The City: Brightness in the Air

THE CITY

(See Cover) In a dazzle of diamonds and decolletage, with cinema stars, celebrities and just plain millionaires plentifully on hand, the growing edge of the U.S. population explosion—Los Angeles—welcomed the growing edge of another U.S. explosion—culture. The Pavilion, first and most important building in Los Angeles' new Music Center for the Performing Arts, was open at last, and the crowd that swarmed through Architect Welton Becket's tapered white columns on opening night last week was justifiably moved to civic pride.

The Grand Hall, with its honey-colored onyx walls, its massive chan deliers, and its two graceful balco...