Preservation Success!

Photo by Julius Shulman © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles

The former Huntley Bookstore building on the Claremont College's campus is a unique and significant architectural project designed by the noted Southern California architecture firm, A. Quincy Jones & Fredrick E. Emmons for the Claremont Colleges in 1969.

Cudo's to CGU who recently purchased the site and is in the process of turning it into a multi-disciplinary heath center, both retaining and replacing character defining features that bring the building back to its glory. An iconic example of mid-20th century architecture, the Huntley building will serve as the home of the Yuhaaviatam Center for Health Studies.

Claremont Heritage supported the adaptive reuse of the former Huntley Bookstore building and asked that as a condition of approval, the exterior trellis, a significant character defining feature that was removed, be rebuilt to the same specifications as is reflected in the original plans from 1969. 

Current Photos courtesy John R Faranda

Celebrating Black History Month

Celebrating local singer Claudia Lennear who is still performing today!

During the seventies, Claudia Lennear was a musical pioneer who sang background vocals across the genres on stage and on recordings with Ike and Tina Turner, Allen Toussaint, the Rolling Stones, Joe Cocker, Leon Russell, George Harrison, Elton John, Steven Stills, Taj Mahal, and many others.

Journalists have documented that Lennear was the muse for songs written by Mick Jagger, David Bowie, and Leon Russell. Lennear affirms “Brown Sugar”, “Lady Grinning Soul”, “ A Song for You”, “Masquerade”, and “She Smiles Like a River” were either written for, or about, her.

Lennear did a number of photography sessions with celebrity photographer Norman Seeff in 1972, when Claudia was at the height of her career and Norman was essentially just beginning his. Seeff had just relocated to Los Angeles from New York, landing a job with United Artists as their Creative Director. The images in the exhibition were chosen by Claudia and Norman from hundreds of photographs taken over several days.

The photographs are for sale - 24" x 36" mounted on aluminum - Click Here for more info

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