buildings

Maybe this was a pressure-creating-diamonds situation.

Somehow in the 1930s, amid the immense stresses of economic collapse, natural disaster, Olympic anxiety and the looming shadow of World War II, Los Angeles built some of its best-loved architectural gems. The jaw-dropping lobby of the Pantages Theatre (1930), the hilltop domes of Griffith Observatory (1935), the grand halls of Union Station (1939) — all were produced in that harrowing decade.

How rough were the ’30s in L.A.? The Depression, beginning with the stock market crash in October 1929, put the brakes on new construction and farm production, pushing California unemployment to an estimated 28% in 1932. The City Council, meanwhile, was led by one of the most corrupt politicians in L.A. history, Mayor Frank Shaw.

The city did pull off the 1932 Summer Olympics, drawing a record 101,000 people to the Memorial Coliseum opening ceremony. But those Games drew only 1,332 athletes from 37 countries — half as many athletes as gathered for the 1928 Games in Amsterdam.

In 1933, the Long Beach quake killed more than 100 people and destroyed at least 70 schools. The 19-story Los Angeles General Medical Center was completed (and after decades mostly idle, is now being repurposed).

In 1934 and 1938, major floods along the Los Angeles, Santa Ana and San Gabriel rivers took scores of lives and prompted the Army Corps of Engineers to build Hansen Dam in the San Fernando Valley and encase 51 miles of the L.A. River in a concrete channel.

Begun in 1936 and completed in 1959, that channel might be among the city’s largest and least attractive man-made landmarks — in the words of historian Kevin Starr, “A tombstone of concrete.” But it does its job.

As the city weathered these changes, its signature industry shrunk, then bloomed, as movies (priced at about 25 cents) distracted the masses. The arrival of color deepened the spell, as did blockbusters like 1939’s “Gone With the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz.”

The landmarks that went up during those years aren’t all great architectural innovations; many flow directly from the Art Deco and Streamline Moderne trends of the 1920s. But all carry hints about how Angelenos changed with the times.

As critic and author David Kipen has written: “If you don’t like the weather in San Francisco, they say, just wait five minutes. If you don’t like the architecture in Los Angeles, maybe give it ten.”

Here we take a year-by-year architectural stroll through the 1930s. You can enter most of these buildings, in some cases for free, in some cases by booking a tour, buying beer or seeing a show.

Israeli forces attacked and destroyed the 12-storey Mushtaha tower in Gaza City on Friday after giving just 15 minutes’ warning for people to evacuate the area. The building is located near to a displacement camp where Palestinians are sheltering in tents.

The area of Notting Hill is known for streets lined with tall townhouses that are splashed with a vibrant selection of paint, lending the London borough a cheerful and upbeat look

Notting Hill is probably one of London’s most popular and well-known neighbourhoods. And for good reason. Not only is the West London spot home to the three-day street carnival every August bank holiday, but it also helped catapult Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant to even greater levels of stardom than they had previously managed with the iconic 90s romcom.

Unlike many of London’s best-known attractions (the lastminute.com London Eye certainly being among the culprits), Notting Hill does live up to the cinematic hype. The whole West London neighborhood has a great energy, which is no doubt fostered in part by the neighborhood’s iconic painted houses that leave it considered one of the prettiest in the country.

The area is known for streets lined with tall townhouses that are splashed with a vibrant selection of paint, lending the London borough a cheerful and upbeat look. The most famous of those streets is Portobello Road, which has been highlighted by Emperor Paint as one of the most colourful areas in the UK.

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Portobello Road is definitely Notting Hill’s busiest street. On Fridays and Saturdays, much of the road transforms into a vibrant and eclectic street market. If you’re hunting for bric-a-brac and unpolished diamonds on market day, begin on the Golborne Road end of the street.

There, you will find some very cheap pavement sellers who dump boxes of china, pictures, trinkets, and all sorts of other bits and bobs that are broken in transit on the pavements. It may take a little while, but amongst the tat, you’ll be able to find some treasure.

When the market isn’t on and the stalls have been cleared away, Portobello Road remains a bustling place replete with plenty of independent shops, cozy cafés, and, of course, famously colorful painted houses.

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If your goal is to admire and photograph the houses, avoid market days—they tend to get too crowded. Instead, visit around sunset for some truly breathtaking shots. Don’t hesitate to wander off the main street, as some of Notting Hill’s most charming and colorful spots are tucked away along the small cobbled mews streets.

St Lukes Mews has some lovely painted homes, including one painted pink that has become a hotspot of Instagrammers on photoshoots. If you recognise the street, it may be because St Lukes starred in Love Actually.

While most of Notting Hill’s houses are painted in pretty pastel shades, if you’re after something brighter, head east on Lancaster Road, right where it intersects with Portobello Road. There, things get loud. The houses here are splashed with primary coloured paint that can light up even the grayest of autumn days.

