Yesterday I went to UCLA’s Science and Engineering Library (SEL) to check out a book. I’ve always liked that library and used to study there when I was going to UCLA. I wasn’t in science or engineering, but I found it a very conducive place to study, being extremely quiet. That was 1982 - 1984. So yesterday I was amazed at how much the same that whole complex of buildings looks. Most other departments move around, change buildings, offices, or what have you. Even Engineering has a couple of beautiful new wings that connect to the old building. But Boelter Hall, home of Engineering, and the attached Math Building have not changed a whit.
Going into the Math Building from the south, and going up to the sixth floor, you still see the same portraits of famous mathematicians that have been there at least since I was a student. Then you see a small display case with a Klein Bottle, a picture of a “horned sphere”, a cylindrical slide rule, and a couple of other geometry-related objects. If you didn’t see that someone has been adding recent names to a couple of award plaques, you’d think it hadn’t been opened in 20 years. Or maybe even 40 or 50.
Moving further along, you turn around, and see “The Eye”…a mosaic of big tiles; you have to walk a good 30 or 40 feet onwards before turning around to look; any closer and it’s just a hodgepodge of black and white squares. I don’t know the story of The Eye, but suspect it must have been an early computer graphics project.
Then you turn right, towards the wing that contains SEL, and on your left is a real, genuine phone booth, built into wall when the place was built.
Other places around UCLA seem to change a lot more. There are older buildings than Boelter, but different departments have moved in and out. Boelter never changes.
I like it.