17: Ramon C. Cortines School For the Visual and Performing Arts, Downtown L.A.
Designed by: Ramon C. Cortines School For the Visual and Performing Arts
Piano type: Spinet
Playability: Good
Weather: 73°F, mostly cloudy
How I got here: Car
If you've noticed, my piano quest strategy lies in tackling geographic clusters: San Gabriel Valley, San Fernando Valley, etc. I planned an Eastside/SGV trip to take on the pianos at Lincoln Heights and Monterey Park, but as always, I had something planned later on - a dinner meeting with a friend - so my time was sort of limited. I had plotted a trip via bike and transit, but thanks to the generosity of my sister, who lent me her car, I was able to take these pianos on.
On my way to the Plaza de la Raza (Lincoln Park) street piano, I realized I'm heading by Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts (a.k.a. The Metallic Rollercoaster Spaceship High School across the freeway from the Cathedral) and made a spontaneous decision to pull into the parking lot to play their piano - my 17th now. It's almost 5 p.m. and a few students are hanging outside. As I head to it, one student takes off the rain cover and starts playing to pass the time. I also played it, one of the most uniquely-decorated pianos in the installation.
I also ran into another piano player, Janet Sudo, from Los Feliz, who was also planning to play all of them - this was her 6th. She asked me to play "Happy Birthday" for her sister Cathy while we got one of the waiting students to take the video of us. She liked how the street pianos are a way to discover different communities in the city. I eventually found out she went to the same high school as me (John Marshall HS - Go Barristers!) though she graduated 3 years after I did. We did know a few people in common. She said that the street pianos were a way for her to play more often. She took out the sheet music for The Beatles' "Let It Be" and played a bit of it.
Afterward, a few waiting students were singing Fun's current hit, "We Are Young" to themselves, so I shout over to them to sing it again while I played the chords. That was pretty...well, Fun.
The piano itself was designed by students at the school, with skulls and moss growing at the top. The bright, vivid colors of the piano itself are in stark contrast to the monotonous, almost monochrome silver-and-grey look of the school's campus. Wonder if that means something there.
I got Janet to take video of me playing Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall" (heh heh). My little jab at the LAUSD :)
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