February 2010
[An email to Charles Birnbaum, 2.5.10]
Hi Charles, a belated thanks for your wonderful tribute to Larry.
I was thinking of Larry as I dressed for the service. I first thought (for about 30 seconds) of wearing a suit. But I thought, naah, Larry wouldn’t wear a suit to his own funeral so why I. Tennis shoes, Dockers and a jacket would be fine. But In honor of the occasion, I did wear a new shirt.
It is interesting that after hearing yours and the others professionals moving tributes to the Professional Larry and Annie and the kid’s tribute to the Family Larry I have to say that the Larry that I most remember is the Family Larry. The office was actually a sort of large family of professionals. Larry was the head of the family with all that that entails. It was not an easy job for him, because like all families, the office could be quite dysfunctional at times.
I was lucky enough to be there when Larry and his extraordinary (if unsung) partners were putting the finishing touches on the “Halprin” design philosophy that would stand Larry in good stead for the 35 or so years after he left the office and went into private practice. I like to think that we younger staff members added a bit to the development of the philosophy.
Daria nailed Larry’s leadership style when she described her trips with Larry into the Sierras. Larry did not lead her or tell her what to do. He simply followed behind her and was there to help when the going got tough. Larry was the same way in the office. He never told you to do it this way or that way (his way). You were to figure it out yourself, but he and his partners were always to help you along the way. This method of approach is almost unheard of in the design professions then and now. Usually the new people are stuck in a corner doing dreary work detailing of someone else's work for a few years to learn the office philosophy before being given any real responsibility. Not at Larry’s. You were thrown in at the deep end (given your own job on the first day) and it was sink or swim. Luckily I could always swim pretty well. For a young kid fresh out of school, this was wonderful indeed.
It was also nice to see that Annie is still Annie, marching to her own drummer.
The Annie that I remember though from several long chats was not the dancer Annie but the typical Jewish mother kvetching about her kids.
Most of us in the office did not pay much attention to the workshops and the dancing. We pretty much thought it was a lot of mumbo jumbo along the lines of Christopher Alexander’s mumbo jumbo but, it was Larry’s mumbo jumbo and it made him happy so we were happy. I did do a tiny bit of work on the RSVP material. The only time the folks in the office really embraced Annie work was when we all happily went to an advance showing of a documentary of one of their nude works that centered around the sex act. I guess we were always willing to support the arts.
One nice example of Larry’s ability to let us younger staff members find our own way involved our work on the Salk Institute in La Jola. Dr Salk had hired the Halprin office to redesign the landscaping for the courtyard which had been designed by the building architect Louis Kahn in a rather spare (barren) way that had not been well received by lot the Salk resident fellows or the donor. One of the fellows described the proposed design to me as being a bit prison like. A few Halprin staff members had already given the project a try without much success, when I was called upon to give it shot. I came up with a plan that was judged to be acceptable by Larry. It was than time for Larry and I to make the presentation to Salk and Kahn. About this time Larry began to get nervous about continuing the project. Knowing much more than I about giant sized egos, he came to me and said that we should resign the job because we would get nowhere with Kahn. He felt that redesigning something that Kahn had done would be like sleeping with his wife (one of them). I sort of agreed with him but really wanted to continue with the project. Larry very skeptically agreed that I could at least make the presentation. Larry, the clever devil, decided not to go at the last minute,(He did not show up at the airport). I was on my own, I went down to San Diego and met Kahn and his staff members and went out to breakfast with them. Kahn read to us from Vitruvius. Kahn was a god to me and I was very taken with him. We all went out to the Institute and gathered with Salk and some of his staff for my presentation. It went very well. Salk and his staff loved the plan for the courtyard and we turned to Kahn for his response. He had none because as soon as I rolled out my drawings he had gone into a corner and did not come out until I was finished. He did not see a thing. I rolled up my drawings, got back on the plane and went to Larry the next day and said “when you’re right, you’re right, we had no business there.” We resigned the job but Larry, instead of imposing his way on me had let me find out for myself how the world works. That was the family Larry that I remember.
One more memory and I will quit.
Larry and I never got along particularly well on a personal basis. He could be a bit of a tyrant at times and I was one of the few that would stand up to him. One of the nicest things he ever said to me was during one of my yearly performance reviews. After a lot of back and forth, he summed it up by saying, “George, I really like your work, I just don't like you.”
Another time in a bit of foreshadowing after one of our dustups Larry came to me and said that if things did not improve between us, he would leave the office. I responded that “Larry, this is your office, if we can’t get along I am the one to leave.” He said “oh” and wandered off. A few years later (after I had left for a VW camping trip around the world) he did leave the office. I think that he really just wanted to be a landscape architect without all the aggravation of running a large office. He did become a landscape architect in more or less private practice for almost 35 years. I think he did it with great distinction and probably great happiness. Larry was a wonderful person and a great influence on my life. Professional Larry or Family Larry, I will miss them both.
Photo: Mclaughlin at center (Photo courtesy Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania)