Ed Ruscha took Matthew Donaldson on a Los Angeles ride through memory lane, from the artist’s Culver City studio—that started life as one of Howard Hughes’ aircraft parts factories—to Silverlake and around Echo Park where the filmmaker lived as a child.

For the second in our series Getting There, Ruscha drove his black 2000 Lexus down roads and past buildings that he has tirelessly documented during his storied career. From his paintings of gas stations and the film Miracle to the books that capture the ever-evolving landscape of Los Angeles, much of Ruscha’s work is deeply rooted in the culture of the automobile and the vernacular of Southern California, the state he adopted as his home after driving there from Oklahoma City in 1956 to attend art school. 

“Almost more than the changes of the city I notice when things don’t change,” muses Ruscha. “Despite the huge development that is happening on Sunset Boulevard there is still a lot that is pretty much the way it was 50 years ago. There are concrete abutments, kerbing and certain peculiarities to the growth of a city that were there many years ago.”

Although these days Ruscha tends to use his large sedan or his electric Fiat—the artist was an early adopter of eco technology when he built a battery-powered vehicle nicknamed 'Leadbelly' from an 1985 Saab 15 years ago—he still retains a 1939 Ford that he has had for nearly 50 years. “It’s big and heavy and the visibility is poor compared to the autos of today,” he explains. “It’s just there to look at. It’s a soft spot in my heart.”

Rebecca Guinness is Editor-at-Large at NOWNESS. 

Getting There continues with Pascal Dangin next Monday October 20.