I was first introduced to The Urban Jungle Studios in DTLA, by Grace Gordon in either late 2019 or early 2020, shortly before pandemia.
Urban Jungle Studios in Downtown Los Angeles was an event, photography and video space, which has since closed, sometime in 2024. Like many parts of Los Angeles, it was glorious yet fleeting.
Shore Thang models, and influencers have famously collaborated at Urban Jungle Studios, for photoshoots.
The Urban Jungle Studios space provided a variety of curated, themed rooms, and visual settings, which were used by models and creators for shooting content, original videos, and fashion photoshoots. The aesthetic of the stylized spaces, which the Urban Jungle Studios offer, makes for compelling visuals and the perfect backdrop for the Shore Thang model’s photoshoots.
Urban Jungle’s legacy has a cultural value and is held in the highest regard by creators in Los Angeles. If you found your way there, you were lucky.
The content which Shore Thang models have created at Urban Jungle Studios, is an integral part of their portfolio. This has helped them with exposure, added value to their social posts, and has seen them grow their followers.
This space really made the difference when shooting content for creators, cultivating the perfect backdrop. Urban Jungle offers the perfect set up, an organic backdrop that was not artificial, while still remaining relatable. The network of studios called Urban Jungle provided a backdrop where creativity could thrive. They were peppered throughout download LA. They were more than just lighting and a pretty set, but a space where models, influencers and creators came together to get inspired, create unforgettable content, as well as to connect.
Urban Jungle is all about that vibe, where industrial meets sophisticated, which provides endless possibilities for models, photographers as well as influencers. It is more than just aesthetics, Urban Jungle Studios is where photographers and models could come together to create original content. It served to inspire artistry, providing a balance between professionalism and imagination. The energy is realistic, authentic and at the same time creative. It is a collaborative space that provides a base for creators, models and influencers to express their individual vision.
Going beyond aesthetics, Urban Jungle facilitates cooperation with it’s distinct layout, collective workspace and other amenities. Photographers, stylists, models and makeup artists inhabit the same space, where they can share ideas, inspo, creative visions and to vibe. The environs of Urban Jungle Studios brought ideas to life. From brand campaigns, to large productions, to a collab between influencers. Encouraging experimentation in the inspiring aesthetics of this space, it fostered creativity.
Shore Thang model and actress Grace Gordon, has notably appeared in photoshoots at the Urban Jungle Studios. Her photoshoot at Urban Jungle’s iconic Red Diner set, brings the fire. Grace Gordon’s signature cool, sophistication and creative confidence under the aesthetic and creative direction of Shore Thang, really sets the standard for fashion forward collaborations. The Red Diner set, replete with chrome top details has a retro feel. It is giving Edward Hopper’s evocative ‘Diner’ series energy.
Gordon is bringing retro ‘starlet’ to this photoshoot for Shore Thang. She memorably poses in a cherry red low cut mini dress with a red latex choker, while holding a red phone receiver to her ear. She is seated at the lunch counter, in an image which looks like a portrait.
In yet another photo from this set, Grace Gordon is modeling a red lace cropped lace camisole, with 1950’s bombshell sunglasses. Then, dressed in a body con black tank dress, she hugs the cash register on the counter top, with the black and white checker board floor, serving as a back drop. She has on cherry red lipstick and poses with the characteristic style, which makes Grace such a versatile model. She is dressed in a black camisole and cropped black cigarette pants, while seated on the checkerboard floor, with a cherry red and chrome 1950s Cadillac in the background. It is giving ‘Americana’ and starlet energy. In another shot, is Grace seated at the counter, drinking a malted milkshake garnished with whip cream and a cherry on top. Not unlike the lunch counter where a young Lana Turner was discovered. She is wearing a low cut white tank top with cherry print, matching her cherry red glossed lips.
Beautiful Canadian Shore Thang model Molly Rose, poses in the chrome top kitchen of the same Diner, set at the Urban Jungle Studios. She is wearing a rolled up beige tank top and cut off, blue denim shorts, showcasing her all natural curves. She brings the heat in a beige cropped tank top and high cut lace briefs, as she reclines on the black and white checkered floor, with the red chrome top lunch counter background. In the next photo set, which gives off nostalgia with a modern vibe, Molly is seated at the chrome counter on a cherry red chair with a guitar in the back ground, wearing a cropped tank top and the most delicate lace panties.
The pie in the glass case on the counter, and the intimate neon lighting imbued with a subtle sensuality, is very retro and is giving ‘Americana’. She looks like a retro, pinup bombshell, and the set is giving a cinematic aesthetic. In another shot, this time in a drawing room setting, Molly exudes quiet luxury in the study, as she gazes the mirror.
Dressed in a mauve bralette and pointelle, cotton hipster briefs, Molly Rose with her peaches and cream complexion is naturally beautiful. In an elegantly appointed drawing room reminiscent of a lush Gauguin painting in Tahiti, Molly poses in a black lace wrap around top and white cotton panties. In the same drawing room, Molly is by the window, with the light softly dappling in to the frame, as she sits astride a leather chair by the piano bathed in the morning light. She is wearing a lace bra and brown briefs, and it is giving sophisticated luxury. Another shot of Molly in athletic shorts and a simple, beige tank top with her hair in a long braid, posing next to a retro wood paneled vending machine, brings that 1980s energy. The last set of photos, is of Molly in a laundromat giving off 1980s nostalgia. She is in a black, short leotard jumpsuit with a scoop neck.
