Art for Beginners: Crazy 4 Cult (Unlonely Los Angeles Edition)

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR (me!): Because there are so many wonderful things in LA that aren't in the Lonely Planet guide, I am starting a new section called UnLonely Los Angeles, for all things that SHOULD be in the book.

LA isn't exactly known as being the cultural capital of the world.  In fact, people tend to think that us Angelinos are vapid and only care about all things movies, movie stars and a smattering of red carpets, cocaine and our personal Coffee Bean/Starbucks preference.  Well, for those of you who are looking to ease yourself into the art world, your friend Kevin Smith has the answer.  Kev (as I call him, but never to his face, since I've never actually been in front of his face) is an absolute cinephile.  For those with you New Yorkers with higher class philias (or lower class if your philia involves feet or rubber) this means he is a film aficionado, specifically, he loves cult film (think Tarantino or bad 80s monster movies).  Apparently he also likes art and so decided to curate his own gallery devoted to the films in his DVD collection.

 The art is not only really cool and oozing like puss from a zombie with nostalgia, but it's priced to buy... and people do.

Whether you're a fan of 80s brat pack movies...

Or Point Break...

 There is something for you.

Now the bad news is that this is a limited run, a run which is over (sorry, it took me a while to post this), but considering this is the fourth annual Crazy 4 Cult, I think you can safely set your calendars for July 2011 to go check it out.

TIP: I'm guessing if you are into cult film, you might also be into comic books.  The gallery is attached like a bad habit to one of the biggest comic book stores in LA, The Golden Apple. Stop by!

Huntington Gardens 2: Heading Indoors

So I've already heard about some friends who have been so inspired by my last Huntington Gardens posting that they've planned dates to go (if you aren't one of those people, you should really become one).  I must say it's amazing for me to know that 1) people are actually reading my blog other than my family (who I'm not sure has read this since the first post) and my boyfriend (who is obligated) and 2) it's actually somewhat effective in inspiring people to find things in LA that they've never known about.

But enough with the self-aggrandizing.  Let's take this story inside...

Where were we?

The main house was grand, but unfortunately didn’t offer anything to touch (and I like to touch).

Next stop was the Library, where the books were really old.  But apparently not so old that they didn’t have comic books.

And of course, if we’re talking really old, check out this bible that was 500 years old.  It’s kind of a big deal. 

But still... everything was behind rope and glass and I wanted to use some senses other than my crappy sight that requires my nerdy (but Chanel chic) glasses. So, our next stop was the green house, which had the smelliest plant I had ever smelled.  It was so smelly, that after I took a whiff, I had to run to another better smelling plant and dig my nose into it just to get the previous smell out.

The moral being, be careful what you wish for.

And to satisfy my inner child, our last stop was at the children’s gardens.  Where I FINALLY was able to touch and play.

While we were busy playing, apparently the guards were busy closing up the gardens and somehow missed us.  In order to get out, we had to hop the gates, but luckily they were kids size and only took a little extra climbing.

TIP: The park is hundreds of acres and the park closes at 4:30, so to really take advantage of all the gardens and library has to offer, show up early in the day.

TIP:  For a little side trip, drive by the Gamble House.  It’s an architectural gem.  Even if you don’t get there in time to go inside, you can still walk around the grounds.

Huntington What?! (Part I)

My boyfriend, in his latest attempt at being wonderful, planned a surprise day for me that he declared was Lonely Los Angeles approved.  When he told me we were going to Huntington Gardens, my response was “Huntington what?!”  Clearly I hadn’t quite made it to the San Gabriel Valley portion of my LP guide.  Because Lonely Planet doesn’t offer pictures, I had no clue what I was in store for.

After a lovely drive to Pasadena (where it was scorching hot), we made it to the gates that led the way to a truly magical place.

 

Our first stop was the desert garden.  The moment I walked in, I wondered if I had come across a drink that said “drink me” and a cake that demanded, “eat me” and forgotten; the shapes and colors could only have existed in an Alice-style psychedelic trip.

  

The heat was really starting to wear on us (we were in the desert gardens after all) and so we headed to the Lily Pond. 

A group of us cheered on a poor little fish that had gotten grounded on a lily pad and was leaping for his life.  After many daring attempts, the guppy made it safely back into the water.

We were told there would be ducks, but when no ducks appeared, I had one of my bratty child meltdowns and on a duck hunt we went. It turns out the ducks were also hot (and hungry) and found a tree to find shade and get some good grub (literally).

We found it quite odd that there was one duck that wasn’t looking for food, instead he walked right up to the group of us taking pictures and started posing for us.  This is no joke, the duck was trying to get discovered, finding different poses and not stopping until we finally stopped taking pictures and walked away. This duck was a starlet in training with a likely eating disorder.

