On the Town ... Nights in Los Angeles

Upstairs

at the

Ace Hotel

From looking at my blog, it might look like I'm out every night. Truth is, most nights I'm perfectly happy to go home after work, kick back and watch Netflix. (6 out of 7 nights?) Once I am home it would take a crane to get me out of the apartment.

But, here and there (usually if I'm planning ahead and bring a change of clothes to work, or if I am committed and/or have tickets to something) I get out and about, on the town. Remember, these are over the course of 4 months.

Here is a view from the bar at the top of the Ace Hotel back in January. I was more interested in taking pictures outside than the loud party music inside. Pretty sure it was a DJ but I can't remember. That tells you something! Love the view, especially of the Eastern Columbia Building.

And apparently on warm nights, people do get into the jacuzzi!

Here is another night, I made it out of the house!

The lovely folks I work for have this fabulous view in Echo Park. They had a lovely gathering and my boss made fabulous crawfish etouffee. (She's from Louisiana so it was authentic!) What a gorgeous night it was!

This was a cool, and different thing to do, in February. I rarely get to the events at the Instituto Italiano di Cultura because usually they are mid week, on the other side of town, and at 6:30pm. Not convenient. But, this one was on a Monday! (My private student day.) It was a birthday celebration for Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) with selected performances of his work.

The introduction was by Maestro Carlo Ponti, of the Los Angeles Virtuosi Orchestra. (And son of the elder Carlo Ponti and Sophia Loren.) And, just as an aside, this man was a total babe. Seriously, google him. And, yes I checked, he's married.

The recital had pieces from Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Barber of Seville) and  Les Soirées Musicales. 

 Pianist Brian Pezzone, Soprano Elisabetta Russo, Baritone Roberto Perlaz Gomez ...

Look, someone was recording at the event!

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a video of her doing Una voce poco fa, but here's Maria Callas doing it. Go big, right?

The IIC is in Westwood, so we walked around the corner to 800 Degrees for pizza and del vino rosso after the show, to continue with the evening's Italian theme. The pizza with truffle cheese was very tasty!

The Rain Room

So, the "Rain Room" was apparently very popular in NYC at MOMA, so I wanted to check it out when it came to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I waited a bit too long though, and unless you were a member it was impossible to get tickets, so I figured it was time to finally renew.

My parents were already members, so we all got tickets for an evening in March, and our reservation was for a Tuesday night at 8:45pm! So we met at the museum and ate at Ray's, the restaurant there before heading in. The food was great, but the portions are small by U.S. standards.

from thewebsite:

"Random International’s Rain Room (2012) is an immersive environment of perpetually falling water that pauses wherever a human body is detected. The installation offers visitors an opportunity to experience what is seemingly impossible: the ability to control rain. Rain Room presents a respite from everyday life and an opportunity for sensory reflection within a responsive relationship.

Founded in 2005, Random International is a collaborative studio for experimental practice. They use science and technology to create experiences that aim to question and challenge the human experience within a machine-led world, engaging viewers through explorations of behavior and natural phenomena. In the decade following the studio's inception, the focus of Random International’s artistic practice has continuously evolved and today encompasses sculpture, performance, and installation on an architectural scale."

Mom and dad in the rain room ... a very fun place to photograph, as it turns out and you have about 15 minutes in there.

It is light sensitive, so if you are in light clothes and being hit by the light, you don't get wet as walk through ... slowly. At least that's the idea. Apparently, little kids get soaked because they are too quick for the sensors! (Raincoats are recommended for little ones.)

My dad took this of me ...

My parents ...

My dad took this one of me, as well. We actually took a lot of pictures! After Prince died they made it purple in his honor.  Love that.

"Rain Room will close as previously announced on Sunday, April 24, 2016. Following conservation efforts, it will reopen on Thursday, May 19, for a limited engagement. While that block of tickets is sold out, we will release blocks of tickets for additional future dates.

Rain Room is a specially ticketed, timed-entry experience. Advance tickets are required. Tickets are not refundable or transferable."

Leaving the museum ...  looking through "Smoke," the huge sculpture by Tony Smith and painting by Alex Israel, called "Sky Backdrop."

And just last week ...

Rooftop Film Club

The Montalban 

I'm sure I must have mentioned my love for the Italian film Cinema Paradiso (1988). I know I talked about Ennio Morricone doing the score, before the Oscars, because he hadn't won yet. Well, Cinema Paradiso was either my first or second foreign language film. It was that or Camille Claudel (1988), with Isabelle Adjani. (Another great film.)

Anyway, I saw it in Santa Barbara when it came out in the late 80s with my sister and my friend Erin. I loved it then, but loved it even more after seeing it the second time, catching it late at night on cable in the early 90s after I'd moved to L.A. Somehow as the years go on it becomes even more poignant and moving. (It's also been a litmus test for boyfriends.)

When I saw the list of movie tickets being released for spring at the Rooftop Film Club, I immediately got on the horn to see if anyone wanted to join me! My friend Lauren who was with me for the Rossini event as well as the Ace Hotel, was up for this as well! AND, it was very exciting because she'd never seen it!

