City of Dreams
Dear Friends,
June flew by! Happy July!
Concentric circles, Venn diagrams, circles rippling when we skip a rock across a lake! Think of all the circles you have been a part of from youth until today. How have they changed? This month, circles from my past have caused me to think about my hometown, Los Angeles.
I just read a wonderful reflection in Janet Skeslien Charles’ new novel, Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade. A writing student declares, “I’m all about place. Who we become is about where we’re from.” The City of Angels is definitely part of who I am.
Los Angeles is an unusual city. Without dipping into vast LA history, let me say aircraft, automobiles and movie stars.
Early this year I heard about an extensive exhibit of French sculptor Camille Claudel’s incredible work coming to the Getty Museum, and I began plotting my visit.
It seemed like a good time to revisit where my mother had been raised (Hollywood), my grandma lived (now Mid-Wilshire) and my uncle lived (Coldwater Canyon). Many of you are LA residents and to others, this is a world only seen on the “silver” screen. Here are some very rounded off figures:
Los Angeles - population 4 million covers about 500 square miles
“Greater Los Angeles” - 13 million covers about 33,954 square miles
Paris - population 2 million covers about 40 square miles – (walkable and has a great transit system)
London - population 9 million, covers 670 square miles
Washington DC - population 679,000, covers 68 square miles
Yucca Valley, CA - population 22,000, covers 40 square miles
Joshua Tree, CA - population 7,000, covers about 37 square miles
Los Angeles grew as automobiles became popular, and it sprawls over gentle hills in a basin. When my great grandmother and grandfather decided to move to California, attracted by the bounty of the Golden State, from Texas in 1906, Los Angeles had fewer than 320,000 inhabitants (laalmanac.com).
Early on a Tuesday, I headed toward the areas around the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Getty Museum, a few sights suggested by friends and remained open to whim and proximity.
So, let me show you a small corner of LA as someone who can drive the streets by feel and landmarks—but now, in a city with exponentially increased population, uses Google maps to avoid traffic clogs. Today the “secret, less crowded routes” are available to all.
I arrived at LACMA by 10 a.m. Following Google directions, I realized I was on West Olympic Boulevard and drove past my elementary school from 3rd grade, the year we lived with my grandmother. Memory Lane was appearing.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is closed on Wednesdays. I parked in the new-to-me underground structure. Upon emerging, I was in shock! The four-story iconic white midcentury structure was gone-razed. One could look directly at the installation Urban Lights – now iconic – and yes, it’s a collection of the LA style lampposts I had seen all my life. Gone was the dramatic entrance with stairs from Wilshire Boulevard. I walked to the digs by the La Brea Tarpits which fortunately have not been moved! The Tarpit Museum, formerly the Page, is adjacent to the art museum and across a grassy parkland. Don’t let it fool you - years ago I took a vintage tablecloth for a picnic, and was soon it speckled with tar!
Loud construction noises accosted me. LACMA is constructing a new fluid one-story structure that will connect across Wilshire Boulevard onto the next block! The Japanese Pavilion was closed. The Broad Contemporary Museum and the Reznick Pavilion, and a “portable” but nice museum restaurant remain open.
Currently, a small selection of the museum’s collection and Ed Ruscha / Now Then, (his first comprehensive cross-media retrospective in 20 years) are in the Broad Contemporary. “Ed Ruscha is widely regarded as one of the world's most important artists with a career spanning six decades from the early 1960s until the present.” (The Tate – UK) Ruscha’s images, photos, and prints of LA over the decades, including a large work of LACMA’s iconic original building, reflect the cities’ evolution.
As a teen I saw many LACMA exhibits. I remember Gericault’s “Raft of the Medusa” visiting from the Louvre! Charles E. Burchfield’s dramatic watercolors loom large in my memory. As a high school student, I participated in a several week art program. At the end of the program, I was selected to serve as a student docent for the “The Navajo Blanket.” This took me out of my French Impressionist and 70’s photo realism comfort zone and taught me the beauty of Navajo weaving and the importance of being open to new ideas, styles, and cultures. Speaking to the public was a great experience for a 16 year old!
LACMA opened in 1965. Before that, the official county art museum had been at Exposition Park downtown. My mother took me to many exhibits, and I saw Monet’s paintings of the Rouen Cathedral from my stroller. I believe these early experiences deeply affect us.
The Reznick houses several contemporary exhibits including Painting the River of Angels: Judy Baca and the Great Wall, “a history to tell the perspective from those who erased it.” Baca transforms the museum into a studio, and painters were in action as I visited and talked to the project director - who has a house in Joshua Tree!
Near LACMA is the original Farmers Market which we visited often. CBS Television City Studios were across the street. Short on time, I drove through The Grove at Farmers Market, a modern sprawling outdoor mall with shops found in many upscale outdoor malls. Things change.
