Timing is Everything

Two full days in the Los Angeles area is about a tenth of the time necessary to see what there is to see. No, I did not get to the Getty, or any museum for that matter, nor really much of any of the big sights, but I did see a few iconic places, and others, only a local can show you. So, let's begin, shall we?

How's this for a house? Carol drove us up into the hills for a stunning view of downtown LA, and if you look really hard, you can even see the Pacific.

We were in what is called the "bird streets" because all of the streets are named for birds. Duh Gail! Here's a little something from the Hollywood Reporter about this tony neighborhood. Larry Flint, of Hustler fame (yuk), lives here:

There are sculptures everywhere, and I do mean, everywhere. I believe I counted about fifty what with all of them on the ground and the roof!!

Along the way we saw this flower shop. Need I say more?

Carol was awesome about stopping whenever I saw something I wanted to photograph. Those $8.98 roses--not so pretty.

Despite looking like an office building, this is a home. There was a gentleman on one of the side balconies, which has the downtown view I showed you, and I waved. (My children are cringing after reading that no doubt!) After saying hello, he told us the house was three years in the making. Untold dollars for sure! More movie advertisements on Sunset Blvd.

No visit is complete without seeing Hollywood, and the Grauman's Chinese Theater, at least from a car window. As you can see the sidewalks were packed with tourists and people dressed in character. This is a funny picture isn't it? I'm not sure what the face-off was all about.

The Kodak Theater, home of the Academy Awards:

Carol was kind enough to stop so I could photograph something or other, and somehow that led us up into a neighborhood high above LA. Eventually we made it quite close to the infamous Hollywood sign you've seen a thousand times. A girl with her visiting mother found the same way up; after I took their photograph together, she took ours:

Here's where the tour bus takes visitors to photograph the sign, quite a ways from where we were.

Actually, in her 25 years living in Southern California Carol had never been as close as we were. Very fun! Yikes, I almost forgot--a stop at In-N-Out Burger, one of the things I most wanted to do!

Every bit as good as I was hoping!!

Sunday morning Bruce dropped me off at, of all things, the Beverly Hills Art Show. I was anxious to see what kind of photography was popular on the West Coast. Quite a number of the photography booths were showing their work on plexi-glass. Very intriguing idea. While there I chatted with someone from ArtCapitol. Just this morning I sent her an email with my website, and if you can imagine, she said responded within the hour!! Time will tell as I always say. I bought a print from this artist:

I saw the high price of gasoline in Beverly Hills:

Yikes! Carol picked me up, and following a stop at her home, we headed towards downtown. We only had a few hours left so we didn't see too much, but she did stop long enough for me to photograph the Disney Concert Hall.

Actually she dropped me off on the corner and went around the block, so not much of shot, but when I go back to this blog years from now I'll remember I saw it. And so did you! Probably the best thing we saw in downtown was a place called The Last Bookstore. Remarkable not only for the sheer volume of books, but how artfully they were presented. It's hard to describe how they used books as art, along with some mannequins.

On the top floor they even had a large area where the books were shelved by the book jackets colors:

By now you are probably on photo overload, so I won't show you any others-- red and blue jackets seem to be the most popular.

Dinner at her house followed by our ride to the Marriott at the airport. Flight in the morning, and this time I found out what it is like to sit in a middle seat in coach. Not nearly as fun.

Finally, while we were there Carol told us that most all of her neighbors are suing one another for noise infractions. I'm pretty sure I told you Bruce was facing similar problems from a tenant in the building where his Santa Monica job is located. It must be quite the issue in LA because I photographed this sign on the side of the Roxy nightclub. 

Well, there you go. Timing is indeed everything, and I did not have any more in Southern California, and aren't you glad, because otherwise I'd post even more photos!!

Back to everyday life on my next post!!!