to your eyes?

What would a beautiful movie stage look like?

Or homeless shelter, for that matter?

--Anthony



_______________________________________________

"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner


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Monday, February 13, 2012 9:22 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


I dunno, I have different ideas of beauty depending on the function of the building. So I guess my first idea of beauty is function. I have a preference for the vertical.

But real beauty IMHO rests in nature. I love looking at the winter night sky with crystalline clouds and a haloed moon. Or snow, falling in heavy flakes. I like untended railway rights-of-way, and slow moving creeks surrounded by willows and fields of weeds: bouncing bet, milkweed, and chicory. Beaches rocky and pounding, and calm beaches with sand soft as flour. Rolling midwestern landscape full of grass and a few dotted oaks. Or even the flat, uninspiring landscape of my youth- western New York, full of farms and abandoned farms in their second growth of maples, firs, pines, beeches and chestnuts. I've seen it all, and I love it all. I guess at heart I'm still a country girl.

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Monday, February 13, 2012 9:25 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


Quote:

Originally posted by SignyM:
I dunno, I have different ideas of beauty depending on the function of the building. So I guess my first idea of beauty is function. I have a preference for the vertical.

But real beauty IMHO rests in nature. I love looking at the winter night sky with crystalline clouds and a haloed moon. Or snow, falling in heavy flakes. I like untended railway rights-of-way, and slow moving creeks surrounded by willows and fields of weeds: bouncing bet, milkweed, and chicory. Beaches rocky and pounding, and calm beaches with sand soft as flour. Rolling midwestern landscape full of grass and a few dotted oaks. Or even the flat, uninspiring landscape of my youth- western New York, full of farms and abandoned farms in their second growth of maples, firs, pines, beeches and chestnuts. I've seen it all, and I love it all. I guess at heart I'm still a country girl.




Hello,

That sounds beautiful. I guess I just don't understand your distaste for this building, which resembles a country villa and encompasses many of your loves.

--Anthony



_______________________________________________

"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner


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Monday, February 13, 2012 9:37 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


I think because it "resembles" a country villa w/o being one. There was a time... and may yet still be one... where large buildings for many people, with kitchen gardens and barns and graneries and a well surrounded by walls and defensive structures made sense... a monastery for example. But this is not one of those times.

So what I guess I expect, and I'm pretty traditional about buildings, is function first, and a touch of beauty. Private dwellings to be neighborly. Public spaces to be welcoming or awe-inspiring. I have seen photos of several planned communities and OMG they beckon with open arms. I'll try to find some copies for you.

Here are some






http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/Bitola_2007.J
PG/800px-Bitola_2007.JPG


Another is in Fine Homebuilding, it is a cluster of small cottages meant for seniors. I can't being to describe how welcoming they are. These are all examples of "mixed use" development.

I balk at anything much more than 5 stories tall, although "downtowns" are appropriate for skyscrapers.

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Monday, February 13, 2012 2:59 PM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)


Quote:

Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Hello,

This may be more Prequels backlash... ;-)

--Anthony




Well, this development will certainly be in 3D...


Speaking of which, my tagline for Phantom Menace in 3D: "In space, no one can hear you snore."

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Monday, February 13, 2012 2:59 PM

FREMDFIRMA



Meh, my preferences for such things...
Imagine an evil hobbiton.
Dug in, good and solid, you know ?

I wouldn't mind one of them leftover missle silo houses, I'd leave the actual house up there as a front and dig in way down deep in the command bunker, oh yeah, supervillain style, baby!

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Monday, February 13, 2012 3:08 PM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


Hi Signy,

The only house I liked of the ones you posted was the last one, which looked comfy and inviting.


Though I could go with Frem's underground/silo house too, as long as there weren't any spiders.

Underground lairs lack visual style, but they do have that villain chic.

--Anthony



_______________________________________________

"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner


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Monday, February 13, 2012 4:21 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht


Well I've decided that he should be allowed to do it. After all those housing developments full of people who don't want him to are probably ugly too and they too mess up nature, so I don't know that those guys can complain all that much, and he has been a good neighbor so far.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Monday, February 13, 2012 4:43 PM

FREMDFIRMA


Quote:

Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Though I could go with Frem's underground/silo house too, as long as there weren't any spiders.


Wuss.

I LIKE cobwebs, preferably with big nasty spiders in them staring back at you with hateful little eyes, but since most people are such whiners about it imma prolly import them from the halloween store or something, plastic spiders, how lame...

-F

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Monday, February 13, 2012 8:52 PM

OONJERAH



The mansion is Spanish style. Very appropriate for California & all the southwest.


"All I suggest is a man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest" ~Paul Simon

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Tuesday, February 14, 2012 4:25 AM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...


