Hacienda Hats
Description: All cities are geological. You can’t take three steps without encountering ghosts bearing all the prestige of their legends. We move within a closed landscape whose landmarks constantly draw us toward the past. Certain shifting angles, certain receding perspectives, allow us to glimpse original conceptions of space, but this vision remains fragmentary. It must be sought in the magical locales of fairy tales and surrealist writings: castles, endless walls, little forgotten bars, mammoth caverns, casino mirrors.
Description: Hacienda Heights is an unincorporated suburban community in the San Gabriel Valley. It is home to a large Taiwanese population and is home to the biggest Buddhist temple in the Western Hemisphere. I explored it for my series, "California Fool's Gold," in 2011. https://ericbrightwell.com/2011/06/19/california-fools-gold-exploring-hacienda-heights/
Description: The Haçienda FAC 51 opened in Manchester on May 21st 1982. The impact it had on the world will never be rivalled. Only Tony Wilson was the real believer. And, it is thanks to that legend of a man that The Haçienda came to be. I was lucky enough to be an employee at The Haçienda for some years. I remember a place by some steps that had these 3 neon lights on a small blue wall. They looked very much like this as I remember. This is my ode to The Haçienda.
