by Bruce Levin
February 2010
It was no secret that Larry, like many of us, carried around in his mind a few Jungian primeval landscapes, which would influence his works time and again. One was probably the New York City of his `1930's adolescence. Another was of the same period in Mandatory Jerusalem where his grandparents had lived. Here he had spent time before the Second World War, and fell in love with the olive trees, the stones the Sabras (Palestinian born Jews), the Arabs and the goats. Later, after the war Larry would find the landscape love of his life in the great Sierra Nevada of California and the built and natural landscape of beautiful San Francisco Bay.
Just like Van Gogh, Larry loved landscaping with old gnarly, animated trees and he used the Mediterranean Olive with so much joy and never tired of drawing them. In addition, Larry's studies of the wild breakers at Sea Ranch and the rugged Northern Californian coast, and the rapid, powerful, and complex movements of never ending variation of Sierra Mountain streams, was a constant source and inspiration. He thrived on and constantly studied nature but not so much as naturalist but more as an artist and choreographer. Aside from the great trees and the endless movement of water, his other big love was of stone. Even when he worked in concrete as in the Portland Library Forecourt Plaza and Seattle Freeway Parks, he was creating crags and bluffs of stone in abstract and in metaphor. From Cold Springs Minnesota to the lime quarries of the Holy Land, stone was an essential part of his ritual. Larry formed long term relationships with the quarrymen and was back at his favorite quarries all along his working life. Larry was always moving stone whether for Levi's Plaza where he found old abandoned quarries once used to build San Francisco granite clad skyscrapers in the 1930's or for the Cold Springs Minnesota Quarry he loved so much where he rail freighted giant hewn red granite slabs to California and to Washington D.C. for the FDR Memorial.. Halprin saw the personal visit to the quarry and architect’s stone selection as an essential and personal involvement essential in role as landscape creator.
Therefore I should have known in September 2000, that there was no way of convincing Larry that the political situation in Israel and the West Bank had become very tense and that he may want to reconsider making the quarry visit. Rumors flying on Palestinian radio had it that Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount was a precursor to the Jews taking over Al Aksa (the mosque built on the Temple Mount) to rebuild the ancient Temple. Arafat had just slammed the door on Ehud Barak and Bill Clinton's peace overtures and dark clouds hovered over the Jerusalem landscape.
It then came as no surprise to me that the various Israeli members of the project management team kindly turned down Larry's generous offer to join us for this trip to the quarry. Larry was up bright and early that Jerusalem morning. I picked him up at Mishkenot Sha’ananim, a creative retreat and guesthouse for artists and scholars and drove to the site at Armon HaNatziv (The Mount of Evil Council) where we were building the Goldman Promenade- a southerly extension of the Haas Promenade. Ismail and Mahmoud, the Hebronian stone contractors were waiting for us there. We moved into the rear of their jeep and set off along Hebron road to the south. We needed to cross the frontier into areas in de-facto "Fatah" control so Ismail's Hebroni Arabic and the Palestinian plates on the car were a definite bonus for this journey.
Ismail was a medium height, bearded man in his mid forties. Both his strong features , tough skin and strong hands were natural to a man who had literally chiseled his way from stone mason to becoming a major stone contractor this wild part of the Near East. His calm way and faith in Allah was also reassuring. Larry tried speaking to Ismail with a bit rusty Hebrew, but the two seemed to have an understanding which was beyond words. Stone was their common language and both of them had a common respect and reverence for this ancient and natural building material. Crossing the Israel border police check and then on thru the Palestinian Authority police check, we had no trouble getting thru and the car speeded south on Hebron road thru Bethlehem turning east at Beit Fajar on a small dirt road towards the quarry at Ayn Al-Arub. To the east we could see the mountains of Moab in Jordan and to the north peered Herodian, the fortress palace of the "jealous king" looking like an old exploded volcanic cone.
As we drove deeper into the pit of the Judean Hills, I grew tense as young men kept popping out between houses and atop the rooftops to take a fix on us. Larry was totally relaxed, either from experience or perhaps from being naïve or oblivious to the brewing conflict around us. He was busy reading the landscape, the ancient Olives, the terraced hills, and the ancient stone villages. He commented that here was an area that had not changed since the nineteen thirties. "By the way did I ever tell you that I founded a kibbutz?' I knew Larry was very proud of that but I don't think that it made a big impression on Ismail. As we wound down the narrow dirt road, more serious looking young men appeared on the rooftops and along the stone cliffs above. I had a feeling that some were armed. Ismail was giving them some signal, sometimes with his hands, sometimes by beaming his lights, and they would then disappear as suddenly as they had appeared.
As the road climbed down, the car dispersed huge clouds of white limestone chalky dust, which covered the area, even the trees. We finally arrived to the bottom of a huge and old (if not ancient) limestone quarry. Larry was elated. Ismail my man, you've done it. You’ve delivered us to exactly the stones I was looking for! Ismail blushed being happy that he had understood the older sage; the bearded American architect whose vision for a series of promenades in Jerusalem, both Ismail and myself had become part of. In Hebrew Ismail said to me, you see, I know him, I can read his mind.”
We climbed over and between the huge 2 by 3 meter and larger stone blocks, discussing them and marking the ones to be hauled to Jerusalem. When we finished it was getting dark and I said to Larry, "how about we get going while the going's good- there is only so much you want to leave to the mercy of Allah". Larry, totally ignoring said, would you please get my notebook out of the canvas bag in the back seat of the jeep. I knew what that meant. Two hours later after Larry had calmly and lovingly sketched the quarry, made studies of the various stone blocks, and even sketched Ismail who was complemented and enjoyed posing; Larry felt that the day’s work was done. It was now past 5 pm and darkness was rapidly descending.
As we hopped into the jeep, Ismail drove us back up thru the dusty narrow dirt roads, along the fields of the fellahin, past the young men serving lookout on the rooftops, until we reached Hebron road and turned back north towards Jerusalem. On the way Ismail brought us to the restaurant of his Christian friend George on the outskirts of Bethlehem. It was the end of September and the small simple restaurant was adorned with 1950's vintage coca cola Santa Klaus placards, tassels and colored lights and other holiday décor. Unlike Ismail George spoke fluent English. Larry asked him" Isn't it a bit early for Christmas?" George replied" No you see we are from the Syrian Orthodox Church. We use the Julian and not the Gregorian calendar.
Our Christmas is in one month at the end of September." After this revelation on the messy breakup of the Byzantine Empire, Larry continued. "George we had a wonderful day in your area, very pastoral, but what is your view of the near future in this area?" George became very serious and somber. “I am very pessimistic. The leaders of the tow peoples, the politicians are corrupt, arrogant and selfish. The common people on both sides are headed for a lot of suffering and tragedy due to the stupidity of the leadership". Larry replied “I hope you are mistaken but I certainly agree that it is the simple folk who always pay the price for the stupidity of the politicians." We ate our lamb, humus, pita and raw onions and washed it down with Coca Cola in the old style glass bottles (went with the placards). We filled gas at the
"Betrol" ( Arabic pronouncement of Petrol) station and went back across the border controls to our car where we bade Ismail good night and good fortune as well as a safe ride home.
Little did we know that in two days would be the start of the Second (Al Aksa) Intifada. The project continued throughout the intifada. Ismail and myself joked about turning Larry's Observation Platform- Café into a Mosque or a Synagogue and we remain friends to this day. I called him in Hebron and told him of Larry's passing. He was sad and said that he thought Larry was a great man.