Sunday, February 5, 2012

Building Plans

This is kind of old news to me and I had it all written out on two of the other blogs.  But they're gone now and I haven't written anything here in a while, so i thought I'd put up this little tidbit again.  This was one of the first things that really got me looking at the Kavach Building.

You can go to the Department of Public Works and see the blueprints for any building in your city.  Just like you always see in the movies and on television shows when people go get the blueprints for a skyscraper or a bank they're going to break into.  I do it all the time for class stuff or general research.  They know me down there and they like me and try to help me out.  Having boobs is definitley a plus.

Plans for houses and residences don't stay around for long, but major buildings like hotels, restaurants, and other businesses are kept on file indefinitely.  If the building still exists, Public Works keeps the plans on file.  Even indefinitely only means so long for the government, though.  After 75 to 80 years, a lot of older building plans get moved to files at local museums.  I've never been clear how they decide what goes where.

About two months after I first saw the Kavach Building I was down at Public Works checking some specs on the Bradbury Building (which is my favorite building in Los Angeles that I don't keep an obsessive blog about).  I thought about looking at the Kavach plans and figured I could learn who the architect was and maybe some clues about the design.  So I asked Nick if I could see them and gave him the address. Nick is the guy I usually deal with there.  He's a few years older than me and fashionably bald.

Five minutes later Nick came back looking kind of freaked out.  He said he couldn't show me the plans.  When i asked why, he said he couldn't say but I shouldn't ask to see them again.  I remember what he said next.  "Don't worry, I covered for you.  You won't get in any trouble."  He was really close-mouthed about it and all my best begging and nagging and flirting couldn't get anything else out of him.  It seemed to freak him out a little more, honestly.

The next time I went to Public Works was seven weeks later.  Nick was gone.  The new woman told me he'd been promoted and was upstairs somewhere now.

I never saw him again.

1 comment:

  1. i know this is kinda old.. but.. This has nothing to do with something that is real right? Its all for the book right? (which is an awesome book BTW... not finished with it yet tho.. they just got to the basement so far.)

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