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Los Angeles, California
An ocean's garbled vomit on the shore, Los Angeles I'm yours
Even if work didn’t take me to Los Angeles as often as it does, I’m pretty sure I would find another reason and another reason and another reason to work my way out there again and again and again. Maybe that excuse would be to take photos of Coop Himmelb(l)au’s Central Los Angeles Area High School #9, complete with its unsafe, unoccupiable (but really cool looking) tower.
Maybe another reason I could use would be to use whatever camera I’m currently infatuated with and see if I can get a better picture of Rafael Moneo’s Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, which (for whatever wholly legitimate reason there is), I never really think photographs as well as it looks in person, despite how many times I try.
Maybe another reason is to go back to Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, which certainly photographs better than the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels down the street. I’ve seen the outside and even paid to see a concert inside, but I still haven’t bothered to take the guided building tour. That sure sounds like another reason to go back, one at least as good as the other somewhat weak ones I’ve used in the past.
Or maybe there’s a new exhibit or installation to see at LACMA, a mess of a museum (from a certain point of view) with some unmistakable bright spots, any one of which could justify another visit if I framed it just right.
And there’s always the Getty, which I had a love, hate, love, really love relationship with over the years. It’s always great to take pictures of, so maybe if I got a new camera it would be the perfect place to test it out. Or maybe there is some type of lecture or presentation there- even though I’ve been to the Getty a lot I’ve never seen a presentation in one of its theatres or eaten in its non cafeteria style restaurant, all borderline valid reasons for another visit out to Los Angeles.
And if one Getty isn’t enough, then maybe another Getty is. This is the Getty Villa in Malibu, where the Classical Art lives, and a Getty that I have not nearly spent as much time at as the one in Brentwood. That alone could justify another visit, or at least I can probably convince myself it will.
Or maybe I can use a reason of trying something new, like hiking in Griffith Park to the Observatory, or visiting the weird-ass Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City, or paying for the half day long VIP Tour at Warner Brothers Studio, or maybe just spending more time along the coast in Santa Monica. There are a lot of reasons I could come up with if I try.
So despite all those somewhat valid to totally sketchy reasons to visit Los Angeles yet again, the one that I actually used this year was to attend a concert at the Hollywood Bowl, specifically one featuring Sharon van Etten, Neko Case and the National. I could have seen them anywhere (and in fact I already saw The National play in New York on this very same tour), but I always wanted to see the venue and convinced myself that this was the perfect opportunity.
The concert was great, and the venue was great, but getting there and back was just as I thought and just as you probably expected it to be. I decided not to drive and instead walked up from my hotel, the W on Hollywood Boulevard right near the Hollywood & Vine Metro stop. I was concerned as to whether or not you could even walk there from Hollywood Boulevard, and spent a lot of time on Google Street View trying to see how dumb an idea it was to walk. To my surprise, a lot of other people had the same idea, and by the time I got to Highland, the sidewalks were packed. What I also noticed was that just about everyone else walking with me were lugging tricked out picnic baskets, which is a thing at the Hollywood Bowl. In fact Neko Case may have lost the local crowd when she talked between songs and admonished the crowd to put their gourmet food down and just enjoy the concert. Good advice as always from Neko.