Previews! Breakfast at Tiffany's is coming!  Also, Grease, Clueless, and a bunch of others. You have to be on the Time Out L.A.  email list, because tickets sell out way ahead and fast.  You might have seen my Halloween post about seeing Beetlejuice there. 

Apparently, this group has screenings in New York and London but I know there are so many various groups doing outdoor screenings now, so you might want to Google them in your area! Cinespia is another one in L.A. that does outdoor screenings, but at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. (I saw Barbarella and Dr. Strangelove there.)

But the movie I came to see ...

My ALL TIME FAVORITE MOVIE ...

Cinema Paradiso

The score is so beautiful, I remember listening to it on my iPod, coming into Assisi for the first time on the train, standing at the window, wind hitting my face. Perhaps for that reason, and all the times I have seen the movie over the years, as soon as the music started at the beginning of the film I started getting weepy, and pretty much cried through 80 percent of the movie. It was awesome.

This is the trailer ...

If you have never seen it, you MUST. But warning, do not watch the "new version" or "director's cut" ... watch the original theatrical release! 

Links

Upstairs at the Ace Hotel
IIC Instituto Italiano di Cultura 
800 Degrees
LACMA - Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Rooftop Film Club
Cinespia

The Lodge, LACMA and Long Beach ~ Running around L.A.

Don't brood. 

Get on with living and loving.

You don't have forever.

~Leo Buscaglia

Sometimes when things get rough, you want to crawl in bed and just stay there. Other times, you can't sit still. (Don't worry, my health is fine. It's another kettle of fish.) Right now, I'm having "big bursts of busy" and saying yes to every idea and invitation. 

My friend Lisa called a couple of weeks ago, and was going to be in town from San Diego. She asked if I'd like to have dinner. "Yes!" I said. Then she proposed going to an art gallery opening at a place I'd never been, over on Western. "Really? On Western?"  

Yep. The Lodge is on Western in an unexpected place, not known for being an artsy area. It's not the exactly the hood or anything, but it's also not exactly in an "artsy hip" area (like Silver Lake) or an "artsy swanky" spot like La Cienega or Beverly Hills. 

Anyway, I threw my hair in a pony tail, put on some red lipstick, and out the door we went. 

The LODGE

The Mini Show

Conceived by Clare Crespo

3rd-24th October 2015

Lisa had heard about this gallery opening, on the radio, on the drive up to L.A.. Though the picture above looks like a regular gallery window ... it's actually a tiny "mini" gallery, inside the actual big gallery.

Below, I'm looking down into the Mini Show. A wooden scale model of the actual ...  gallery!

This, below, gives you a better idea of the scale!

I liked that. Seeing things differently, even when small ... broaden your mind and can help you think ... bigger!

Little magnifying glasses available to look at the art!

My favorite piece in the show was the tiny protest installation below, by Miranda July ... "Close Tiny Guantanamo" "Tiny love is Tiny love" "We are the tiny 1%"

My fabulous friend and kindred spirit Lisa, I've known since we were 5. 

The reception in the courtyard was hopping! Not sure what's up with the little addresses in the courtyard? Trying to find out! Someone said something about art studio spaces? 

It was the first weekend of October ... and you can tell by the sandals, still sweltering. No, not Death Valley sweltering, but L.A. sweltering. 

I love the "1/8" on the address and Lisa in the reflection.

Sometimes it's just patterns that interest me. 

This was on a building a couple of doors over.

That night we walked with our friend Shea to a yummy Pizza place on La Brea, then Sunday I was busy going to the Farmers' Market and teaching a private student.

I'm also watching the new Masterpiece Theater show Indian Summers on PBS. Are any of you watching it? I think you can get caught up online. Episode 4 just aired Sunday!



That following Monday, my friend Shannon was going to be in LA with her kids' school tour of LACMA. Would I like to meet them over there? Sure! Why not!?

Here they are looking at a mummy that was discovered not long ago, by DNA, to be a young female.

Coffin Base
Egypt, likely Thebes, mid-21st Dynasty
c. 1000-968 BC

My mood. (below)

Ancestor Figure

Papua New Guinea, East Sepik 

c. 1950

 

My favorite painting at LACMA, below. Last time I was there, there was no light on it. If the museum hadn't been closing I would have found someone to talk to about that! This time, the light was on and all was right in Kandinsky world.

Wassily Kandinsky

Untitled Improvisation III, 1914

I also saw the new New Objectivity: Modern German Art in the Weimar Republic, 1919-1933 show that's up but that is a whole other post!

After LACMA I drove to Long Beach for dinner and Dancing With the Stars, with my aunt and uncle. They also wanted me to see the great old building where my uncle has an office now.

The Breakers

Long Beach

Opened in 1926

The building has a fascinating history. It was built as a swanky luxury hotel, in the Spanish Renaissance style ...

This video from youtube is of Long Beach historical buildings "then and now" with The Breakers at 2:08 on the video.

