Finding Aid for the Edward Ruscha Photographs of Los Angeles Streets, 1974-2010
2012.M.2
Beth Ann Guynn
Special Collections
2012
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
Business Number: (310) 440-7390
Fax Number: (310) 440-7780
reference@getty.edu
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Edward Ruscha photographs of Los Angeles streets
Creator:
Ruscha, Edward
Identifier/Call Number: 2012.M.2
Physical Description:
35 Linear Feet
Physical Description:
28 boxes
Physical Description:
58 GB
(3,827 files)
Date (inclusive): 1974-2010
Request Materials: Request access
to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Abstract: The archive comprises
Edward Ruscha's ongoing photographic documentation of Los Angeles thoroughfares. Included
are shoots of three streets made in the 1970s: Santa Monica Boulevard and Pacific Coast
Highway, 1974; and Melrose Avenue, 1975; and over 40 shoots made since 2007. These shoots
represent more than twenty-five streets including Sepulveda, Pico, Olympic, Wilshire, La
Cienega, and Beverly boulevards.
Language of Material: Collection material is in
English.
Biographical/Historical Note
The American artist Edward Joseph Ruscha IV was born in Omaha, Nebraska on December 16,
1937 to Edward Ruscha III, an insurance auditor, and his wife Dorothy Driscoll Ruscha. He
was raised in Oklahoma City where he met his lifelong friends Mason Williams, Joe Goode, and
Jerry McMillan. After graduation from high school he drove to California with Mason Williams
to attend Chouinard Art Institute (now California Institute of the Arts). Robert Irwin and
Emerson Woelffer were among the teachers who would have an especially strong influence on
him.
Ruscha graduated from Chouinard in 1960 and in 1961 made his first trip to Europe,
traveling with his mother and older sister Shelby by car for seven months. The numerous
travel images he took with his Yashika camera that include storefronts, window displays, and
billboards, as well as the perhaps more typical images of people they met on their journey,
thematically and stylistically prefigure the photographs he was soon to take for his early
artist's books such as
Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1963) and
Some Los Angeles Apartments (1965).
A visit to New York on his way back to California opened Ruscha's eyes to Pop Art, and the
work he subsequently created was included in
New Painting of Common
Objects
, the first exhibition of Pop Art, curated by Walter Hopps at the Pasadena
Art Museum in 1962. The following year Hopps gave Ruscha his first solo show at Ferus
Gallery. Informed by Pop Art and the distinctive billboard culture of Los Angeles, Ruscha
went on to become a pivitol presence in the West Coast and Conceptual art scenes.
Although much of Ruscha's work is informed by or uses photography as its point of
departure, he sees himself not as a photographer but as someone who uses the medium of
photography as part of his larger artistic practice. His early photographic artist's books,
many of which further distill the quotidian elements of the Los Angeles cityscape - parking
lots, urban streets, and apartment buildings - into serial imagery, have fundamentally
altered the genre of the artist's book through their use of photography and commercial
production methods. Yet in a discussion of his artist's books with Silvia Wolf, Ruscha
noted, "My use of the camera is still a tool to make a picture...At the time I was into
making pictures that happened to be photographs, rather than making 'photographs'
("Nostalgia and New Editions; A Converstion with Ed Ruscha," in
Ed
Ruscha and Photography
, 2004, p. 257).
Known for the drawings and paintings of words and phrases that he began making in the
1960s, as well as for his artist's books, Ruscha is one of the pre-eminent artists of his
generation. He has exhibited widely in the United States and abroad. His first international
exhibition was in Cologne at Galerie Rudolf Zwirner in 1968. A few years later he began
showing at Leo Castelli Gallery in New York, and his first retrospective was held at the San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1982. He is currently represented by Gagosian Gallery (Los
Angeles and New York).
Processing History
Processed by Beth Ann Guynn and Linda Kleiger in 2012, and Guynn wrote the finding aid.
Born digital materials were processed by Laura Schroffel in 2017 and 2019. Some filenames
were edited for disambiguation. Original filenames were retained as labels in the Research
Collections Viewer.
Acquisition Information
Promised gift of Ed Ruscha.
