Bicoastal Reminiscence

Photographers Ida Wyman and Larry Silver were barely out of high school when they shot some of their most memorable work, images that offer a glimpse of American life--specifically in Los Angeles and New York--in the 1940s and ‘50s. Fifty photos from that era are the subject of Apex Fine Art’s exhibit “America at Mid-Century: Two Views,” which opens tonight at the La Brea Avenue gallery and runs through May 18. On the eve of the show, the photographers spoke by phone from New York about the power of their images in retrospect.

“It’s a glimpse into another world in terms of manners, dress and occupations,” says Wyman, 76. “Looking back at the photos, they show a lot of details about what people looked like ... beyond hairstyle and clothes. There’s a less guarded look. Even a certain dignity.”

In the early 1940s, Wyman explored her own Bronx neighborhood and the streets of New York, capturing “ordinary people doing ordinary, everyday things.” Her favorite images include a group of young boys playing with dolls, an iceman carting ice off his wagon and a view of the bustling crowd from the steps of the New York Public Library.

Wyman was 22 in 1948 when Life magazine sent her to its Los Angeles bureau. There she worked on movie sets capturing publicity shots of James Cagney and Bonzo the chimpanzee, among others. She also followed then-U.S. senatorial candidate Richard Nixon on the campaign trail. “I used to love to walk up and down the streets talking to people,” she says. “I’ve always been very curious. Photography was a way to get closer to people and satisfy that curiosity.”

Around the same time, a teenage Larry Silver was trawling the streets of New York for images. He recalled the day he took “Penn Station, NYC,” a shadowy photo of several dark figures shot from above. The figures were children, not much older than Silver, playing in a hallway. He was so struck by the delicate lighting that he started snapping pictures. When his subjects spotted him, “they got in this sort of real arrogant pose, with a cigarette. I think [the photo] really depicts a sort of attitude of the 1950s,” Silver says.

Silver came to Los Angeles to attend the Art Center School in 1953. Soon he was drawn to Santa Monica’s Muscle Beach, which reminded him of Coney Island in New York. One of his best-known shots is titled “Contestants” and features a crowd of bare-chested, muscle-flexing young men posing for a bodybuilding contest on the beach in 1954. “What I wanted to do in the Muscle Beach series was sort of depict the flavor and the feeling of all the activities that were going on around it,” he says. “Not knowing it, I was depicting a form of Americana that 50 years later ... L.A. would be very proud of.”

Not Your Typical

Cell Phone

For the price of a small family car, buyers can now get a platinum- and jewel-encrusted cell phone. Vertu, a subsidiary of Nokia specializing in luxury mobile phones, will unveil “the world’s most exclusive communication instrument” this spring in Los Angeles.

The line of luxury “instruments,” ranging in price from $4,900 to $19,450, was announced in Paris during Couture Week, but the phones will get their West Coast debut May 1 with a showing at the new Ace Gallery space in Beverly Hills.

The idea is to make a cell phone the equivalent of a fine watch or a piece of jewelry that is owned for a lifetime, said James Kloiber, director of marketing for Vertu.

“It’s the same type of a person who would acquire a Patek Philippe or a Bentley,” Kloiber said. He added that the company has gotten a lot of response from the entertainment industry. “This,” he said, offering the requisite spin, “is a product popular with Hollywood insiders.”

The handcrafted phones will have more than 400 mechanical parts and 18 jeweled bearings and will be available in casings of platinum, 18-karat white gold, 18-karat yellow gold or stainless steel.

Customers also get a “concierge” function.

“That’s the sexiest feature of the phone--that’s what people get excited about,” said Kloiber. “One-button access to your own personal concierge ... whether you need to find the best hotel, or what’s the hot new restaurant in Paris, and get me a table there....It’s a one-button personal assistant.”

Don’t expect to find them at the local strip mall. The phones will only be available through Vertu “galleries” (stores) and by personal appointment at Vertu Private Client Suites--spaces that have a “simple, beautiful, gallery-type feel,” where customers will be served refreshments and the phones will be showcased next to pieces of contemporary art, said Kloiber.

The actual connection that would turn this bauble into a working phone is, of course, extra.

New Arrival

Actress Geena Davis gave birth to a girl Wednesday afternoon at a Los Angeles hospital. The baby is the first for 46-year-old Davis and her husband, Reza Jarrahy.

City of Angles runs Tuesday through Friday. E-mail: angles@ latimes.com.