On Saturday night I picked Sam up from LAX. She had just spend two weeks in Hong Kong for work. Her reintroduction to Los Angeles was fitting as we went to Whole Foods for a bit to eat and then headed to Bergamot Station for a gallery opening.
The show was Conjoined II at the Copro and picked up so much steam over one sculpture that it was even referenced on sites that are about as far out from the new-brow movement as you could get. Like PerezHilton. Some of my hipper friends in Ohio were even posting the B&B sculpture photos on their facebook pages.
Because we didn’t leave LAX until about 8:30 we arrived at the Copro close to 10pm, which is much later than we normally would. We were punished for it by having to wade through a huge crowd (although it’s debatable whether this was due to our timing or the show simply being promoted more than a normal show).
As we rounded the corner through the smokescreen a band was just finishing up.
Inside the place was packed to capacity.
The mask below reminds me of something, not sure what.
On one wall, apparently not officially part of the show, was this huge piece by Dan Quintana.
Opposing it was this sculpture:
and in between was this piece, clearly by Chet Zar:
The main room was packed to the limit which made viewing the art a little tough.
In the “back room” (the smaller room) was the reason we really came to the show; Peter Gric‘s pieces. Peter’s work is very reminiscent of Beksinski and Giger, two of my favorite artists. The images below are lifted from the Copro’s site which contains all of his work from this show, these below are my favorites.
Back in the main room, in the very middle, Scott Musgrove had an interesting chrome sculpture. I was able to photograph the back, but unfortunately the place was too packed for me to ever get a clean shot of the front – so I’ve copied the Copro’s image below to show the front.
Maybe a month ago Sam and I planned to spend a Saturday in January hiking to a waterfall with Cindy. A little over a week ago Sam was informed she’d have to go to China for work for a few weeks. This waterfall turned out to be a decent one, so it’s a shame that Sam couldn’t come.
Sturtevant Falls is part of the Chantry Flats area of Angeles National Forest. The trail to the falls goes down a steep paved fire road to the bottom of the canyon. Once down at the bottom there are several trailheads to choose from, all meandering through the woods next to little streams. Sturtevant was a popular destination on Saturday as there was no parking in the main parking lot – we had to wedge ourselves into the walls of the mountain along the road and hike perhaps a quarter of a mile just to get up to the regular parking lot. The actual waterfall area was similarly jam packed with picture takers and picnickers. I never really was able to get a decent shot – it would have been a long wait.
I’ll post my photos below – but they are all eerily similar to the one’s on this site, which I recommend checking out as it even has a video.
This (above) is near where we parked.
Once hitting the bottom of the fire road most of the rest of the way is spent walking along the dirt trail next to the little creek (with several dams).
Cindy got a mountain bike recently and I told her Sam and I would go biking in Angeles National Forest if she can get any weekends off (Cindy has a job in the medical field that requires odd scheduling). I hope she finds a way to do it as I would love to mountain bike on these great trails…
Cool, right? ”Wish I got to play Rage songs when I was in band” I thought. Lucky kids, when I was in marching band we had to play Carlos Santana songs and Earth Wind and Fire… lame!
After a few seconds a wave of depression crept over me as I realized that a 20 year old Rage song is probably about as cool to these kids as the 20 year old Earth Wind and Fire songs were to me when I had to play them in marching band in 1994.
After three years away my mother convinced me it was time to visit the house I grew up in. On New Year’s Eve I sat through two sold out Southwest flights and ended up at the Columbus Ohio airport around 8pm EST. We drove through the night down lonely four lane divided highways to end up at my parents’ house around 10:30. My brother and his girlfriend had been waiting for us in her new Jeep outside the house. They gave up and passed us on the road moments before we arrived. They doubled back and we rang in the new year in the new addition to the old house. We didn’t have a tv or a radio on (thank god, because that Romney 2012 sign behind the ball would have been a crappy image to start the new year with!), but we knew our watches were correct when we heard gunshots go off somewhere in the cold dark hills behind the house. Apparently poor people of all colors like to live dangerously on New Year’s.
The next morning my brother and his girlfriend came back to take me on a road trip. Before leaving my mother cooked up a typical white-person’s brunch.
That’s blueberry muffins, bacon, scrambled eggs and a pancake with some sort of homemade strawberry sauce on top of a cream sauce of some kind.
Our destination on the road trip was the old strip mines. The first stop was the giant scooper bucket that used to scoop the coal. Just about everyone that grew up here has been to this thing and been photographed standing or sitting in it (Byron, I’m looking in your direction) – but, curiously, I’d never been. You know that opening scene in Avatar where they circle around a big “ugly” mining operation… That’s part of my cultural heritage, yay!
