Karl Benjamin, Black Pillars, 1957,
oil on canvas, private collection. ©Karl Benjamin,
courtesy Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood.

The Oakland Museum of CA has a new exhibit that should be pretty…um, rad. 

I think this show might warrant a few trips. Check out the museum for the full skinny.
From their release: 

Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury—opening May 17 at the Oakland Museum of California—looks at the painting, architecture, furniture design, decorative and graphic arts, film, and music that launched mid-century modernism in the United States, and established Los Angeles as a major American cultural center. The exhibition continues through August 17, 2008.
Birth of the Cool was organized by Elizabeth Armstrong, Orange County Museum of Art chief curator and deputy director of public programs.
In keeping with the interdisciplinary nature of the project, Birth of the Cool features a jazz lounge; film, animation, and television clips throughout; an area with Van Keppel Green furniture and architectural pottery; a period art gallery of hard-edge abstract paintings; selections of art, architectural, and documentary photography; and an interactive timeline that highlights examples of California, national, and international culture and history in the 1950s.