Description
A terrific matched pair by the little-known Los Angeles photographer and commercial artist August Balbi, photographing essentially the same downtown view by day, and again, after dark. Balbi appears to have made the photographs from an elevated position around 11th and Broadway; his handwritten notation on the night print identifies South Broadway at left and Main Street at right. The Orpheum dominates the center distance, Western Costume appears at far left, and Los Angeles City Hall rises on the horizon in the daytime view. After dark, the architecture recedes and the streets take over, with long-exposure headlights drawing luminous lines through downtown.
What makes the pair for me is the obvious intention behind it. Balbi didn’t simply happen to photograph downtown twice: he returned to virtually the same composition and showed the city in two completely different states. By day it’s architecture, signage and urban density; at night it becomes light, movement and theater. Balbi himself remains obscure as a photographer, although a documented group of 26 of his 1930s Los Angeles silver prints survives, most bearing photographer’s credits or publication information. He was far better known as a pioneering shortwave-radio listener—the celebrated “Dean of DXers”—and a 1964 profile specifically lists photography among his interests.
A wonderful matched pair of vintage Los Angeles photographs.
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