Israel has completely destroyed more than 1,000 buildings in the Zeitoun and Sabra neighbourhoods of Gaza City since it started its invasion of the city on August 6, trapping hundreds under the rubble, the Palestinian Civil Defence says.

The agency said in a statement on Sunday that ongoing shelling and blocked access routes are preventing many rescue and aid operations in the area.

Emergency workers continue to receive numerous reports of missing people but are unable to respond, while hospitals are overwhelmed by the toll of the attacks, it added.

“There are grave concerns about the continued incursion of Israeli forces into Gaza City, at a time when field crews lack the capacity to deal with the intensity of the ongoing Israeli attacks,” the Civil Defence said.

“There is no safe area in the Gaza Strip, whether in the north or south, where shelling continues to target civilians in their homes, shelters, and even in their displacement camps.”

Israeli tanks have been rolling into the Sabra neighbourhood as Israel moves to fully occupy Gaza City, forcing close to 1 million Palestinians there southwards.

The Civil Defence’s assertion appears to confirm fears that Israel is planning to fully demolish Gaza City, as it did in Rafah, a campaign that rights advocates say could be aimed at removing all Palestinians from Gaza.

At least three people, including a child, were among the latest victims killed in an attack on a residential apartment on al-Jalaa Street in Gaza City, according to a source in the enclave’s emergency and ambulance department.

The area, where famine has been declared, has been under relentless Israeli bombardment over the last several weeks. Residents reported explosions echoing nonstop through the neighbourhoods, while several buildings were also blown up further north, in the ravaged Jabalia refugee camp.

At least 51 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza on Sunday, including 27 in Gaza City and 24 aid seekers, medical sources told Al Jazeera.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health said eight more people died of Israeli-induced hunger as starvation in the enclave intensifies, raising deaths from malnutrition to 289 people, including 115 children, since the war began.

Israeli forces have been routinely opening fire on hungry Palestinians as they attempt to secure meagre aid parcels at the controversial, Israeli and US-backed GHF sites.

‘Impossible’ to stay alive

Commenting on the worsening humanitarian situation, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said that famine is the “last calamity” hitting Gaza, where people are experiencing “hell in all shapes”.

“‘Never Again’ has deliberately become ‘again’. This will haunt us. Denial is the most obscene expression of dehumanisation,” Lazzarini wrote on X.

He added that it was time for the Israeli government to allow aid organisations to provide assistance, and for foreign journalists to be allowed into the enclave.

Gaza’s Ministry of Interior warned against Israeli plans to forcibly displace residents from Gaza City and the northern governorates, urging people against leaving their homes despite heavy bombardment.

The ministry called on residents to remain in their communities, or if threatened, to move only to nearby areas rather than relocate to the south.

“We urge citizens and displaced persons residing in Gaza City not to respond to the occupation’s threats and terrorism, and to refuse to be displaced and move to the remaining areas of the central and Khan Younis governorates,” it said.

“There is no safe place in any of the governorates of the Gaza Strip, and the occupation commits the most heinous crimes daily, even bombing the tents of displaced persons in areas it falsely claims are humanitarian or safe.”

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said Palestinians are nonetheless fleeing areas in Gaza City “under intensive Israeli air strikes and also attacks by quadcopters”.

“We met a couple of these families, and they said that it was [nearly] impossible for them to stay alive as they were fleeing and quadcopters were opening fire on whatever was moving in that area,” Khoudary said.

“Some Palestinians made it safely and were able to flee, but others were trapped in those areas and are unable to leave,” she added.

Leading rights groups and UN experts have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

It was the second attack on Isfahan as the conflict enters a second week, killing at least 430 people in Iran and 24 in Israel.

A key nuclear site in Iran’s Isfahan province has come under Israeli attack, with local officials saying there were no radiation leaks.

Early on Saturday, smoke could be seen rising from an area near a mountain in the city of Isfahan after Israeli air strikes hit the nuclear site overnight, triggering the air defence system.

It was the second attack on Isfahan as the conflict between the Middle Eastern nations entered a second week, killing at least 430 people and wounding nearly 3,500 others in Iran, according to Iran’s health ministry.

No casualties were reported in the Isfahan attack, authorities said.

Israeli forces also hit a military installation in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz in Fars province, according to Iranian media.

On the Israeli side, explosions were heard above Tel Aviv, where buildings were seen on fire.

In central Israel, the emergency services released images showing fire on the roof of a multi-storeyed residential building. Local media reports said the blaze was caused by falling debris from an Iranian missile that was intercepted.

At least 24 people have been killed by Iranian missile attacks in Israel, according to local authorities, in the worst conflict between the longtime enemies.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that Israel has killed Saeed Izadi, who led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) overseas arm, in a strike on an apartment in the Iranian city of Qom.

