Dennis RomeroIt took him 10 years to build his ode to our city. And it doesn't even look like the town you know.
That's because it's the Los Angeles of yesteryear.
Larry Kmetz, a 70-year-old man previously know for amassing an impressive collection of R&B vinyl, has directed his passion into constructing a scale model of 1950s L.A. in his basement:
The 144-square-foot creation made of model kits and custom pieces and includes dozens of landmark buidlings from the postwar era, according to The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington, which is near Kmetz's home of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
The big question, of course, is why?
The retiree tells the paper:
I guess it was just a love for where I grew up … I think the big guy said, 'All right, you like LA? Well I'm going to let you build it.'
Credit: Associated Press
His family moved to L.A. from the Midwest when he was 6, which was in … 1948.
The work is quite detailed and highlights even overhead wires, water tanks and street signs. Kmetz:
… LA was my playground.
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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