Dion Neutra: Survival Through Design

Dion Neutra, Left, October 8, 1926 – November 24, 2019, and Tequila Mockingbird. Photo by Roy Rodgers Oldenkamp.

UPDATED: 1/11/20 2:30 p.m. – photos.

Dion Neutra was his father’s son. It wasn’t easy being the son of a world-famous architect. He loved his dad and once showed me a tree in the backyard of his home where his father’s ashes were scattered. Close to each other always even in death. They built houses together..

I had the opportunity to see quite a few. Dion and his lovely wife, Lynn, took us on a tour. I almost moved into the treehouse apartment built in their front yard. I loved the houses they had built with reflecting pools and California cool designs.

Dion was a happy man. He loved his wife, his work considering the Neutra name, and maintaining the excellence of the integrity of the Neutra name that was brought with each project.

Dion Neutra for his 93rd Birthday Party at the Neutra Museum and Gallery, October 6, 2019. Photo by Dietmar Kohl.

I showed art at his gallery in Silver Lake, sang at his parties, and felt like part of his family fan club—attending any function I believed he might attend. He was cheerful with me, known as a fierce defender of his father’s properties against those who would destroy the past to replace it with the new mediocrity.

I was introduced to Dion by Roy Rodgers Oldenkamp, a tireless defender of preservation culture, and we had remained friends to the end. Recently, he presented my band, Apollinaire, for our first annual Los Angeles Dadafest, which was attended by Royal Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe of Germany and another German native, Otis Hagen—the sin of singer Nina Hagen,—and a host of others.

Curator, Dulce Stein, has kept the Neutra Museum and Gallery of Silverlake alive with community projects and has fulfilled the Neutra family wishes to stay relevant in every sphere. I attended Dion’s last birthday party at the Gallery. He was not well, but he was happy to spend time with us, his friends and admirers who loved him, and his wonderful wife Lynn. They put on a brave face and let us fawn all over them. I will always love them and support their dreams.

Dion Neutra. He will be missed.

A memorial in celebration of the life of Dion Neutra 1926-2019 will take place at a facility designed by Dion’s father, Richard Neutra, the Eagle Rock Recreation Center, on January 19, 2019, from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m., followed by a reception at the Neutra Museum Gallery from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Guests are encouraged to bring written anecdotes about Dion Neutra on 8″ x 10″ paper to be assembled in a remembrance book for the family. Guests attending the reception are asked to use street parking or park at the Bank of America.

The Eagle Rock Recreation Center is located at 1100 Eagle Vista Dr. Los Angeles Ca, 90041.

The Neutra Museum and Gallery at Silverlake is located at 2379 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, 90039.