Calling his killing a “major achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Force”, Katz said in a statement that Izadi had allegedly financed and armed the Palestinian group Hamas ahead of its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

IRGC said five of its members died in Israeli attacks, according to Iranian media. They did not mention Izadi, who was on United States and British sanctions lists.

Hostilities broke out on June 13 when Israel launched air strikes on several sites across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes.

Israel claims it attacked Iran to prevent it from developing a nuclear bomb, although Iranian negotiators were engaged in talks with the US to curb its enrichment programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

The International Atomic Energy Agency and US intelligence have both said there were no signs that Iran was building a nuclear weapon, despite Tehran having enriched uranium beyond the threshold needed for civilian purposes.

However, Trump on Friday said US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard was “wrong” in saying that Iran was not developing a nuclear bomb.

Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told Al Jazeera that Tehran remains open to dialogue at the United Nations and other such forums.

“We believe in listening to the other side. That’s why our diplomats are present in Geneva, to hear the other side out,” Mohajerani said, adding that any diplomacy must begin with global recognition of Israel’s attack on Iran.

Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said Iranians are angry over Israel “not just targeting nuclear facilities and military complexes”.

“The reality on the ground is ordinary people are being attacked on a daily basis,” he said.

“Many in the Iranian capital have chosen to leave, but we have to keep in mind we’re talking about 10 million people living in Tehran city and 14 million in Tehran province. It’s putting pressure on surrounding areas.”

Nueva Tabarca is the smallest inhabited island in Spain and sits off the coast of Alicante. It has become increasingly popular with locals, who descend on the tiny strip of land in huge numbers

Each day, thousands of tourists descend on a tiny Spanish island that is creaking under the strain.

Despite sitting just a few km off the coast of Alicante, and technically being part of the Spanish resort which has long been beloved by British holidaymakers, few non-locals make it to the island of Nueva Tabarca.

At 1,800m long and 400m wide, and home to 68 permanent residents, Tabarca is the smallest inhabited island in Spain. It also one with a colourful history, as the location where St. Paul (possibly) disembarked and as a long-time refuge for pirates.

In recent years, more and more people have been hopping on Ferry Azul boats that sail there from the mainland, enjoying the shoals of little fish that cluster around its glass sides on the way over.

When they get there, they are typically confronted with the same realisation. “It’s a lot smaller than I thought. When they said it was a small island…it’s like, tiny,” said Sante, who recently visited Tabarca with his wife.

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This is a particularly problem as up to 5,000 people descend on Tabarca each day during the high season, swelling the full-time population by 30 times. From 10am to 9pm, the one main street on the island becomes packed with visitors, who leave as quickly as they arrive in the evening.

According to Carmen Martí, president of the neighborhood association, “the problem isn’t tourists.” She recently told El Pais that the much bigger issue is infrastructure.

“There are no public restrooms, no shaded areas, tourist attractions, such as the church or the vaults of the wall, are closed, the tower is in ruins,” she lamented.

Medical assistance on the island is very slim, which is a problem given the lack of lifeguards on the beach for much of the year, and the scorching temperatures. With a surface area barely 15 meters above sea level and no trees other than a few palm trees, there is no shelter from the sun on the island.

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Carmen says locals have pushed the authorities to help them improve the island, but haven’t received much assistance. “We’ve presented plans for a rest area to the town hall so that young people don’t have to eat and rest sitting on the town’s sidewalks, but they’ve ignored it,” she said.

The issues stem, in part, from the fact that Tabarca falls between two administrations, with several administrative roles on the island lying unfilled for years. That, coupled with its offshore remoteness, means it does not always get the attention locals believe it deserves.

They say that municipal infrastructure, offices, warehouses, and even the museum, which is barely 20 years old, are in terrible condition. Roofs are corroded by salt, premises are propped up, and the museum is closed as a precaution.

Yet despite all of these issues, and the presence of angry seagulls that have a habit of attacking beachgoers, people continue to come. They do so because of the beautiful beaches and the clear waters, which are protected by Spain’s first marine reserve, declared in 1986.

A HUGE 5.8 magnitude earthquake has struck Greece and Turkey killing one person and leaving fearful locals jumping off buildings.

The quake struck just after 2am local time this morning (12am BST) about 68km deep and just off the coast of Turkey.

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Seven people were injured after jumping from windows or balconies in a panic, the governor of the Turkish city of Marmaris, Idris Akbiyik, said.

It was felt in neighbouring regions, including in the Greek island of Rhodes, waking many from their sleep, Turkey’s NTV television reported.

The Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency said the earthquake was centred in the Mediterranean Sea and struck at 2.17am.

Brit holiday company TUI told customers currently holidaying on the resort island that local authorities were assessing the situation.

They said: “At this time, there are no reports of significant damage or injuries. As a precaution, please remain calm and follow any safety instructions provided by your accommodation or local officials.

“Should any specific action be required on your part, rest assured that we will contact you directly with further guidance. Your safety and well-being are our top priority.”

More to follow… For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online

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