Related Archival Materials
The Getty Research Library also holds the Edward Ruscha Photographs of Sunset Boulevard and
Hollywood Boulevard collection, Special Collection accession number 2012.M.1.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Edward Ruscha Photographs of Los Angeles Streets, 1974-2010, Getty Research Institute,
Research Library, Accession no. 2012.M.2.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2012m2
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers. Original film negative and positive reels are
unavailable due to conservation concerns; these materials have been digitized.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged chronologically by shoot date.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection comprises Edward Ruscha's ongoing photographic documentation of Los Angeles
thoroughfares. This material demonstrates Ruscha's interest in producing an almost
comprehensive representation of the city's main streets. Included are shoots of three
streets made in the 1970s: Santa Monica Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway, 1974; and
Melrose Avenue, 1975; and over 40 streets shot since 2007. These later shoots represent more
than twenty-five streets including Sepulveda, Pico, Olympic, Wilshire, La Cienega, and
Beverly Boulevards. Some shoots record groups or "suites" of streets such as the Chinatown,
La Brea, and Silverlake areas.
The shoots from the 1970s are represented primarily by strip negatives and corresponding
[?] contact sheets (approximately 10,500 negatives and circa 100 contact sheets containing
approximately 9,800 frames). Documentation consists primarily of relevant pages photocopied
from the production notebooks found in box 7 of the Getty Research Institute's companion
collection, Edward Ruscha Photographs of Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard,
1965-2000, accession number 2012.R.1.
From 2007 onward, Ruscha generally documented a street in two shoots, usually two single
days or two periods of two days or periods of consecutive days. Each shoot is represented by
a negative reel (49 reels total). The two negative reels for each street were then combined
by the Los Angeles film lab FotoKem in a single positive reel (24 reels total).
Documentation for each shoot consists primarily of cue and footage sheets and invoices from
the FotoKem labs.
Appraisal
Duplicate born digital files were not retained in this collection in accordance with the
Library's digital preservation and privacy policies.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Streets -- United States -- Los Angeles
Pacific Coast Highway -- Description and travel
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Description and travel
Sunset Boulevard (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Description and
travel
Santa Monica Boulevard (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Description and
travel
Silver Lake (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Description and travel
Melrose Avenue (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Description and
travel
Wilshire Boulevard (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Description and
travel
La Brea Avenue (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Description and
travel
Compact discs -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th century
Contact sheets -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th
century
Photographic film (photographic materials) -- California -- Los
Angeles -- 21st century
Photographic film (photographic materials) -- California -- Los
Angeles -- 20th century
Black-and-white negatives -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th
century
Edward Ruscha photographs of Los Angeles streets
1970s,
1974-1975
Scope and Contents
Materials from shoots of Los Angeles streets made during the 1970s. Streets included
are Santa Monica Boulevard, Pacific Coast Highway, and Melrose Avenue.
Santa Monica Boulevard
Scope and Contents
Shoot occurred on August 4, 1974.
box 1, folder 1
Negative strips
Scope and Contents
284 strips of 13 frame negatives (final strip is six frames).
box 2*
Contact sheets
Scope and Contents
Thirty-six contact sheets containing 11 strips of 13 frames corresponding to
negatives above. Annotated with sheet and strip numbers; yellow cross street
labels adhered to sheets. Sheet no. 34 is printed twice, clipped together and
annotated as darker and lighter print. Also included are seven contact sheets
labeled "proof too dark," "proof too light," or "strips reversed"; and six
sheets, three which have sticky notes on them.
box 3, folder 1
Documentation
Scope and Contents
Four pages of production notes photocopied from the green production notebook.
(Notebook is contained in 2012.M.1, Box 7, Folder 13.)
Pacific Coast Highway
Scope and Contents
Shoot occurred on December 15, 1974.
box 4, folder 1
Negatives
Scope and Contents
235 strips of 13 frame negatives.
box 5, folder 1
19 x13 inch sheets
Scope and Contents
Twenty-one 13 frame (11 strip) contact sheets and one sheet with 4 strips
corresponding to negatives above; seven test contact sheets including four
versions of the same sheet, marked variously on versos: test; shadows;
normal.
box 6, item D1-D2
CDs of contact sheets
Physical Description: 9
GB(3,397 files)
Scope and Contents
D1: 1 computer disc (CD) : digital ; 4 3/4 in. marked: PCH 1974 / Ed Ruscha /
Streets / contacts only / JPEGS / 13 x 19" / 300 DPI / 85 Mg. D2 1 computer
disc (DVD) : digital ; 4 3/4 in. marked: PCH 1974 / Ed Ruscha / Streets /
digital contacts / all data.
