Launched in 2005 with Curating the City: Wilshire Boulevard, the Conservancy's Curating the City program is broad-based approach that encourages the ongoing exploration and appreciation of L.A.’s unique built environment. 

It treats the city itself (or rather, the county) as a living museum, interpreting various aspects of our cultural heritage in different ways.

The subject of each Curating the City project is a particular architectural or historical theme within the built environment of Los Angeles County. Specific components include architectural tours, publications, online resources, panel discussions, youth activities, and even film screenings, photography exhibits, and fashion shows.

About Pacific Standard Time Presents

Funded by a grant from the Getty Foundation, Curating the City: Modern Architecture in L.A. is part of the 2013 Getty initiative, Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. 

Pacific Standard Time Presents celebrates the city’s modern architectural heritage through thematic exhibitions at nine venues in and around the city. Supported by grants from the Getty Foundation, Modern Architecture in L.A. provides a wide-ranging look at the region’s postwar built environment and the contributions of Los Angeles architects to the field.

By examining a range of building types, from iconic modernist homes to the vast freeway network that has shaped this unique megalopolis, the exhibitions promise new insight into the city’s planning, development and global impact. The initiative includes a diverse group of practitioners, from internationally known figures such as Richard Neutra and Frank Gehry, to others who have been critical to shaping Southern California’s distinctive profile, such as A. Quincy Jones and Eric Owen Moss.

Related lectures, films, tours and discussions organized by the exhibition venues and other participating organizations from April–July 2013 explore the history of L.A.’s development as well as its future. Designed to continue the momentum and collaborative spirit of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945–1980, Modern Architecture in L.A. is the first of the smaller-scale Pacific Standard Time Presents offerings. For more information, visit pacificstandardtimepresents.org.