When I hear “The Grove,” I think of the famous nightclub, the Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel located at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard which closed in 1989. Sadly, the hotel was demolished in 2005-6. I attended our senior prom there! Our junior prom was aboard HMS Queen Mary!
Friends directed me to visit the West Adams Art District, just south of what is now called Mid City. I visited Thinkspace, a fun contemporary gallery. Reflecting on my visit, I feel Joshua Tree art remains competitive with what I saw in LA.
I knew West Adams is located between my grandmother’s old home near La Brea and Pico Boulevards, a Spanish style duplex built in 1920 by my contractor great-grandfather, and my childhood home in Park - Windsor Hills.
I often dream about Grandma’s old house. My grandmother painted the living and dining rooms her favorite pink! And my Tutu, as she wanted to be called grandmother in Hawaiian, managed the giftshop and floral concession at Pacific Seas Clifton’s Cafeteria – which, in its day, was as famous as Disneyland to Angelenos. Her kitchen held large glass canisters filled with enticing candy-looking supplies for making her artificial leis. Her front patio was covered with a large pink Hibiscus floral roof!
I also drove by the home where we lived until I was five, in Windsor-Park Hills. It looks great – but instead of my mother’s signature pale green (which I call Martha Stewart green), it is now slate. My dad designed a Hawaiian paradise backyard, and I wonder what’s there now! You can visit, but you can’t really go home. Yet, who we become is about where we’re from!
Day 2 – The Getty
Those who may have not heard of Camille Claudel have heard of her teacher and lover, Auguste Rodin. The inside jacket cover of the exhibit catalogue states, “Camille Claudel (1864-1943) was among the most daring and visionary sculptors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although much attention has been paid to her tragic life – her passionate relationship with her mentor, August Rodin: the premature end to her career; her thirty-three year institutionalization in an asylum – her art remains little known outside France. Memorably praised by Octave Mirbeau in 1895 as a ‘revolt of nature: a woman genius,’ Claudel was celebrated for her brilliance during a time when women sculptors were rare.” I was glad to experience the exhibit!
My little Benedict Canyon Air BnB was perfect. I escaped the hubbub of the city in a small home that reminded me of my dear Uncle Emel and Aunt Ellie’s Coldwater Canyon home – bought in 1939 and constructed from railroad ties! Simpler times. I arrived at the Getty by early morning surrounded by traditional June gloom. Eventually, the magnificent view of the Pacific Ocean would float into place – as if on cue. I headed for the Claudel exhibit and had it to myself – almost. Open through July 21, I encourage a visit. The museum is free, but one must have reservations. Parking is $25 per car.
I was only four miles away from the Hammer Museum in Westwood. Founded in 1990, the Hammer Museum and cultural center is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles. Founded originally by the Armand Hammer to house his personal art collection, the museum has become "the hippest and most culturally relevant institution in town." (Wikipedia) I recognized many pieces of the original collection from a late 1980s show at the Palm Springs Art Museum! Our son observed from his baby back pack!
This is just a very slim slice of the incredible urban sprawl that makes Los Angeles. With 13 million different views in Greater LA – it is many cities. Each area is like a mini city with a distinct flavor—sprawling, sunny, urban, City of the Angels, La La Land, Tinseltown, the City of Dreams!
This week I still have LA on my mind. What are your favorite films set in Los Angeles? I rewatched Steve Martin’s LA Story - over the top silly, but clever with truth hidden in the one-liners. I love the opening musical number from La La Land! Somehow, when I first saw it - it seemed completely plausible! And on a stretch of freeway I've traveled hundreds of times. Be sure to watch the clip below and enjoy!
Inspired by all of you,
Janis, what a beautiful post. You have had such rich experiences! I love reading the artist in you and your mom throughout this post. Of course, that is the title! You have inspired me to learn more about Claudel. And that photo of your grandmother and great aunt is amazing!
I was flooded with so many memories, as I grew up in Paramount, California, a suburb of L.A. Los Angeles holds special memories for me--field trips to the Tar Pits and other museums, concert halls and cultural sites. Prom at the Bonaventure. Visiting my dad at the Department of Water and Power. My mom and dad both graduated from Fremont High School. Visiting the Getty Villa Museum before it opened because my uncle was a security guard there. Tommy's burgers with college friends. Being a tour guide for visitors to see Hollywood and other sites. This post makes me want to keep gleaning these memories. Thank you!
I enjoyed watching the "Another Day of Sun" clip again. I found it on YouTube because your link didn't work for me.
The long-gone Los Angeles museum that I liked in my pre-teen years was the Museum of Science and Industry in Exposition Park. We took field trips there twice from my public schools in Rialto. I haven't been to its replacement, the California Science Center, because it would probably be a disappointment. I also loved the Natural History Museum and would like to go again, since I haven't been there for decades.