Some 15 years ago, I had the great privilege and joy to have had an official “Assistant to the Knutsen Archives.” Darrell Urbien was not only as obsessive and nerd-perfect as I was, he actually lived in Echo Park near downtown Los Angeles. He knew this area – the very haunts of Chris Knutsen in the last half of his work and life – like the back of his hand. We spent a year on major research into Knutsen’s known addresses, and spent time in the area visiting and photographing all these – whether surviving buildings, auto body shops, or vacant lots (successfully avoiding attack by at least one guard dog).
A photo of Darrell, when we were at the L.A. Library Special Collections examining the original Sanborn Map books with lamps and magnifying glass. It reminded us of the proverbial trophy hunter posing over his slain beast:
Alas, Darrell switched jobs, moved, and eventually fell off the face of the earth. One day, I’ll finish up our project. Meanwhile, I stumbled on another fun little unfinished piece of his that I was similarly sad to see go to waste. So I cleaned it up and updated as I know we planned to do. I’ve been ensconced in Hawaiian musician research of late, and this happened to fit right in.
It’s more of a “fluff piece,” but loaded with facts, and it’s interesting to see how Darrell was trying to connect Knutsen, the Tutmarcs, and Sol Hoopii!
Knutsen’s Electrical Knnection