Quote:

Originally posted by Oonjerah:

The mansion is Spanish style. Very appropriate for California & all the southwest.




Hey, that's where my cryptic Yul Brenner reference comes from:



Both Lucas and Coppola are California kids and they have both been pretty good to California, both it's image and the land and probably contribute a boatload of taxes. I'd be curious if any lawsuits are threatened - this feels like a group reaching out to get a piece of Lucas.

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Tuesday, February 14, 2012 4:33 AM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...


Quote:

Originally posted by Fremdfirma:


I wouldn't mind one of them leftover missle silo houses, I'd leave the actual house up there as a front and dig in way down deep in the command bunker, oh yeah, supervillain style, baby!



Well then here you go... this came on the market recently:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/us/jamesburg-earth-station-can-be-yo
urs-for-3-million.html


Not exactly a leftover missile silo but enough to get you into all kinds of mischief. It's the kind of place that would make a pretty good location for a Firefly Museum/Park. Not the least of which it looks like the land where a lot of it was shot. Doesn't take much to imagine Serenity parked up on one of those flat areas...

100's of abandoned missile sites for sale, just call Ed!



Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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Tuesday, February 14, 2012 6:20 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


"Just over 40 years ago, this place housed a hydrogen bomb more powerful than the one that..."

Hello,

I feel the urge to sigh in sadness, because the newscaster's intent seems to be in comparing one hydrogen bomb to another, and not merely one bomb to another.

--Anthony

_______________________________________________

"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner


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Tuesday, February 14, 2012 6:59 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Well, huzzah. It took Oonj to get it...I'm scrolling down, waiting for someone to twig to what the architecture actually IS, and got almost all the way to the bottom before he piped up.

The architecture is probably more appropriate for where it is than any other architecture could be; it's "Mission Style". Anyone from CA would recognize it, based on the old Spanish missions that dot our landscape from North to South. It's not my preference, either; I found to my surprise that I like actual Southwestern...which I shouldn't, because I'm not into stucco and single story...but Spanish style doesn't do much for me. My heart belongs to Victorians.

Sig, is that second photo Victorian row houses in SF, or somewhere else? Sorry, but the first two gave me the willies...I'm NOT into "functional first", I like to enjoy looking at stuff as I pass by. And I abhor that far too many houses these days are built for "function"--as in cheaply with no personality whatsoever. I guess I'm an anachronism. Or something.

And yes, the Eichlers in the developments around Skywalker are, in my opinion and as the photo I put up, uglier than sin to me. See, the thing is, as I've mentioned before, Marin has "corridors". Right off 101--the only freeway that runs through the county--is the City-Centered corridor; "high density" commercial and residential. Then further toward the Coast is the Inland Rural corridor, where minimum development is allowed and which is mostly agricultural. Finally the Coastal corridor allows almost no new development and just preserves the little towns out there like Stinson Beach. Comme ca:


The purple is our fourth corridor--the Baylands Protection corridor, which is exactly what it says.

So the complaining residents live on the edge of the city-centered corridor, which is heavily developed...while Skywalker is further inland in the Inland Rural corridor, which I guess pisses them off or something. ;o) Because yeah, as I posted, Lucas has been a GREAT steward of his land, had to protect X amount in perpetuity in order to even BUY more, and is totally invisible from the road. I know one of their complaints is traffic...which actually wouldn't impact THEM much but which IS a concern considering Lucas Valley Road is a narrow, windy two-lane road. Beyond that, yeah, NIMBY.



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Tuesday, February 14, 2012 6:59 AM

BYTEMITE


Niki: Based on the picture you posted, the open design of those Eichler's have an almost oriental aesthetic.

While I too like a bit of elaborate victorian or art deco, those appear to be far from the worst contemporary designs I've ever seen. At least they aren't 3+ story monstrosities.

As for Lucas, my understanding is that Skywalker Ranch is already used for commercial business? If he's zoned for the landuse and owns the land, seems to me that's his business. At least he's not paving over all the green to build a concrete bunker complex.

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Tuesday, February 14, 2012 7:04 AM

BYTEMITE


Frem: I love spiders. They're cute. I go "chitter chitter" and they look at me with those eight eyes and they move their chelicerae back at me. Aw. Precious. Then I give them banana bits.

I also like the off-the-grid silo houses.

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Tuesday, February 14, 2012 7:04 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Yup Byte. I agree (except about the Eichlers--we looked at a few that were for sale and I just gagged; at the inside as well as the outside). I don't think Skywalker is considered specifically "commercial"--would that include private land which isn't used to manufacture anything, sell anything or produce anything? I don't know. I don't know where the cutoff between the two corridors is exactly, and they keep building residential further and further out, so maybe he's still within the develop-able area, maybe on the far reach of it. They did complain once about potential pollution, so he bought another few thousand acress as protected land. It's all pretty political, I'm sure, and I don't know the ins and outs of it.