The weather gods couldn’t make up their mind whether they wanted to just be cold, overcast and windy or if they’d like to add rain into the equation. Luckily Emily drives a Jeep, so the muddy roads were no obstacle. Getting out at landmarks was curtailed somewhat though due to the inconsistent rain. A typical shot of the bleak frozen Ohio winter wilderness appears below:
At one point we stopped at a lookout above an area called “the wilds” which is apparently a wildlife sanctuary. We saw some deer grazing the field in front of us (too small to pick out in the photo below I’m sure).
Next, we stopped so I could use the restroom. Nearby we found a fire tower with a room at the very top. We started up the steps.
By this time the wind was moving fast again. Imagine el nino style winds, but with an ambient temperature of 18 degrees. This was not comfortable. About 3/4 of the way up my brother and I started to have reservations about completing the climb up the old swaying steel tower. Emily, however, has apparently no aversion to height or cold and lead us on.
At the top we discovered that the trap door to the little room had been sealed, so we wouldn’t get a high respite from the cold. We hastily but carefully descended back to the tundra below. Once on the ground Jon and Emily set about finding a geocache, something they are very passionate about, apparently. The cache was hidden in a tree not too deep into the woods near the fire tower. The tree below is not the actual tree, but an example of the woods we walked through.
Soon we were on our way back to Marietta to stop by my brother’s house on 2nd street to pick up his printer/copier/scanner. One of my missions on this trip was to scan all the old photos in storage of my elementary school and high school days. In the process I found many interesting things and helped my parents get rid of some old junk (who needs stacks of old Omni, Car & Driver and Guitar Player magazines?). I found a huge box with all the jewel cases to every compact disc I ever owned. For some reason I felt an especially guilty/sad pang when I put the box in the trash pile. I seem to have inherited my father’s tendency to keep things forever whether they’re important or not.
I didn’t just find old photos, though, I found a huge cache of old drawings, my old comic books, every note that was ever passed to me in high school, toys, comic books, grade cards and more. Through much of this there was a consistently reappearing thread: Aliens! I can’t think of a single person who is more excited than I am about this summer’s release of Prometheus, the prequel to Alien. I have been following this project for many years, ever since Scott dropped hints in interviews that he’d “like” to “someday” revisit “that universe” of his original sci-fi blockbuster. A little over a week before my trip, the first teaser trailer for Prometheus debuted to much fanfare on the web:
My first memory of the Aliens franchise was when Jim Cameron’s Aliens premiered on CBS in 1989 and I watched it in the living room; being only eight years old I was both fascinated and horrified. In the years that followed I would keep a trained eye out for rebroadcasts and managed to record the film once it began regular Sunday outings on Fox. When Fox began gearing up for David Fincher’s directorial debut on Alien 3 (as well as the afterglow of success from Predator) there was an explosion of merchandising for the franchise. Suddenly there were many Dark Horse comic books, a full line of toys and detailed model kits. I wanted it all, and I had most all of it too. Many of my toys and models didn’t survive the twenty year journey to January 2012, but I assembled the ones I found in the photo below:
When I found the toys I asked my mother if she knew what they were. She wasn’t sure. I explained they were based on Alien from 1979, to which she exclaimed “oh, I never watched those movies, I just know you were crazy about that stuff and couldn’t get enough.” She was right. My early development as an artist was fueled by two things; comic books and Aliens. Every other drawing in my childhood portfolio after 1989 was an Alien. I learned how to draw human hands by studying the hands of the Alien (it’s essentially the same, but with fused digits and an extra thumb). I learned how to draw human teeth by drawing the teeth of the Alien. I was sixteen when Alien Resurrection was released (November 1997) and I remember convincing my father to take me to the R rated movie.
I just wrote a lot of fluff about my preoccupation with Aliens, but this serves to educate anyone who may doubt my sincerity of (or my reason for) anticipation for Prometheus – or my concern about what may be disappointments to come (like how the Space Jockeys might be giant blue men based on a still from the trailer).
After retrieving all the old photos and packing the toys/drawings/etc. back up I went upstairs for some pictures of the Christmas tree in the (unfinished) new addition to the house before beginning the long process of scanning.
The next day my grandfather and my aunt came to visit and watch the Gator Bowl with us.
Outside visibility dropped as a blizzard set in. Things didn’t get much better on the football field.