And a groovy art deco bar and restaurant with a view upstairs! Back in the day, it hosted stars like Cary Grant and Clark Gable! The penthouse had been converted to The Sky Room, was when it was owned by Conrad Hilton.

The Sky Room

Apparently, Elizabeth Taylor and Nicky Hilton honeymooned here!

The Empire Grand Ballroom

Up until recently, much of it had become a senior living facility. (Which was in the first video.) Now, most of the seniors have moved out and there is another metamorphosis going on at The Breakers! 

Here is a slideshow from youtube with some very old photos from the Long Beach area.

This is a few nights later, on Hillhurst after work ... 

Who doesn't like a little cold unfiltered sake on a hot day?

For more on the Mini Show, on The LODGE website, click here

For the New York Times article about the Mini show, click here.

Still staying busy and much more to post! Hope you are all doing well!

Blessings and Light

To me, 

if life boils down to one thing,

it's movement.

To live is to keep moving.

~Jerry Seinfeld

Museum Color and Light ~ LACMA

Never lose the first impression which has moved you.

~Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

(painter, France 1796-1875)

After my visit to the Frank Gehry exhibition, I headed into the Ahmanson Building to get inspired by some masters in the permanent collection.

The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame, c. 1638-40

Oil on canvas

Georges de La Tour (France)

This Magdalen above, you may recognize, as it is a pretty famous piece. In fact, it was in my art history book! You can see the influence Caravaggio had on other painters. (They are called the Caravaggisti) This painting was a gift to LACMA from the Ahmanson Foundation. It's one of the highlights of the collection and one of my favorites!

Seine and Old Bridge at Limay, 1872
oil on canvas
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Corot is my friend Rachel's favorite artist. In fact, I texted this to her after my visit! There is something kind of magical about so much of his work. Even when the palette is dark and subdued, there are these little bits of light or sparkle that give it a mystical or dreamy feel. (At least to me!) 

Here's a piece at the Getty, with commentary.

Here's a lovely slideshow of his work with beautiful music!

Beauty in art is truth bathed in an impression received from nature.

I am struck upon seeing a certain place.

While I strive for conscientious imitation,

I yet never lose the emotion that has taken hold of me.

~Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

This Angel Raphael, below, is another of my favorite pieces, in the museum!

Archangel Raphael

Italy (Naples), c. 1600

Polychromed and gilded wood

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, c. 1615
oil on canvas
Bernardo Strozzi (active Genoa and Venice, Italy)

The piece above of St. Catherine, was a recovered Nazi-looted painting, valued at 3 million. It's a promised gift of the owner's direct descendant, Philippa Calnan, to whom it was willed and returned. 

It turns out she is a retired public affairs director who worked at LACMA! Many times, a piece is willed to many family members who have to sell, often to pay for all the legal trouble in getting the stolen pieces returned to the family. 

I work on all parts of my painting at once,

improving it very gently

until I find that the effect is complete.

~Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Basket of Peaches, with Plums and Quinces, after 1641 (detail)

oil on canvas

Louise Moillon (France)

Art is nature as seen through temperament.

~Camille Corot

Broad building at LACMA

Jesús Soto's Penetrable 
This piece (the yellow "strings") is very interactive and you can usually see kids playing in it. Right now the platform is being repaired, to the frustration of the under 10 patrons.

Window from the gift shop!

Colorful giftsop rings and things!

Sleeping woman with Boy, 1926

Painted wood

Hermann A. Scherer 

The Locks at Dolo, c. 1735
Etching
Antonio Canal (called Canaletto)

Portrait of Marten Looten, 1632
Oil on wood
Rembrandt van Rijn (Northern Netherlands)
(even when there are other Dutch Masters in the room ... you can always tell a Rembrandt!)

The most important things in a painting are 

Form and Value.

Color comes last - 

like a friend you welcome. 

~Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Abraham and the Three Angels, c. 1750 (detail)

Pen and brown ink and wash over black chalk

with white heightening

Francesco Fontebasso

A Fallen Angel, c. 1952
Red and white chalk over black chalk
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Venice, Italy)

The Triumph of Alexander the Great, c. 1485 (detail)
Tempera and gilding on panel
Bernardo Rosselli, (Florence, Italy)

Reality is one part of art;

feeling completes it ... 

Before any site and any object,

abandon yourself to you first impression.

If you have really been touched, 

you will convey to others

the sincerity of your emotion.

~Jena-Baptiste Camille Corot

Hesiod Listening to the Inspirations of the Muse, c. 1890
oil on canvas
Edmond-François Aman-Jean (France)

The Hope Hygieia

Roman, 2nd-century copy, c. 130-161, 

after a Greek original of c. 360 BC

Marble

"Hygieia, goddess of health, is identified by her snake. She was the daughter of Asclepius, god of medicine (and mythical ancestor of Hippocrates), whose shrines apparently housed sacred serpents. Here Hygieia feeds one some milk."

outside the museum ...

For the LA Times article on the Bernardo Strozzi, Nazi looted painting, click here.

Hope you enjoyed the little art visit and that you are off to a lovely fall.

Blessings and light!