Next we made our way to the orient with a visit to the Japanese Gardens.

It was the land of the Four Bs:

Bamboo…

Bonsai...

Bridges...

And Buddhas!

To keep with the zen theme, there was a little house that was perfectly feng shui. 

But as much as I wanted to go lie down on one of the mats, we weren’t allowed in.

And then we entered China, where we were relieved to see a little café where we bought water.  We took a seat and admired the Chinese pond.

It was getting close to our reservation for tea (yes my boyfriend is so masculine that he can take me to high tea) and headed towards the tea room.  Our reservation was running late, so we took a stroll through the Rose garden.

When our reservation was finally called, we bathed ourselves in the air conditioning and drank tea (with our pinkies out) and ate baby scones and sandwiches with the crust cut off.

We had enough heat for the day, so made our way to other areas with a/c.   But you'll have to wait until Part II to hear all about it.  

Trust me, it's worth it.

TIP: In the summer it gets really hot and they don’t allow outside food or beverages, so bring a big purse and stash some water inside.

It's the pits: The La Brea Tar Pits and Page Museum

All I had previously known about the La Brea Tar Pits was that it smelled like ass.  It pseudo occurred to me to stop in and see what was making it smell so putrid as I oft drove down 6th St (though for a while I blamed the fetid scent on the eye sore that is Park La Brea), but I never actually took that pit stop.  But since it's description in my LP Guide fell right between the Farmers Market and the Craft and Folk Art Museum, I figured I might as well swing by during my lunch break one day.

I honestly had no clue what was going on in there and quickly found out that there was a lot more than some smelly sticky goo.  This was one of those places that is meant for kids who love learning; the kids who like to go to the planetarium, not just to get high and watch the laser light shows.  For an 8 year old boy, this place could seriously be heaven, once they got past the fact that the tar pits never captured a dinosaur (the tar pits showed up around 100k years ago, whereas Dino was killed off 64 million years prior).  However, they have bones from mammoths, wolves (not the "were" kind) and saber-tooth cats (mistakenly known as saber-tooth tigers).

The most fascinating thing I learned is that the tar (AKA... asphalt) is so sticky and thick that even an inch thick layer of it can stop a mega mammoth in its tracks.  In fact, the animals didn't die because they sank (this isn't quick sand, friends), but rather because they got stuck like flies on a fly trap and they would die from starvation or sometimes from the predators that would attack them (which is idiotic, since they would then become stuck in the muck and die themselves).  Also, this crap isn't hot, even though it looks like it's boiling.  That's just gas (which is also the thing that makes it so putrid).

Apparently, it's also not just a museum, but still an active excavation location.  Pit 91 and project 23 are still occasionally active and you can view them at work when they are.

You can also see the folks who are cleaning up and categorizing the fossils at work in the lab called fishbowl in the museum (which seems to me to be a huge and unnecessary distraction, since I can barely focus when a gust of wind blows by).





One other thing I hadn't anticipated was that the tar pits were like little black gooey ponds within a bigger park, which is named Hancock Park.  This fact blew my mind, as there is a very affluent neighborhood less than a mile away also named Hancock Park.  I thought perhaps I was falling into a mean game of chicken or the egg (was the park named after the neighborhood or the neighborhood named after the park?), but with some later research I discovered one had nothing to do with the other, besides both being funded by the same George Allan Hancock.  Another lesson learned was that La Brea literally translates to "the tar."  All this new information was actually very exciting, as it was quickly turning out that I was learning so much more about my city (um, and history) through my asinine project.

TIP: If you are a teacher, your admission is free.

http://www.tarpits.org/

Beverly Hills (that's where I want to be)

I'm a Beverly Hills girl. I've always worked in Beverly Hills and for the past 7 years I've lived in Beverly Hills Adjacent (yes,  my neighborhood is snobby by proximity).  Despite the errands I've run, the lunches I've eaten and the walks that I've gone on, I never really spent much time on Rodeo Drive other than when I was a tourist or when I've had friends in town.  I guess there was no real reason. Even though it is one block away from a street I frequent weekly (Beverly Drive), Rodeo Drive always seemed over priced, overly snobby and unnecessary.  So yesterday, during my lunch break, I ventured down the glitz and glamour of the street made infamous by PRETTY WOMAN.

My Lonely Planet guide actually had a handful of suggestions of places to see on Rodeo Drive that I had never known about, so I was pretty excited. I start my walk and realize that this street is more than high end shopping, it's really it's very own version of a Museum Row.  The clothing, the bags, the shoes and the jewelry are all so stunning and so unique, if we weren't meant to wear them, they would be considered incredible pieces of art.  Even the presentations are incredible, evoking emotion everywhere from awe to absolute envy.  However, what I was shocked to see in almost every single window display was the most evil (and my favorite) four letter word in retail:

This is obviously good news for me, until I realize that at the majority of these stores, even with a price slashing sale, are still way out of my price range.  I conceded to window shopping.

