Category Archives: California

Robert Stark interviews Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan about San Francisco Neon

1950's, aesthetics, Al Barna, Architecture, Art, Art Deco, California, Cities, Culture, gentrification, Historic Preservation, History, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Mid-Century Modern, Neon, Oakland, Orinda CA, Photography, Randall Ann Homan, Reno, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Urbanism

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark talks to Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan. They co-authored and provided the photographs for the book San Francisco Neon: Survivors and Lost Icons. Their website is San Francisco Neon Book.

Al Barna is a San Francisco photographer and artist whose work has been shown in exhibitions at the de Young Museum, the Legion of Honor Museum, the Rayko Gallery, the San Francisco Public Library, and the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery. His photography has been published in CA Modern magazine, Society of Commercial Archeology Journal, The Sun magazine, and Shots magazine.  www.albarna.com

Randall Ann Homan began her interest in the art of signage as an apprentice sign painter in Flagstaff, Arizona. She lives in San Francisco and is an art director, photographer, and an award-winning graphic designer.  Someday she would like to design a neon sign.  www.giantorange.net

Topics:

The history of Neon in San Francisco
Neon Walking TOURS
Historic Preservation and how San Francisco has lost the least of it’s signage of any major city
Market Street, it’s history as a Neon hub, and the failed Mid-Market Sign District Proposal
The Starlight Room at The Sir Francis Drake Hotel in Union Square
Other signs near Union Square including Tad’s Steak House, Marquard’s Cigar Store, The Stratford Hotel, and the Herbert Hotel
Parking Garage Neon near Union Square
The Tenderloin
Chinatown which has the highest concentration of signs in the city though many are unlit
The Lady from Shanghai directed by Orson Welles
Broadway in North Beach
Columbus Street in North Beach
Fisherman’s Wharf; Alioto’s, Fisherman’s Grotto, The View Alcatraz Sign, The Cannery and Ghiradelli Square
Bar signs including the 500 Club Martini sign in the Mission District
The Coca-Cola Company Replaced the Landmark Outdoor Neon Sign with LED
Animated Signs
The Embarcadero Center’s LED bulb signs
The Port of San Francisco Sign at The Ferry Building
Oakland’s signs including the Paramount Theatre
The Orinda Theatre
Rheem Theatre closes it’s doors in Moraga
Santa Cruz, The Boardwalk, and The Del Mar Theatre
Jim Rizzo of Neon Works in Oakland who rescues and restores signs
Stookey’s Club Moderne which has a brand new Art Deco style sign
NEON SPEAKS: Symposium & Spotlight Forum
The Museum of Neon Art in Glendale, California
Will Durham’s Neon Museum in Reno 

Click Here to download!

This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings and his novel Journey to Vapor Island




Robert Stark interviews Peter Moruzzi about Mid-Century Modern

1950's, 1960's, 1970's, aesthetics, American Culture, Architecture, Art, Art Deco, Beverly Hills, California, Cartrell Payne, Cities, Cuba, Cuisine, Culture, Denmark, Florida, Gambling, Hawaii, Historic Preservation, History, Italy, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Mid-Century Modern, Neon, New Orleans, New York, Oakland, Palm Springs, Peter Moruzzi, San Francisco, Skyscrapers, The Adventure Kid, Urbanism

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and co-host Cartrell Payne(The Adventure Kid) talk to Peter Moruzzi. Peter was born in Concord, Massachusetts and raised in Hawaii, he graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and later attended the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. In 1999, he founded the Palm Springs Modern Committee (PS ModCom) an architectural preservation group. He is the author of “Havana Before Castro: When Cuba Was a Tropical Playground,” “Palm Springs Holiday: A Vintage Tour From Palm Springs to the Salton Sea,” “Classic Dining:Discovering America’s Finest Mid-Century Restaurants,” “Palm Springs Paradise: Vintage Photographs from America’s Desert Playground,” and “Greetings from Los Angeles.”

Topics:

Classic Dining: Discovering America’s Finest Mid-Century Restaurants
Grand Central Oyster Bar
Historic Preservation
Notable Mid-Century architects including Richard Neutra and Joseph Eichler 
A Eulogy for the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York
Neon Signs
Dal Rae Replaces Historic Neon for Ugly Backlit Plastic
The Mob, the El Cortez, and the Flamingo
Tiki culture
The Tonga Room in San Francisco
Palm Springs Paradise
Melvyn’s Restaurant in Palm Springs
Greetings from Los Angeles
L.A.’s Backyard Oil Well Fever!
Norms Restaurants in LA
Googie, Space Age, and the International Style
Mid-Century Modern highrises including Eichler’s highrises in San Francisco and the Sierra Towers in LA
The Madonna Inn
70’s Mayan themed Architecture
Havana Before Castro: When Cuba Was a Tropical Playground
Mid-Century Modern Furniture including Danish Modern, Italian Murano Lamps, and Swiss Swiza Clock
Nationwide Map of Classic Restaurants Now on Google Maps

Click Here to download!

