The pioneering landscape architect was born 100 years ago today in New York City. Lawrence Halprin grew up in Brooklyn, and spent three years on a kibbutz in Israel before attending Cornell University, the University of Wisconsin, and Harvard’s Graduate … Read more
“Great cities are not made by automobiles, freeways and high rises. Basically, they are made by open spaces and the people who use the open spaces.”
—Lawrence Halprin, c. 1987
It started in the 1950s with plans to … Read more
#Onthisday 49 years ago, the words “Summer of Love” first appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle carrying the term into the ‘mainstream media’ in San Francisco, California and the country. The article focused on a press conference held the … Read more
… Read moreGardens were a wonderful testing ground for details and a great learning experience for how things are constructed. When gardens were successful they provided great personal joy and led me to some interesting discoveries and friendships.
—Lawrence Halprin, A Life
As a teenager, the land of Israel captivated Lawrence Halprin (1916–2009). In 1929, at 13, he marked the ritual transition into Jewish adulthood and responsibility (bar mitzvah) in Jerusalem (then British-governed Palestine Mandate), where he and his family … Read more
Today The Sea Ranch on California’s Sonoma coast is known as a rustic community where people live in harmony with their environment. In 2005, landscape architect Lawrence Halprin—who developed The Sea Ranch master plan in the early 1960s—noted that wherever … Read more
Photographer Sue Heinemann remembers traveling to Israel with the postmodern dance legend Anna Halprin in the fall of 2014: “There she completed her trilogy Remembering Lawrence, honoring her late husband, who helped found an early kibbutz and designed several … Read more
Looking for the latest or greatest scholarship and thinking on the 1960s? Here’s a sample of books, films, articles and exhibitions that CHS staff have been reading:
… Read more
On January 22, 2016 the California Historical Society celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Trips Festival with an event at Obscura Digital featuring Trips Festival organizer Stewart Brand. At the event, Trips Festival participants, scholars, historians, artists, musicians and technologists, … Read more
“If I were to tell you that an event of major significance in the history of religion is going to take place in this City of Saint Francis this weekend, you would say, ‘You stayed out of work too long.’ … Read more