Her glowing beauty draped in the daylight, as Molly poses by the blinds of the window of the laundromat. The vintage setting of the coin-op washer and dryer, which captures the glamour in the ordinary. Leaning over in a pink camisole with matching panties, as she poses in the retro 1960s lighting, in front of a row of washing machines. In the last photo from this set, Molly looks resplendent in a rose pink satin baby doll, as she waits in anticipation of the load of laundry that is in the washing machine behind her.
In another Shore Thang photoshoot, gorgeous Canadian model and influencer Julia Burch is posing in the Urban Jungle Studios pink and turquoise boudoir themed set, replete with blue neon lighting. It is really giving a 1980s Miami Beach, Fontainebleau Hotel vibe. Julia reclines on the pink bed spread, in a burgundy sports bra and blue cut off denim shorts. In yet another photo from this photo study, Julia models her plunging sports bra in the retro Florida set of Urban Jungle, with the neon lighting and retro furniture. Displaying the versatile set designs and props of this photo studio. Julia Burch models a lavender lingerie set, as she is seated on the pastel pink vanity seat illuminated by the soft pink glow of the neon lights. She lounges in the same set in front of the vanity. Julia reclines on the bed in a plunging grey tank top and denim shorts with her dark hair spread out around her, showing her beautiful profile. She then sits in front of the pink desk which has pink office supplies and a spiral notebook, as she models a burgundy string bikini.
In another image, Lauren Stretches her leg onto the wall, demonstrating how limber she is and her naturally, curvy physique. She reclines on the retro bed with the 1980s print, wearing a scoop neck black body suit and it is giving ‘Miami Vice,’’ circa 1985. Julia is the curve queen that she is, reclining on the bed in her leotard, bathed in the neon lights. In the last shot from this set, Julia Burch is illuminated by the pink neon glow, as she poses in a body con bodysuit, as she stands out against the pink and turquoise lights. The color palette of the set and the high cut body suit, is evocative of a fashion editorial from that time. Her pose gives a modern and edgy take to the retro glamour of the scene. Bold eyeliner and shimmery highlighter mirrors the aesthetics of that time.
Julia’s twin sister Lauren Burch, models a black string bikini bottom with a red and white striped sports jersey, as the shadow of her silhouette is cast against the wall of the same ‘Miami’ style set. She proceeds to model a hot pink, cropped polo shirt with high waisted jeans shorts, with her pink hair and edgy graphic black eyeliner. The composition is really iconic and is playful in it’s sensuality. Against the Miami noir setting, the contrast of her bold, statement eyeliner, and pink hair is really striking. Lauren’s pose in front of the ‘pop art’ hot pink neon lit lips, is magnetic. Her unique modeling style of control and vulnerability is on display. Urban Jungle Studios allows creators to curate their personal style. This last pic from this set of photos really represents with it’s 1980s retro style, seen through a modern lens. The photo shoot is styled using a retro set and the creativity which it allows for, but with modern optics.
The studio’s immersive space, the models and the intersection of Shore Thang’s editorial style, has created magic. In a tribute to Urban Jungle Studios, American Shore Thang model Brooklyn Figley shares some of her iconic ShoreThang collab photoshoots on instagram.
The collabs that Brooklyn Figley has done with Shore Thang has been some of her most significant. In one of the posts, She poses in black lace lingerie in a ‘Tokyo Noir’ type set replete with neon lighting and movie posters.
In another iconic post, Brooklyn vibes with the neon set and a retro ‘Centipede’ video arcade. Brooklyn brings the heat in a thong and bralette loungewear set as she poses in front of pinball machine in a neon lit set, with red ‘kanji’ characters in the background. In another iconic Instagram post captioned ‘Retro Vibin,’ Brooklyn poses in a round red chair, which is giving ‘that 70s show’ vibe.
Brooklyn Figley poses in a blue, halter top bikini top and high cut thong bottom as she tunes a ‘hi-fi’ record player, in this evocative Urban Jungle set. She reclines in a 1970s style hotel room set, in her boudoir photo set, showing just how many themes and unlimited possibilities are available at Urban Jungle. The light dapples in from the window, framing her face as Brooklyn sits in the shadow. In the photo shoot from the kitchen set, Brooklyn is all smiles as she models a seamless neutral bra and high cut panty set. In an impromptu shot, she sits in an open refrigerator. Brooklyn is lit up from the back, illuminated by the refrigerator’s light. In a phone booth set, Brooklyn Figley is fire in her lilac lingerie as she makes a call, in her instagram post from her Shore Thang photoshoot collab at Urban Jungle. She shares a BTS edit, from one such photoshoot on her eponymous YouTube channel.
Brooklyn lamented ‘I just heard that Urban Jungle closed down in LA. Their studios were seriously so rad and I’m honestly heartbroken that they’re not around anymore”.
Creators where able to turn their fashion into content. The legacy of the Urban Jungle Studios lives on in the creators whom it served to inspire, as well as their body of work. They carry the spirit and inspiration of Urban Jungle Studios forward. The collabs that the studio facilitated continues on by the photogs, models and artists, that brought the sets to life in their work.
The energy of Urban Jungle and the creative process which it inspired, prevails.