This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings and his novel Journey to Vapor Island




Robert Stark interviews DECAY about Politics & Urbanism

1980's, 80's music, aesthetics, Alt Center, Alternative Left, Alternative Right, American Culture, Architecture, arcology, Basic Income, Berkeley, Brandon Adamson, California, capitalism, Cities, City-State System, Culture, DECAY, demographics, Donald Trump, Economics, Environment, Futurism, gentrification, Healthcare, Immigration, Italian Futurism, Lafayette CA, Leftism, Liberalism, Libertarianism, Malls, Mass Transit, Meta Politics, misanthropy, Monterey CA, Music, Nationalism, New Retro Wave, New Urbanism, New York, Oakland, Orinda CA, Overpopulation, Political Correctness, Politics, Retro Futurism, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Seattle, Silicon Valley, Socialism, South Africa, Space Travel, Suburbia, Synthwave, technology, The Black Pill, Third Way Economics, Traditionalism, Urbanism, Walnut Creek CA, Wilderness

Check out Decay’s blog, his writings for Brandon Adamson’s AltLeft.com, and Twitter profile.

Topics:

The Orientation of D E C A Y’s Political Views
DECAY’s outlook on human dynamics can be described as “right-wing”, but without stereotypical “right-wing” stances, such as laissez-faire free-market economics or moral traditionalism
DECAY’s left Wing stances on environmental and public health regulations, worker and consumer protections, and a social safety net
Alt-Apoliticism
Meta Politics
The Bearer of “Trad” News
A post American perspective
Futurism and technological progress
Predicting Future Trends
Independent City States
Where Should One Live?
Urban neighborhoods, Sreetcar Suburbs, Retrofitted Suburbs, Small Towns, College Towns, and the reemergence of the village model, where people live in close proximity to where they work, shop and recreate
Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area and thoughts on the region’s cities, suburbs, and wilderness
The need for a balance between urbanism and wilderness
Retro Futurism and an affinity for 80’s Synthwave

This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings and his novel Journey to Vapor Island




Transcript of interview:

Continue reading Robert Stark interviews DECAY about Politics & Urbanism →

Robert Stark talks to Anatoly Karlin about The Syria Strikes, Russian Politics & Failure of Trump

Alex Jones, Alexei Navalny, Alternative Right, Anatoly Karlin, Asia, Barack Obama, Bashar Assad, Brandon Adamson, California, censorship, China, Crime, demographics, Donald Trump, Elections, Europe, George Bush, Hezbollah, Hillary Clinton, humanitarianism, Immigration, Imperialism, India, Iran, Isis, Islam, Islamization, Israel, Japan, London, Middle East, Moscow, Nationalism, NATO, Neoconservatism, Phoenix, Political Correctness, Politics, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, terrorism, Tulsi Gabbard, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, War

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and co-host Brandon Adamson talk to Anatoly Karlin. Anatoly blogs for The Unz Review and is on the Russian language podcast rogpr.

Topics:

Douma and Dumber
John Bolton and the return of the Neocons
Trump using the strike to distract from Russiagate
Whether the strike is purely symbolic or could lead to a greater conflict
How there is no evidence of Assad using chemical weapons
The Saudi Israeli Alliance
How Can Russia Hurt the US?
Gloomy Presentiments
The Road to World War III
The geopolitics of China and India
Brandon’s article People Who Hate Each Other Against the War
Brandon’s article Tulsi Gabbard 2020 (or 2024) or Whom Would Magnum P.I. Vote For?
The re-election of Putin and Some Final Notes
Putin’s implementation of hate speech laws
Vladimir Zhirinovsky who Anatoly voted for as a protest vote
Anatoly’s Blackpill Scenario for the United States

Click Here to download!

This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings and his novel Journey to Vapor Island




Robert Stark interviews Linh Dinh

American Culture, Asia, Asian Culture, California, Cambodia, China, Cities, Consumerism, Corporations, Culture, demographics, Donald Trump, Drugs, Economics, Europe, Free Trade, Germany, Globalization, Healthcare, Immigration, Imperialism, income inequality, Islam, James Howard Kunstler, Linh Dinh, Mass Transit, Photography, Poetry, Silicon Valley, Social Isolation, Suburbia, Travel, Urbanism, Vietnam, War

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linh Dinh is a writer and poet. Check out his articles at The Unz Review.

