California Diary Part II: Los Angeles
On Tuesday, July 18, I left San Diego and headed north to Los Angeles. It was a comparatively easy drive, and on the way there I encountered relatively little of the famed LA traffic. That wouldn't last, alas.
My initial destination was the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. LACMA is located on Wilshire Boulevard near museum row and is actually a collection of museums showcasing different art styles. The complex is very large, but I tried my best to see as much of it as possible. I particularly enjoyed the modern art section of the museum (which is confusingly sponsored by the same people who did the Broad, but it isn't the Broad).
The grounds are also very lovely. Particular highlights are some of the permanent installations, notably Urban Light and Levitated Mass, as well as a trio of Alexander Calder mobiles in a fountain. You can also see the La Brea Tar Pits next store, although I opted not to go to that museum because I had a baseball game to attend. I also could see the Hollywood Sign from a balcony at LACMA.
I drove south to Anaheim. It was the start of rush hour, and the traffic was as bad as any I've ever seen. I will say that most California drivers seemed very competent (unlike, say, Chicago or Cleveland), and the problem was almost entirely one of congestion. Driving past Disneyland didn't help, but I had allowed plenty of time and I made it to Angels Stadium in time for the game. After the game, I hung out in the parking lot and talked to M on the phone before I headed north to Burbank. Even though it was late at night by that point, the traffic was still pretty terrible. I found a hotel and crashed.
On the next day, I slept in, which was glorious. Then I met my friends Jeremiah & Sara for lunch. Both are cast members at Disney and they took me to the cafeteria at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. After lunch, they took me for a quick tour of the grounds. The little museum was, alas, closed for a private event, but I got to see the Seven Dwarfs building, Disney Legends Plaza, and the building where Walt's office was back in the day. We also saw the Roy. E Disney Building, which features the Sorcerer's Apprentice hat in grand scale. It was a lovely little lunch.
I had no afternoon plans, and there was a massive movie theater near my hotel so I took the opportunity to see a movie in Los Angeles, specifically Spider-man: Homecoming. I even bought some candy for the movie, which I never do. From there I hopped back in the car and met my metalhead buddy Ace. We had chicken and waffles at Roscoe's and saw Two Cellos in an amphitheater in (or at least adjacent to) Griffith Park.
On July 20 I checked out of my hotel and headed to downtown Los Angeles. I found a great bookstore right near my parking garage called The Last Bookstore and bought some poetry by Morgan Parker. Then I met Eliza Rickman (she of house concert fame) for lunch. She wasn't playing any gigs while I was in town, so we settled for tacos at Guisados, which coincidentally had been enthusiastically recommended by a woman at the Two Cellos concert.
From here I walked to two of MOCA LA's three locations. I started off at the main downtown space, which was under construction at the time and had some pretty standard sorts of works (Rothko, etc.) on display. Then I walked several blocks over to The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. This space is much larger (it used to be a LAPD garage) and was showing a major exhibition of the works of Carl Andre. It was a hot day, so I stopped for some ice cream after all this walking, and then had some poke for dinner.
After dinner I drove a (mercifully) short distance to Dodger Stadium. After the game, I headed north to Oxnard.
This was my first trip to Los Angeles. It's huge and sprawling the traffic is on balance as bad as the stories make it sound. There were many things I would have liked to have done that I theoretically had time to do, if it weren't for the detail that most of the time it takes an hour to drive what would take 15 minutes in Cleveland. On the plus side, the weather was very nice most of the time, there is great food (especially seafood), I have many friends there (including two were unavailable on this trip) and there are still many, many museums and other cultural attractions I wouldn't mind visiting. I expect I'll be back someday.
EDIT: Hilariously, I took almost zero photos in LA despite being there several days, and none of those few are worth posting.
My initial destination was the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. LACMA is located on Wilshire Boulevard near museum row and is actually a collection of museums showcasing different art styles. The complex is very large, but I tried my best to see as much of it as possible. I particularly enjoyed the modern art section of the museum (which is confusingly sponsored by the same people who did the Broad, but it isn't the Broad).
The grounds are also very lovely. Particular highlights are some of the permanent installations, notably Urban Light and Levitated Mass, as well as a trio of Alexander Calder mobiles in a fountain. You can also see the La Brea Tar Pits next store, although I opted not to go to that museum because I had a baseball game to attend. I also could see the Hollywood Sign from a balcony at LACMA.
I drove south to Anaheim. It was the start of rush hour, and the traffic was as bad as any I've ever seen. I will say that most California drivers seemed very competent (unlike, say, Chicago or Cleveland), and the problem was almost entirely one of congestion. Driving past Disneyland didn't help, but I had allowed plenty of time and I made it to Angels Stadium in time for the game. After the game, I hung out in the parking lot and talked to M on the phone before I headed north to Burbank. Even though it was late at night by that point, the traffic was still pretty terrible. I found a hotel and crashed.
On the next day, I slept in, which was glorious. Then I met my friends Jeremiah & Sara for lunch. Both are cast members at Disney and they took me to the cafeteria at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. After lunch, they took me for a quick tour of the grounds. The little museum was, alas, closed for a private event, but I got to see the Seven Dwarfs building, Disney Legends Plaza, and the building where Walt's office was back in the day. We also saw the Roy. E Disney Building, which features the Sorcerer's Apprentice hat in grand scale. It was a lovely little lunch.
I had no afternoon plans, and there was a massive movie theater near my hotel so I took the opportunity to see a movie in Los Angeles, specifically Spider-man: Homecoming. I even bought some candy for the movie, which I never do. From there I hopped back in the car and met my metalhead buddy Ace. We had chicken and waffles at Roscoe's and saw Two Cellos in an amphitheater in (or at least adjacent to) Griffith Park.
On July 20 I checked out of my hotel and headed to downtown Los Angeles. I found a great bookstore right near my parking garage called The Last Bookstore and bought some poetry by Morgan Parker. Then I met Eliza Rickman (she of house concert fame) for lunch. She wasn't playing any gigs while I was in town, so we settled for tacos at Guisados, which coincidentally had been enthusiastically recommended by a woman at the Two Cellos concert.
From here I walked to two of MOCA LA's three locations. I started off at the main downtown space, which was under construction at the time and had some pretty standard sorts of works (Rothko, etc.) on display. Then I walked several blocks over to The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. This space is much larger (it used to be a LAPD garage) and was showing a major exhibition of the works of Carl Andre. It was a hot day, so I stopped for some ice cream after all this walking, and then had some poke for dinner.
After dinner I drove a (mercifully) short distance to Dodger Stadium. After the game, I headed north to Oxnard.
This was my first trip to Los Angeles. It's huge and sprawling the traffic is on balance as bad as the stories make it sound. There were many things I would have liked to have done that I theoretically had time to do, if it weren't for the detail that most of the time it takes an hour to drive what would take 15 minutes in Cleveland. On the plus side, the weather was very nice most of the time, there is great food (especially seafood), I have many friends there (including two were unavailable on this trip) and there are still many, many museums and other cultural attractions I wouldn't mind visiting. I expect I'll be back someday.
EDIT: Hilariously, I took almost zero photos in LA despite being there several days, and none of those few are worth posting.