5th and Broadway

By Darryl Holter | December 2018

In the fall of 1997, while walking around the nascent Art District of LA, I met an artist named John Kilduff.  He did his painting in the open air, setting up his easel on sidewalks and alleys in Downtown Los Angeles and produced wonderful oil paintings of street scenes.  When I squinted and looked at his small 12” by 12” painting called “7th and Broadway” I thought I was standing on the street next to John as he painted.   

I bought it as a gift for my wife.  Later I met John at his studio in Echo Park and purchased a few more of his oils of Downtown LA, including one of his earliest paintings, “5th and Broadway”, a much larger oil painting that hangs above the fireplace in the living room.  Nearly twenty years later, John invited me to an installation and we met for lunch.  I reminded him of several of my favorite paintings and told him that I had placed “5th and Broadway” in my living room.    

“Oh, right, ‘5th and Broadway’, one of my earliest paintings,” said John.  “Yes I remember that one.  It was hard to paint on such a large canvass standing on the sidewalk with all the foot traffic on Broadway.  Actually I did two paintings of ‘5th and Broadway, so you must have bought the first one.”   

“Yes, and it’s positioned above my fireplace,” I responded. 

“Guess who bought the other ‘5th and Broadway,” said John.

“I have no idea.  Eli Broad?” 

“No, Bob Dylan.” 

“Oh,” I said. “I wonder if he hung it over his fireplace.”