D1 contains 22 image files (.jpg) of the full contact sheets. D2 contains 27
image files (.psd) of full contact sheets and 3,342 image files (.jpg) of
individual frames from reels.
box 5, folder 2
Index prints
Scope and Contents
One sheet containing negative strips 210-220.
box 3, folder 2
Documentation
Scope and Contents
Three pages of production notes photocopied from the green production notebook.
(Notebook is contained in 2012.M.1, Box 7, Folder 13.)
1975 Melrose Avenue shoot,
1975
Scope and Contents
Shoot occurred on May 4, 1975.
box 4, folder 2
Negatives
Scope and Contents
289 strips of 13 frame negatives (final strip is three frames).
box 7, folder 1
Contact sheets
Scope and Contents
Twenty-six contact sheets containing eleven strips of 13 frames, corresponding to
negatives above. A photo of each take is marked in yellow. Also included are three
sheets of outtakes and one smaller sheet of 4 x 6 1/2 inch and 1 x 4 inch frames;
one dark print comprised of seven strips of 12 frames (strip nos. 115-121); and
one cut sheet consisting of two strips of 13 frames and one strip of three frames
(strips 287-289).
box 3, folder 3
Documentation
Scope and Contents
Three pages of production notes photocopied from the green production notebook.
(Notebook is contained in 2012.M.1, Box 7, Folder 13.)
box 7, folder 2
Unidentified shoots,
circa 1974-circa
1975
Scope and Contents
Includes four taped contact sheets marked "misc proof"; two contact sheets marked
"Pacific Coast Highway," and two additional contact sheets.
2007-2010
Scope and Contents
Shoots made since 2007 when Ruscha resumed his documentation of Los Angeles streets.
Most of the shoots were done over a period of two or more days. Each shoot usually
consists of two negative reels and one positive reel. For the most part the negative
reels are either labeled with a specific date(s) within the broader shoot date or are
identified as "first run" and "second run." Dates recorded on the leaders, individual
spliced rolls and other documentation may vary from these dates. Additionally, each
negative reel comprises various smaller rolls of film that are spliced together; these
rolls are not sequentially numbered. Footage is taken from labels on leaders,
canisters or boxes, and may vary from source to source. Documentation consists
primarily of Foto-Kem materials such as cue and footage sheets and invoices.
2007 shoots,
2007-2010
Scope and Contents
Shoots include Sunset Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard, and Melrose Avenue.
Sunset Boulevard,
2007-2010
Scope and Contents
Shoot took place from June 9 to June 13, 2007; 24.6 miles.
box 8
Negative film reels,
2007 June 6-2007
June 13
Scope and Contents
This reel was actually shot from June 10 to 13.
box 8, item FN1
2007 June
6
Scope and Contents
955 feet of film.
box 8, item FN2
2007 June
10-2007 June 13
Scope and Contents
991 feet of film.
box 8, item FN3
Blank leader,
2007 June
10-2007 June 13
Scope and Contents
Two passes: north/east; south/west. No footage recorded.
Santa Monica Boulevard,
2007
Scope and Contents
Shoot occurred on July 12, 2008; 14.13 miles.
box 8
Negative film reels,
2007 July
12
box 8, item FN4
First run
Scope and Contents
572 feet of film.
box 8, item FN5
Second run
Scope and Contents
575 feet of film.
Melrose Avenue,
2007-2010
Scope and Contents
Shoot occurred on July 12, 2008; 6.1 miles.
box 10
Negative film reels,
2007 July
12
box 10, item FN6
First run
Scope and Contents
327 feet of film.
box 10, item FN7
Second run
Scope and Contents
292 feet of film.
2008 shoots,
2008
Scope and Contents
Shoots include Olympic, Wilshire, Beverly, Pico, and Venice boulevards, as well as
Western Avenue.
Olympic Boulevard,
2008
Scope and Contents
Shooting occurred from June 13 to June 16, 2008; 24.6 miles.
box 10
Negative film reels,
2008 June
13-2008 June 16
box 10, item FN8
2008 June
13
Scope and Contents
947 feet of film.
box 10, item FN9
2008 June
15-2008 June 16
Scope and Contents
971 feet of film.
Wilshire Boulevard,
2008-2010
Scope and Contents
Shoot occurred on June 21 and June 23, 2008; 15.8 miles.
box 10
Negative film reels,
2008 June
21-2008 June 23
box 10, item FN10
2008 June
20
Scope and Contents
587 feet of film.
box 10, item FN11
2008 June
23
Scope and Contents
633 feet of film.
