Bradbury Building

How come that I never knew about the Bradbury Building until today? (or to be exact, until last night, when I was looking up where to park for Grand Central Market).  Driving past GCM on Broadway with Amy yesterday - somewhere I'd never been, and yes, I know that's a shocking admission - it seemed like a great place to aim for for a pre-class late-lunch/very early dinner.  So after consuming much shrimp ceviche and tostadas, we just had time to head into the building.  Bradbury was a gold-mining millionaire, who lived on Bunker Hill: this five-story building which he envisaged as a kind of monument to his memory was built on slightly unsteady foundations, so all the massive steel rails that support it were transported from Europe. The wrought iron was made in France and exhibited at the Chicago World's Fair before being installed.  It opened in 1893, and then was an office building for much of its life - with a two-year period in the early 2000s when it was an architecture and design museum.  Today, it's the home of LAPD's Internal Affairs division ... and various other institutes and organizations.  You think you've seen it before?  Of course you have - it's in Blade Runner, and countless, countless other movies and videos.  And it's beautiful.  It's quite remarkable that we made it down to class with 2 minutes to spare.