Topics:

Linh’s photo journal book Postcards from the End of America
Americas economic decline and de-industrialization
Phony statistics about economic recovery
America Cannot be Great Again
On Nationalism
A Common Culture Makes the Nation
Germany’s migrant crisis
The rise of China as an economic superpower
The Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia
Rolling Into Cambodia
Cambodia’s Illegal Immigrants from Vietnam
Alley Culture, Zoning Laws and Anomic Americans
Doped Up Nation
Linh’s Poetry
Linh’s upcoming project the Obscured American which is a series of interviews

Click Here to download!

This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings and his novel Journey to Vapor Island




Robert Stark interviews Architect Adam Mayer

1960's, 1970's, 1980's, 1990's, Adam Mayer, aesthetics, Architecture, arcology, Art Deco, Asia, Brutalism, California, Chicago, China, Cities, Culture, Environment, Historic Preservation, income inequality, James Howard Kunstler, John C. Portman Jr, Lafayette CA, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Los Gatos CA, Malls, Mass Transit, Mid-Century Modern, Mount Diablo, New Urbanism, Orinda CA, Postmodernism, Retro Futurism, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Silicon Valley, Skyscrapers, Sonja Trauss, Suburbia, Urbanism, Walnut Creek CA, Wealth, Wilderness, Zoning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adam Mayer is an architect based out of San Francisco. Check out his Twitter, Instagram, and Architectural Portfolio.

Topics:

Growing up in Los Gatos which is a small town on the edge of the Silicon Valley
Studying architecture at USC and observations on LA
Art Deco and Mid Century Modern Architecture in LA
New Urbanism and Retrofitting suburbia
The Bay Area Housing Crisis and the importance of developing smartly while protecting greenbelts
How ugly architecture leads to NIMBY sentiment and why the YIMBY movement needs to address aesthetics
California Senate bill would force more dense housing near transit hubs
Working on a redevelopment project at the Walnut Creek BART Station
San Francisco’s SOMA district’s new skyline
San Francisco’s new Transbay Terminal
Architect John C. Portman; The Embarcadero Center and Hyatt in San Francisco and the extension of the urban realm to the inside
Architect Jon Jerde; his projects including Westside Pavilion and the Universal City Walk in LA, Horton Plaza in San Diego, and the Wynn and Bellagio in Las Vegas
Architect William Pereira who designed the Trans-America Pyramid in San Francisco
Brutalism
1980’s architecture and whether it will make a comeback
Frank Gehry
Modernism vs. Postmodernism and where to draw the boundary
How current architecture lacks one cohesive aesthetic
Adam’s work as an architect in China, master planned projects, and observations on architecture in China
Winner Take All? Richard Florida’s ‘New Urban Crisis’
How to accommodate families in cities

Click Here to download!

This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings and his novel Journey to Vapor Island




Robert Stark talks to Kevin Lynn about his Ad Campaign against H-1B Visas on SF’s BART

Bernie Sanders, California, Corporations, Donald Trump, Economics, Environment, Global Warming, Immigration, Kevin Lynn, Overpopulation, Political Correctness, Politics, Progressives for Immigration Reform, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, technology

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kevin Lynn is Director of Progressives for Immigration Reform which is sponsoring adds against the H-1B Visa Program on the Bay Area’s BART System.

Topics:

Bay Area Campaign Targets H-1B Visas, Asks Congress to Fix on Americans’ Behalf
The campaign’s message, “Your companies think you are expensive, undeserving & expendable. Congress, fix H-1B law so companies must seek & hire U.S. workers!”
Bay Area media responses including the San Jose Mercury News which first reported on the campaign
The overall reaction from tech workers was positive but with hesitations due to fear of backlash
The goal of the campaign is to to foster a movement to unite tech workers politically against exploitation
How for every two students who graduate with STEM degrees, only one is hired into a STEM job
How Foreign workers account for about 70 percent of the tech workforce in the Bay Area
H-1B Visas as Indentured Servitude
The myth of innovation from H-1B workers
Fearing H-1B Tightening, Tech Giants Ramp Up Lobbying
How Trump has accomplished very little on immigration
The impact of immigration on the environment and carbon footprints

Click Here to download!

This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings and his novel Journey to Vapor Island




Robert Stark talks to Keith Preston about The Geek Squad & Corporate Surveillance State Collusion

Black Lives Matter, Calexit, California, censorship, Class, Corporations, Crime, decentralization, demographics, Donald Trump, Drugs, Freedom of Speech, Immigration, income inequality, Internet, Keith Preston, Leftism, Liberalism, Norman Mailer, Police, Police Brutality, Police Corruption, Police State, Political Correctness, Politics, Pornography, Secessionism, sex offender laws, Social Media, State's Rights, technology, terrorism, War

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keith Preston is the editor of Attack the System

Topics:

FBI Paid Best Buy’s Geek Squad to Spy on Customer Devices who are Passing over User Data
Violations of the 4th Amendment which prohibits warrant-less searches based on no probably cause
Farming out state repression to the private sector as a way to get around the 4th Amendment
Motivations for informants to plant contraband
The potential use of these tactics for political oppression
Government surveillance powers over the internet
Internet Censorship and applying the 1st Amendment to Corporations
How the Left has abandoned Freedom of Speech in favor of the Social Justice paradigm
The Left’s support for the Federalization of the Police
How the Police State is now impacting the middle class
Jeff Session’s stances on civil liberties and his lawsuit over California’s Sanctuary State Status
Calexit and the New California Movement
Trump’s foreign policy, tariffs, and his upcoming meeting with Kim Jong Un

Click Here to download!