One of my favorite things are all things that sparkle.  I was stopped in my path by the most beautiful diamond necklace in the store front of Cartier.  I was dying to know what it looked like on me...

Pretty good, right?

Soon after, I came across the Harry Winston store, which I didn't even know existed.  I was just aware that he lends his million dollar jewels to the stars for the Oscars and Cannes.  I guess he isn't just doing that to be nice, cause I found an entire room of displays like this in a lobby area between the front door and the store itself...

Talk about product placement.

Finally, at the end of the long walk, I came across my favorite store, my mecca, if you will.

*Cue angels singing*

My boyfriend is completely positive that my efforts to pull him into Tiffany's are based on an ulterior motive to go engagement ring shopping, but in truth, I just love how all the diamonds and gems sparkle in their most perfectly lit displays.  There isn't a Tiffany's I walk past that I don't go in (that includes you, London Heathrow Airport!).  I wander in, check out the sparkle and quickly leave before I appear suspicious.

Moving on from jewelry (not because I want to, but because I should), here are a few other highlights.

Until I read my LP guide, I had no clue that Frank Lloyd Wright designed a shopping center on Rodeo Drive.  However, according to the LP guide, it's located at 322 N. Rodeo Dr.  I walked up and down that block and if it really was supposed to be 322, then it was an empty pre-construction lot.  Next to that lot I found an angular, white shopping center at the address 332 N. Rodeo Dr., so I put my faith in the fact that a Frank Lloyd Wright structure wasn't completely demolished, but instead was just mislabeled.  To be honest, the shopping center wasn't much to "wright" home about (see what I did there?).  It was very simple, didn't offer great views, and the stores didn't scream I-deserve-to-be-in-a-Frank-Lloyd-Wright-shopping-center!  However, I did get this pseudo cool pic from inside looking out...

Another can't miss is the Two Rodeo shopping center on Rodeo and Wilshire.  I love it, because it's the home to Tiffany's, but it's just a cool little cobblestoned walkway that resembles the area in that scene from THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA when Anne Hathaway is in Paris, getting romanced by the uber sexy Simon Baker.

Paris...

Two Rodeo

And of course I must mention the major designer flagship stores.  They are incredible.  The one that really caught my eye was the one that had no marquee of sorts, just an incredible open air display that resembled a modern art installation more than a clothing store.  I happened to look in my Lonely Planet and saw that the address matched the address for the one store the guide actually mentioned: Prada No. 343.  And it was worth mentioning.

Those guys in black suits are real.

The final site I checked out was north of the shopping portion of Rodeo, at the bottom area of the residential district. Last summer I took a last minute solo trip to Spain (I literally planned it in a week and off I went) and fell madly in love with Gaudi's architecture that makes you wonder if perhaps he was eating the same cakes and drinking the same tea as Alice, as it really looks quite a bit like Wonderland.  My LP guide informed me there was a Gaudi inspired house.  I'm really not quite certain if anyone lives there or if it welcomes visitors, so I wouldn't recommend knocking on any doors, peering through any windows or jumping any fences, but definitely stop by and take a pic from outside like I did.

Of course I have to give a mention to the residence of our favorite hooker with a heart of gold, the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel...

 You can find this on Wilshire and Rodeo.

And if you need more shopping, or a good plastic surgeon, head to the Rodeo Collection at 421 N. Rodeo.  It didn't blow me away, but is likely frequented by the Beverly Hills ladies who lunch elite.

TIP: Don't be freaked out and instead take advantage of the diagonal cross walks on Rodeo Drive.

TIP: Parking is easy and cheap in Beverly Hills, but don't look for it on Rodeo Drive.  One block east, on Beverly Drive, there are two city sponsored parking lots that are free for the first two hours. 

Meet Me At 3rd and Fairfax

After my Museum Row adventure, I had to hunker down and get some reading done for work.  Parks are always nice for sitting around and reading on a beautiful afternoon, so I headed over to the Pan Pacific Park across the street from The Grove.  I started looking it up in my guidebook, but found that the only place it is even mentioned is on one of the maps.  I quickly understood why.  This is a park that has clearly been neglected since it became completely overshadowed by the massive Grove and Farmers Market next door.  The grass grows in chunks, leaving sections of dirt and dust.  While kids play sports and families gather, the quality of the grounds is fairly abysmal, limited to a couple picnic tables and scattered rocks to lean on.

