We don’t always give props to other design pubs, but after a great weekend at Dwell On Design, how can we not? After the expo, the panels, and the awards, on Saturday night the Dwellistas hosted a wonderful evening at the Geffen Contemporary in Downtown LA that started with LA’s first ever mobile restaurant row (Apparently the Kogi taco truck has helped spawn a phenomenon), and then became a night at the movies. There were seven—yes SEVEN—food trucks in all, including Sprinkles Cupcakes, Locali ice pops (well this was mobile, but not exactly a truck), Coolhaus ice cream, Let’s Be Frank hot dogs , the Green Truck, Barbie’s Q, and Tacos Ariza. Phew… And YUMMY. (especially Green Truck’s Grass-fed burgers. Must be some good grass!)

Next came the big event: a screening of two great design-related movies. The first was the Greening of Southie, which examines the ridiculous amount of work—and pain—behind Boston’s first residential green building (the Macallen Building, designed by Office Da). The filmmakers, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, spent months on the construction site in South Boston, and were able to not only capture the excitement and challenges of green construction, but question LEED’s methodologies (no accounting for miles transporting all these green materials?) as well as the costs of gentrification that such building can bring to working class and poorer neighborhoods.

The second movie was Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman, director Erick Bricker’s moving, and informative, homage to master photographer Shulman. The film includes  intimate and interviews and impromptu moments with Shulman, great examples of his photos, fun history lessons on Modernism, and talks with many of LA’s leading architectural voices. Also visits to the homes he captured, from Case Study House 22 to the Kaufmann House..  It’s great, and you’ll be seeing more of it, I promise you.