Beverly Boulevard,
2008-2010
Scope and Contents
Shoot occurred on June 20 and June 23, 2008; 13.2 miles.
box 11
Negative film reels,
2008 June
20-2008 June 23
box 11, item FN12
2008 June 20
Scope and Contents
667 feet of film.
box 11, item FN13
2008 June 23
Scope and Contents
345 feet of film. Annotation on cannister label: West only / 8.37 mi.
Pico Boulevard,
2008-2010
Scope and Contents
Shoot took place from August 30 to September 2, 2008; 15.6 miles.
box 11
Negative film reels,
2008 August
30-2008 September 2
box 11, item FN14
2008 August
30-2008 August 31
Scope and Contents
710 feet of film.
box 11, item FN15
2008 September
1-2008 September 2
Scope and Contents
693 feet of film.
box ADD2, item CM1-CM7
DVDs of VistaVision test
2008
Physical Description: 48.9
GB(321 files)
Scope and Contents
7 computer discs (CD) : digital ; 4 3/4 in. Discs contain 150 individual color
images (.tif) of Pico Boulevard heading east from Dunsmuir to Rimpauriginal.
Files were converted to jpeg format for access. CM7 contains 150 duplicate
(.dpx) files that have been retained for preservation but are not
accessible.
Venice Boulevard,
2008-2010
Scope and Contents
Shoot took place on August 28 and August 31, 2008 and from September 1 to
September 3, 2008; 13.3 miles.
box 13
Negative film reels,
2008 August
28-2008 September 3
box 13, item FN16
2008 August 28
and 31; 2008 September 1
Scope and Contents
500 feet of film; crossed out and corrected on label as: 612 feet.
box 13, item FN17
2008 September
1-3
Scope and Contents
447 feet of film; crossed out and corrected on label as: 583 feet.
Western Avenue,
2008-2010
Scope and Contents
Shoot took place from November 7 to November 10, 2008; 27.1 miles.
box 13
Negative film reels,
2008 November
7-2008 November 10
box 13, item FN18
2008 November
7-2008 November 8
Scope and Contents
1049 feet of film.
box 13, item FN19
2008 November
9-2008 November 10
Scope and Contents
1103 feet of film.
2009 shoots,
2009
Scope and Contents
Streets documented include Franklin and Fountain avenues, Ventura Boulevard, Third
Street, Pacific Coast Highway, Sepulveda Boulevard, Figueroa Street, La Cienega
Boulevard,
Franklin Avenue and Fountain Avenue,
2009-2010
Scope and Contents
Shoot occurred on May 17, 2009; Fountain Avenue 6.2 miles; Franklin Avenue 4.7
miles.
box 14
Negative film reels,
2009 May
17
box 14, item FN20
First run
Scope and Contents
Fountain Avenue: 341 feet of film. Franklin Avenue: 231 feet of film.
box 14, item FN21
Second run
Scope and Contents
Fountain Avenue: 354 feet of film. Franklin Avenue: 188 feet of film.
Ventura Boulevard,
2009-2010
Scope and Contents
Shoot took place on June 26 and June 27, 2009; 16.5 miles.
box 14
Negative film reels,
2009 June
26-2009 June 27
box 14, item FN22
First run
Scope and Contents
606 feet of film; crossed out and corrected on label as: 592 feet.
box 14, item FN23
Second run
Scope and Contents
602 feet of film.
Third Street,
2009-2010
Scope and Contents
Shoot took place on June 28 and June 29, 2009; 13.6 miles.
box 16
Negative film reels,
2009
box 16, item FN24
First run
Scope and Contents
599 feet of film.
box 16, item FN25
Second run
Scope and Contents
680 feet of film.
Pacific Coast Highway,
2009-2010
Scope and Contents
Shoot took place on August 29 and September 1, 2009; 27.4 miles.
box 16
Negative film reels,
2009
box 16, item FN26
First run
Scope and Contents
880 feet of film.
box 16, item FN27
Second run
Scope and Contents
892 feet of film.
Sepulveda Boulevard,
2009-2010
Scope and Contents
Shoot took place between November 1 and November 15, 2009; 44.1 miles.
box 17
Negative film reels,
2009
box 17, item FN28
First run
Scope and Contents
1492 feet of film.
box 17, item FN29
Second run
Scope and Contents
1632 feet of film; crossed out and corrected on label as: 1952 feet.