This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings and his novel Journey to Vapor Island




Robert Stark interviews Ashley Messinger

aesthetics, Africa, Alt Center, Alternative Left, Alternative Right, Architecture, Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Ashley Messinger, automation, Basic Income, Brandon Adamson, California, Cities, Class, Consumerism, Corporations, Culture, demographics, Distributism, Donald Trump, Economics, education, Effective Altruism, England, Environment, Eugenics, Europe, European Nationalism, Globalization, Immigration, Imperialism, income inequality, Islam, Islamization, London, Los Angeles, Nationalism, Neoliberalism, Philosophy, Political Correctness, Politics, Psychology, Rabbit, Retro Futurism, social status, Steampunk, Taxation, technology, terrorism, Third Way Economics, Transhumanism, Wealth, welfare state

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and co-host Brandon Adamson talk to ASHLEY MESSINGER. Ashley is based in the UK and writes for Brandon’s AltLeft.com. You can also find Ashley on Twitter.

Topics:

Why Brandon’s moniker is now “The Left of the AltRight”
Ashley’s political evolution to the Alt Left(Left Wing of the Alt-Right)
Ashley’s disillusionment with the Alt-Right
The immigration and demographic situation in the UK
Radical Islam, the Charlie Hebdo Massacre, and the Rotherham scandal
The ineptitude of Right Wing politics in the UK
Ashley’s preference for SWPL cultural amenities
Retro-Futurism
Whether there is a large enough demographic for a “Red Pilled” SWPL movement
Misconceptions about English culture
The Thacherite Neo-Liberal de-industrialization of the UK
Ashley’s support for a secular form of Distributism
Luck egalitarianism 
The Signalling Model of Education 
Automation and the Basic Income
The Techno Futurist faction of Neo-Reaction
Effective Altruism
Technogaianism
Ashley’s article The Push to Normalize Polonophilia

Click Here to download!

This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings! and his novel Journey to Vapor Island




Robert Stark talks to Count Fosco about the show Californication

California, Californication, comedy, Count Isidor Fosco, Culture, David Duchovny, Erotica, Feminism, Film, Gender, Harvey Weinstein, hedonism, Hollywood, humor, Los Angeles, Madeline Zima, Nihilism, Pornography, relationships, Sexuality, Twin Peaks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Topics:

Hank(David Duchovny) is an established author, kind of like every independent man’s dream, though he could easily get taken advantage of by every woman he sleeps with, starting with Mia(Madeline Zima)
How Hank never seems to learn anything, if anything in later seasons he becomes less intelligent…he even admits it…he is a “writer, non-practicing”
Hank is very well connected, demonstrating implicitly that his lifestyle can’t be forever or for everyone
There is something surreal about this show in that no man, not even the powerful get hit on this much by women
Hank ironically suffers from writers block but interestingly, always “writes about what he knows”
Hank’s nihilistic novel being turned into a cheesy romantic comedy
Mia stealing Hank’s novel based on his encounter with her which is latter turned into a film
Madeline Zima in the new Twin Peaks
Similarities between Hank and major sex positive male feminist who have been accused of sexual harassment
The ridiculous sex scenarios Hank gets into
How by the end of the first season it’s interesting how his unmarried “wife” still prefers him which logically doesn’t make much sense but does make sense when you think of his “I don’t give a damn” characteristics
Hank’s agent “Charlie Runkel” who is probably closer to what Hank would be like if he were a real life character
How on some level Hank is genuinely self-loathing
The relationship between Hank and his daughter
Charlie’s boss Sue Collini(Kathleen Turner) who is intimidating even for a cougar and has a very attractive histrionic personality
Sue Collini isn’t the romantic type, she only wants sex from her clients; “Sue Collini always get’s the weenie”
Mia having a preference for older men behind her father’s back while sending every possible signal that she was doing so anyway
How the show has almost every possible sexual fetish in it mentioned
How the show is based on repetition rather than an overall plot
How a lot of Far-Right people watch this show despite that they would all call it degenerate
How the show relates to the ongoing Hollywood sex scandals; the line “You’re no Brett Ratner”

Click Here to download!
This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings!