The Hedonist Project
As I've mentioned before I've been working my way through the Artists Way with a group of friends. The book itself would have been hurled across the room before the conclusion of chapter One, but the group of friends who assembled to take on this task have helped to filter out some of the gems of this program and put them to good use. Some of the tools are great, and one of the one's I'm really learning to enjoy is the "Artist Date." Essentially, this is a moment of time you set aside each week, perhaps only an hour or two that you schedule for yourself and yourself alone to explore and play a bit.
One thing I've always enjoyed when I traveled is to seek out various swank hotel bars and lounges, where I can sit and have a cocktail and fantasize about living the true jet set lifestyle. So it occurred to me that living in the greater Los Angeles area, there must be dozens of such places awaiting my discovery, what a perfect concept for a series of Artist Dates? Now add to that the fact that my recent writing projects have been a series of essays on hedonism - why not compose these essays in the very indulgence of this hedonistic desire? thus was born my Hedonist Project.
Now that of course is the romantic concept, the metaphysical ideal. The reality is that my quest, truly is a quest for while I've found such swank places with ease in Downtown Chicago, or the Camps in Paris the places that exist along my commuting corridor are difficult to compare. Of course I miss riding the Metro, where I could be at the Standard in Downtown LA, or the Roosevelt in Hollywood - two places with lounges easy to linger in - but Long Beach is a convention city, certainly there must be something?
And so I must report a bit on what I've found, the places I've looked, and hopefully the places I'd like to return to.
Last Friday was the first real leg of this quest, and it took me to the Long Beach Holiday Inn. Mind you, the fact that it is a Holiday Inn should have checked my expectations, but this particular Hotel is one I've always found intriguing. Built in the 60s its round tower just next to the freeway and the Long Beach Airport spoke of the optimism of that era - new space age forms, challenging the dull boxiness of the buildings of the time. If ever there was a setting for the retro-contemporary look of mid-century modern, this would be the place.
Having driven past it countless times, it was odd to actually pull into the parking lot and walk into the lobby, crowded and narrow but focused on the elevator core. A restaurant and lounge still existed, the panorama lounge on the "Penthouse Level." On paper the place dripped of swank. And as I ascended, I had hope for what I might find, a bright little gem in a nondescript neighborhood.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. The lounge taking up a rather small slice of the upper floor pie, had been last decorated in the 90's with those sorts of abstract carpets and matching upholstery that just seem more generic that innovative. It seems the desire was to make it more "inviting" by making it more like a sports bar. This meant the addition of four blond-wood barrels placed by the door, upon which one sat a large bottle of Grey Goose vodka, as if to say in unworkable compromise "comfortable yet classy." Aside from the big screen TV, a must it seems in any bar today, were a couple of illuminated beer signs dwarfed by the TV. None-the-less I took a seat by the window to have a drink and take in this place.
Here I noticed that at least someone had tried, as the soundtrack of this place included 60s hits as well as TV theme songs of the era - The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, and Lost in Space were a few I recognized. I even think there was a Jaques Brel song mixed into the loop. If only their DJ were given a chance to do to the interior design what he did with the soundscape. There are good bones to this place, it would take relatively little to convert this into a rather swanky retro lounge. Alas, I don't think that person is the Holiday Inn.
So in the end where this was a miss in my quest, it was still an enjoyable part of the journey - to finally set foot and explore and see what my neighborhood might have to offer.
So one of the things I've decided to explore is the various hotel lounges and lobby that exist in my own neighborhood.
One thing I've always enjoyed when I traveled is to seek out various swank hotel bars and lounges, where I can sit and have a cocktail and fantasize about living the true jet set lifestyle. So it occurred to me that living in the greater Los Angeles area, there must be dozens of such places awaiting my discovery, what a perfect concept for a series of Artist Dates? Now add to that the fact that my recent writing projects have been a series of essays on hedonism - why not compose these essays in the very indulgence of this hedonistic desire? thus was born my Hedonist Project.
Now that of course is the romantic concept, the metaphysical ideal. The reality is that my quest, truly is a quest for while I've found such swank places with ease in Downtown Chicago, or the Camps in Paris the places that exist along my commuting corridor are difficult to compare. Of course I miss riding the Metro, where I could be at the Standard in Downtown LA, or the Roosevelt in Hollywood - two places with lounges easy to linger in - but Long Beach is a convention city, certainly there must be something?
And so I must report a bit on what I've found, the places I've looked, and hopefully the places I'd like to return to.
Last Friday was the first real leg of this quest, and it took me to the Long Beach Holiday Inn. Mind you, the fact that it is a Holiday Inn should have checked my expectations, but this particular Hotel is one I've always found intriguing. Built in the 60s its round tower just next to the freeway and the Long Beach Airport spoke of the optimism of that era - new space age forms, challenging the dull boxiness of the buildings of the time. If ever there was a setting for the retro-contemporary look of mid-century modern, this would be the place.
Having driven past it countless times, it was odd to actually pull into the parking lot and walk into the lobby, crowded and narrow but focused on the elevator core. A restaurant and lounge still existed, the panorama lounge on the "Penthouse Level." On paper the place dripped of swank. And as I ascended, I had hope for what I might find, a bright little gem in a nondescript neighborhood.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. The lounge taking up a rather small slice of the upper floor pie, had been last decorated in the 90's with those sorts of abstract carpets and matching upholstery that just seem more generic that innovative. It seems the desire was to make it more "inviting" by making it more like a sports bar. This meant the addition of four blond-wood barrels placed by the door, upon which one sat a large bottle of Grey Goose vodka, as if to say in unworkable compromise "comfortable yet classy." Aside from the big screen TV, a must it seems in any bar today, were a couple of illuminated beer signs dwarfed by the TV. None-the-less I took a seat by the window to have a drink and take in this place.
Here I noticed that at least someone had tried, as the soundtrack of this place included 60s hits as well as TV theme songs of the era - The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, and Lost in Space were a few I recognized. I even think there was a Jaques Brel song mixed into the loop. If only their DJ were given a chance to do to the interior design what he did with the soundscape. There are good bones to this place, it would take relatively little to convert this into a rather swanky retro lounge. Alas, I don't think that person is the Holiday Inn.
So in the end where this was a miss in my quest, it was still an enjoyable part of the journey - to finally set foot and explore and see what my neighborhood might have to offer.
So one of the things I've decided to explore is the various hotel lounges and lobby that exist in my own neighborhood.