And yeah, I get a kick out of spiders too, tho' they're not quite my "thing". We have LOTS of orb weavers in the spring, and I too enjoy "teasing" them a bit, tho' I leave their webs alone. I giggle at them raising their mandibles and sometimes even standing up on their back legs; so fierce for such little guys!


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Tuesday, February 14, 2012 8:13 AM

BYTEMITE


Yeah, what I've seen isn't a threat display, I know what those look like. I like to think they're talking back to me, I just can't hear or understand.

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Tuesday, February 14, 2012 9:54 AM

FREMDFIRMA



Ayep, that's us...
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FluffyTamer

The skunks have popped out of their winter holes for mating season this week - they're so adorable.

-F

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Tuesday, February 14, 2012 10:42 AM

BYTEMITE


Hey, and how did your raccoon friend and his girlfriend do? They have any pups?

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Tuesday, February 14, 2012 12:27 PM

OONJERAH



Niki2: "Well, huzzah. It took Oonj to get it"
Oonj: Born in California when El Camino Real was still lined with orchards.
Oonj knows nothing beyond CA. In fact, nothing beyond *El Dorado Co anymore.
(*Gold discovery place)

Think I read that Spanish style homes were/are good, insulated, for hot areas.

ByteMite: "Frem: I love spiders. They're cute. I go 'chitter chitter' and they
look at me with those eight eyes and they move their chelicerae back at me. Aw.
Precious. Then I give them banana bits."

A friend once referred to the spiders (mostly Pholcus phalangioides) in my house
as "your pets." But it's not true. I don't name them & can't tell them apart.
But I do occasionally throw wounded flies at them.

Will they eat bananas?

Fremdfirma: "The skunks have popped out of their winter holes for mating season this
week - they're so adorable."

Some of my Sister's skunks finally overcame their fear of her and moved under,
sometimes into, the house. I gather that since they've adopted her, they do not
spray there.


"All I suggest is a man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest" ~Paul Simon

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Tuesday, February 14, 2012 1:16 PM

BYTEMITE


Quote:

Will they eat bananas?


Sometimes, it depends on the species and even the individual spider.

Most won't eat meat that's already dead, but some will eat hamburger meat or sausages. There's other odd stuff people feed spiders in captivity out there. It seems to mostly depend on whether they can reasonably liquify it and whether they like the smell.

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Wednesday, February 15, 2012 7:39 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Oonj: Hah! A person after my own heart! (Male or female, might I ask?) That could describe me perfectly...not only when El Camino had orchards, but when Cupertino was little BUT orchards and was still "unincorporated". Unrecognizable now, and I wouldn't be caught dead in Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley my ASS!)...it's nothing but cars, cars, cars, and lots full of cars, cars, cars. I found Marin and will NEVER go back!

Are you indicating you live in El Dorado? Neat, if that's so...albeit dry and HOT! I pass through Placerville whenever I go up to the Sierras to see my friend of, geez, now it's over fifty years (eeep!). She was a state park ranger all her working life and still lives up there. For me, it doesn't become the Sierras until we pass Placerville. Until then, it's just an extension of Saccamena.

So where DO you live? Obviously from my constant mention of it and my recent post about Lucas, I live in Marin, and I adore it. I often wonder what IT was like when I was living down in Cupertino (where I grew up). Must have been even neater...

And yeah, Spanish style (along with Southwestern) were built for HOT, and are quite good at it.



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Wednesday, February 15, 2012 8:45 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)


Quote:

Originally posted by Bytemite:
Niki: Based on the picture you posted, the open design of those Eichler's have an almost oriental aesthetic.



Might be that's what I like about the open-plan layouts, too. Spent a few years in Taiwan as a child, so the Oriental influence could be ingrained in me. Love the uncluttered, clean, "horizontal" layouts of such places.

Quote:


While I too like a bit of elaborate victorian or art deco, those appear to be far from the worst contemporary designs I've ever seen. At least they aren't 3+ story monstrosities.



I don't *hate* Victorian, but I vastly prefer Deco to it, and my favorites mix some deco and some mid-century influences.




"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Wednesday, February 15, 2012 9:50 AM

BYTEMITE


I'm not sure there's anyone out there who doesn't like art deco? Even the guys who did post modernism were all like "damn, this stuff is too good and hopeful, we need to do something different, I know, let's build horribly depressing concrete boxes."

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Wednesday, February 15, 2012 9:52 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Oh, yeah, those horribly depressing concrete boxes that continue to sprout up everywhere. Yes, even I like Art Deco...pretty much ANYTHING is better than the personality-less structures I see going up.



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