Figueroa Street,
2009-2010
Scope and Contents
Shoot took place on November 16 and November 20, 2009; 31.8 miles.
box 18
Negative film reels,
2009
box 18, item FN30
First run
Scope and Contents
1130 feet of film.
box 18, item FN31
Second run
Scope and Contents
1108 feet of film.
La Cienega Boulevard,
2009-2010
Scope and Contents
Shoot occurred on December 21 and December 22, 2009; 13.6 miles.
box 19
Negative film reels,
2009
box 19, item FN32
First run
Scope and Contents
482 feet of film.
box 19, item FN33
Second run
Scope and Contents
501 feet of film.
2010 shoots,
2010
Scope and Contents
Individual streets documented include Hollywood, Culver, Century, Lincoln, San
Vicente, and Washington boulevards. "Suites" of streets recorded include the
Chinatown, La Brea, and Silver Lake areas.
Chinatown
Scope and Contents
Shoot took place on January 15 and January 20, 2010. Streets documented include
Hill Street, Spring Street and Broadway. No mileage recorded.
box 21, item FN34
First run
Scope and Contents
1118 feet of film.
box 21, item FN35
Balance
Scope and Contents
1114 feet of film.
La Brea Suite
Scope and Contents
Shoot took place between April 22 and April 25, 2010. Streets documented include
La Brea, Fairfax, Highland, and Rossmore avenues and Vine Street. No mileage.
box 22, item FN36
First run
Scope and Contents
1173 feet of film; crossed out and corrected on label as: 1141 feet.
box 22, item FN37
Balance
Scope and Contents
1173 feet of film; crossed out and corrected on label as: 1135 feet.
Hollywood Boulevard
Scope and Contents
Shoot took place between July 10 and July 12, 2010; 6.4 miles.
box 19, item FN38
First run
Scope and Contents
488 feet of film.
box 19, item FN39
Second run
Scope and Contents
482 feet of film.
Culver Boulevard
Scope and Contents
Shoot took place between March 25 and March 28, 2010; 31 miles. Shoot ended at
Point Ferman.
box 23, item FN40
First run
Scope and Contents
1414 feet of film.
box 23, item FN41
Second run
Scope and Contents
1349 feet of film.
Century Boulevard
Scope and Contents
Shoot took place between July 10 and July 13, 2010; 13.2 miles.
box 24, item FN42
First run
Scope and Contents
562 feet of film.
box 24, item FN43
Second run
Scope and Contents
461 feet of film.
Lincoln Boulevard and San Vicente Boulevard
Scope and Contents
Shoot took place between July 10 and July 13, 2010; Lincoln Boulevard 8.8. miles;
San Vicente Boulevard 4.4 miles.
box 24, item FN44
First run
Scope and Contents
First label: Lincoln Blvd. 8.8 miles; 349 feet. Annotation: W/San Vicente;
501' (footage crossed out). Second label: San Vicente Blvd. 4.4 miles;
305'.
box 24, item FN45
Second run
Scope and Contents
Lincoln Boulevard: 337 feet of film; San Vicente Boulevard 144 feet of
film.
Washington Boulevard
Scope and Contents
Shoot took place between August 14 and August 17, 2010; 27.7 miles.
box 26, item FN46
First run
Scope and Contents
1024 feet of film.
box 26, item FN47
Second run
Scope and Contents
1067 feet of film.
Silver Lake Suite
Scope and Contents
Shoot took place between September 20 and September 22, 2010. The ten streets
documented were: Silver Lake Boulevard, Hoover Street, Virgil Avenue, Hillhurst
Avenue, Los Feliz Boulevard, Hyperion Avenue, Alvarado Street, Echo Park Avenue,
Glendale Boulevard, and Rowena Avenue.
box 27, item FN48
First run [?]
Scope and Contents
1689 feet of film.
box 27, item FN49
Balance
Scope and Contents
1689 feet of film; corrected on lable as 1241 feet.
box 28
Slow moving vehicle sign,
2007
Scope and Contents
Sign used in the truck during shooting, hand lettered by Paul Ruscha in English and
Spanish.
Project documentation 1973-2010
2010-2011
Physical Description: 0.195
GB(109 files)
Scope and Contents
1 computer disc (CD-ROM) : digital ; 4 3/4 in. CM8 contains pdf files, spreadsheets
(.xls), and word processing documents in OpenDocument Text (.odt) and Rich Text Format
(.rtf). Pdfs that were duplicates of spreadsheets were used for access. When no pdf
duplicate existed a pdf was generated for access. All Rich Text Format and
OpenDocument Text files were converted to pdf for access.
