L.A. or bust
I flew out on Friday evening to Los Angeles to join Jon, Dan and Michelle, who’d driven down there in a convertible Mustang they hired from San Francisco. They’d had a great time taking in the stunning Big Sur coast on the way down and visiting Hearst Castle, an absurdly opulent stately home. I’ll have to let Jon blog separately about his experiences en route.
We stayed in Venice Beach, at an art déco hotel rather past its best. Venice Beach turned out to be a rather schizophrenic place – very hip and trendy during the day, with lots of people roller-blading, selling art and otherwise parading down the promenade by a perfect palm-lined beach. However, at night it was a different story. Absolutely dead (nothing open) and populated only by drunks, drug dealers and the homeless. Really quite dangerous. Fortunately, Jon, Dan and Michelle had already found this out on the first night, so I didn’t have to subject myself to it personally! On the second night a fight broke out just outside the hotel – lovely!
After a hearty breakfast on Saturday, we headed up to the Getty Museum, which had been recommended to me by a colleague. This comprises an amazing collection of superbly designed buildings atop a bluff with panoramic views of the city, ocean and Santa Monica Mountains, accessed by a monorail from the car park. The buildings house the Getty Foundation art collection, an eclectic mix of pieces ranging from medieval manuscripts through the decorative arts to Monets and photography. It was such a beautiful space, with stunning architecture, fascinating art, gorgeous gardens and amazing vistas. The kind of stuff that’s good for your soul, especially after a difficult week. I particularly liked the Impressionist room, which included one of Van Gogh’s Iris paintings. Moreover it was free, since the Getty Foundation has so much money! We ended up spending a large part of the day there, before heading off to find the Hollywood sign (not easy!) and going for dinner at a Mexican in Santa Monica (just north of Venice, also on the coast). The food was great, but the service less than stellar.
On Sunday we enjoyed another nice breakfast at a café further down the promenade – a great place for people-watching. We then checked out and went to Hollywood Boulevard to look at the hand and footprints of the stars outside the Chinese Theatre, as well as the Walk of Fame. Didn’t spot any famous people, though – alas! Dan and Michelle dropped us off in Santa Monica, before setting off on the drive back to SF (we’d booked flights some weeks before, as we weren’t sure what their plans would be). We spent a bit of time on the beach (the weather was gorgeous) and browsing in the town, then flew back at just after 8 p.m. Amazingly, Dan and Michelle had a great drive and managed to beat us back!
It was a really fun and interesting weekend, but I was still happy to return to San Francisco. L.A. is a completely different place: really sprawling, which forces you to drive everywhere, and nowhere near as attractive. Not a place I’d want to live, in spite of the wonderful weather. I found myself looking down my nose at it a bit, which must mean I’m a true San Franciscan now! More photos are available on the Fotki site (http://public.fotki.com/EllenHardwick - password: moocow).
We stayed in Venice Beach, at an art déco hotel rather past its best. Venice Beach turned out to be a rather schizophrenic place – very hip and trendy during the day, with lots of people roller-blading, selling art and otherwise parading down the promenade by a perfect palm-lined beach. However, at night it was a different story. Absolutely dead (nothing open) and populated only by drunks, drug dealers and the homeless. Really quite dangerous. Fortunately, Jon, Dan and Michelle had already found this out on the first night, so I didn’t have to subject myself to it personally! On the second night a fight broke out just outside the hotel – lovely!
After a hearty breakfast on Saturday, we headed up to the Getty Museum, which had been recommended to me by a colleague. This comprises an amazing collection of superbly designed buildings atop a bluff with panoramic views of the city, ocean and Santa Monica Mountains, accessed by a monorail from the car park. The buildings house the Getty Foundation art collection, an eclectic mix of pieces ranging from medieval manuscripts through the decorative arts to Monets and photography. It was such a beautiful space, with stunning architecture, fascinating art, gorgeous gardens and amazing vistas. The kind of stuff that’s good for your soul, especially after a difficult week. I particularly liked the Impressionist room, which included one of Van Gogh’s Iris paintings. Moreover it was free, since the Getty Foundation has so much money! We ended up spending a large part of the day there, before heading off to find the Hollywood sign (not easy!) and going for dinner at a Mexican in Santa Monica (just north of Venice, also on the coast). The food was great, but the service less than stellar.
On Sunday we enjoyed another nice breakfast at a café further down the promenade – a great place for people-watching. We then checked out and went to Hollywood Boulevard to look at the hand and footprints of the stars outside the Chinese Theatre, as well as the Walk of Fame. Didn’t spot any famous people, though – alas! Dan and Michelle dropped us off in Santa Monica, before setting off on the drive back to SF (we’d booked flights some weeks before, as we weren’t sure what their plans would be). We spent a bit of time on the beach (the weather was gorgeous) and browsing in the town, then flew back at just after 8 p.m. Amazingly, Dan and Michelle had a great drive and managed to beat us back!
It was a really fun and interesting weekend, but I was still happy to return to San Francisco. L.A. is a completely different place: really sprawling, which forces you to drive everywhere, and nowhere near as attractive. Not a place I’d want to live, in spite of the wonderful weather. I found myself looking down my nose at it a bit, which must mean I’m a true San Franciscan now! More photos are available on the Fotki site (http://public.fotki.com/EllenHardwick - password: moocow).
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