Once I had enough of flicking ants off my legs, I decided to head over to the Farmer's Market for something refreshing.  Now this is actually in the LP guide, as it well should be.  The Farmer's Market is one of the best places in LA to casually eat anything you can think of.  While it is barely a farmer's market anymore (despite the signs outside listing the cost of fresh fish and vegetables), it has some of the best Mexican, Mediterranean and Brazilian food in the nearby neighborhoods.  I found a great stand that offered fresh fruit smoothies (not the Jamba Juice variety that is a glorified milkshake with fruit) and headed over to the attached mall, The Grove.

While The Grove is technically an outdoor mall, it much more resembles a grown up Disneyland.  It has streets with trolleys carting people from one end to the other, with sidewalks leading to the various restaurants, shops and movie theatres.

In the center, a massive fountain dances to music.  The fountain was designed by the same designer as the famed fountain in front of the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas.

I will say, this was a bit harder to look at as a tourist, as I spend quite a bit of time at The Grove.  It's one of my favorite places to see a movie, grab dinner or buy a book (see: http://lonelylosangeles.blogspot.com/2010/06/lonely-and-sparse-planet-guide-to-los.html).  While it doesn't have the best variety of shops for a day at the mall, it does have destination stores including the Apple Store, Crate and Barrel, Nordstroms and Anthropologie.

Because of what a popular destination The Grove is, I was shocked to see that it barely even got a mention in the section about the Farmer's Market.  I truly think it deserves it's very own paragraph, encouraging tourists to see how LA has reimagined the mall experience.

TIP: On July 13th, the Farmer's Market will be joining together for a one night event called Taste of Farmer's Market.  They will be selling tickets, starting at $25 that allows you to try the food at the various stands.  Some ticket levels also include booze if you want to get your friends together. http://www.farmersmarketla.com/store/ProductDetail.asp?idCategory=14

TIP: For the Karaoke lover, Wednesday nights are Karaoke night at the Farmer's Market.

LACMA (or how I found the Craft & Folk Art Museum)

 On Wednesday, I had lunch scheduled with a friend who had recently left her job to prepare to start her MBA and decided that lunch would be much better served over art than at Jerry's Deli.  I proposed the idea of hitting up LACMA, which she quickly agreed to.

I checked my Lonely Planet guide to see if it recommended anything at LACMA, since I haven't been there since the early months of the Broad Contemporary Arts wing a couple years ago.  It was pretty much a basic description of the museum until I got to this interesting tidbit of information that really enlightened me:

"Opening in early 2008, it includes a new entry pavilion and the Broad Contemporary Art Museum...."

What?! 2008?!?!?!?!  Is this a guidebook from the 90s?  I shut the book and make my way to LACMA to see what is new on my own.

I find my friend and we search high and low for admissions, but find nothing resembling a ticket booth.  Finally we make our way into the Broad wing and find an information table. The only odd thing is that other than some security, we don't see any patrons.  I know that LA is not exactly the cultural epicenter of the world, but NOBODY is at the biggest museum in the city on a Wednesday afternoon?  Once we ask the information booth how to buy tickets we realize why.  The museum is closed on Wednesdays (what museum is closed on Wednesdays? Isn't Monday the industry standard for closures?) and it is only open for a private event that is currently lunching downstairs.

We make our way out and decide to consult our LP guide to see what would have been cool to check out in 2007.  But first, I check to see if it lists days and hours for LACMA.  Turns out had I consulted the book (and trusted it) I would have found out about the museum's strange mid-week shut down.  Anyhow, we find that we have a choice of the Peterson Automotive Museum, the Architecture & Design Museum, the Page Museum at the Tar Pits and the Craft & Folk Art Museum.  A&D it is!

Nope.  It's closed.  Not just on Wednesdays, but indefinitely for renovations.  I guess it's rare that it would ever be open, considering the penchant these artists have for remodeling.

We both like arts and crafts so to the Craft and Folk Museum we went!  It actually ended up being very cool.  Since my friend is starting school soon and we looked poor and pathetic, we maneuvered student admission prices of a whopping $3.  I paid for both of us, because I'm so generous. The museum was 3 small floors, one or two rooms each, of modern art made from suitcases, wine corks, bowling pins and wire.  It was actually very inspiring to see that you can make art really from anything you were planning on throwing out with your trash.

Our adventure ended up being more exciting than planned. While we missed LACMA, we found a museum we would never have considered going to before and became inspired by all the different ways art can be created. Lonely Los Angeles trip #1 was a failure and a huge success.

TIP:  If you are heading to Museum Row, forgo lunch at Marie Callenders or at one of the museums and instead, hit up one of the gourmet food trucks that line the streets.  Everything from Hot Dogs to Organic and Vegetarian fair are available.  You can find them starting one block east of the LACMA entrance continuing about 3 blocks east.