The next day I ventured outside in the bitter cold (note, it’s not that bad if the wind DOESN’T blow…but of course the wind was always blowing) to take some photos. Below you can see the unfinished deck on the addition to the house where the old garage used to be.
Below is a photo of the little pond that used to exist in a hole in the back yard. When I was little my father dug a giant crater out of the side of the hill. Supposedly this was eventually to house a wine cellar or something, but all that ever materialized was this little pond that used to be a great place for little boys to catch frogs in the summer.
Not too far from the pond now it appears my father’s old Honda has found its final resting place. Throughout my childhood this bike was kept at the back of the garage. I was told my father decided not to ride it after my mother became pregnant – but would start it up again when the kids left for college. Apparently the interest in whipping around country roads on two wheels had faded by then, and the bike would sit another ten years before begin trotted out to the back yard when construction began on the house. Three years ago, when I’d last visited, the original house was intact. From the growth of ivy through the engine I’d guess the bike left the old house not long after I last did.
I always think my old neighborhood has something of a “shire” quality to it with the rolling hills and little houses dotting the fields here and there. A bit harder to imagine in the winter though when everything is covered in white.
Back inside the house I found my father in my old room, which, I imagine, is where he spends a large part of the day during the winter. It looks far more comfortable than my computer work station, that’s for sure.
Looking down the old hallway and through to the new addition to the house is a strange experience, a bit like looking into a mirror.
The old living room is in a state of flux. My mother informed me that the next time I’m home the window will likely be replaced with something else and the door might be in a different spot.
For lunch on January 3rd my mother made an old childhood favorite: veal parmigiana
Around 3pm my father and I drove into Marietta to pick up my uncle Rick. Rick used to be very active, jogging around our town every day even into his 70s. At 84, now, he’s a bit more limited and has not only given up jogging, but driving as well. I’d probably been informed before, but I was unaware until a few days ago that he had served in the Korean War and has shrapnel in his knee. In spite of all this he remains kind and upbeat with a laugh you can hear a mile away.
A bit later my uncle Ray and his friend Dee arrived in his new turbocharged black Kia Optima. Before long it was time to eat mom’s BBQ pork and mac & cheese (and some other vegetable based dishes which I obviously ignored). The only room in the entire house that is nearly complete is the kitchen. Somewhat to my surprise, my mother’s design sense is entirely modern and the kitchen looks like anything you might see on an episode of MTV Cribs, with a huge granite island, 6-burner stove with built in gas grill, recessed lighting, LED track lighting, brushed aluminum fridge, etc.
On my last full day in Ohio I drove to Athens and visited my old friend Cliff, his wife and their new baby. I didn’t get any photos of this adventure, but decided to stop and photograph two of the chemical plants near my parents’ house.
The EPA is a hot button topic in Marietta these days. There are unsubstantiated rumors that there will be black-outs when the AEP power plant closes down. This area has one of the worst air quality ratings in the nation, but since the particulates aren’t brown (like in Los Angeles), the simple folk assume the massive chemical plants have nothing to do with the high cancer rates. I don’t often get political on this blog any more, but it makes me sad to think that so many of my relatives may suffer from pollution they were bamboozled into supporting with “pro-jobs” or “end the EPA” “conservative” politicians. I heard someone on my visit even say “Obama hates us,” as if the President has any idea Marietta Ohio even exists.
The photo below is a massive (although largely hidden in this photo because I didn’t want to have a swarm of security guards come after me) Energizer Battery factory. This facility is minutes from the house I lived in for 18 years and the elementary school I attended for 9. People used to take a peculiar point of pride in the fact that our little town might be on the top of some rogue nations’ nuclear hit lists because we provide so much electric power (and chemicals – Dow is located here) to the eastern US. I always used to think this was an ironic point of view, since by NOT getting bombed we’re simply slowly poisoning ourselves anyway with the pollution being pumped/dumped/drained out on a daily basis.
When I got home my father’s famous (in our extended family, apparently) roast beef (and mom’s green bean casserole) was waiting for me.
The next day my mother made sausage patty sandwiches for breakfast, much like on many Sundays from my childhood. We then left for Columbus, meeting two of my aunts for lunch before I was on my way back to sunshine and opportunity.
This Christmas found me sick with a chest cold. As a result, Sam and I spent most of the three day weekend skipping other obligations and watching movies. In short:
Conan: bad (unless you like blood gushing from smashed heads like stewed tomatoes )
Midnight in Paris: bad (if only for the hard-to-take-seriously Owen Wilson)
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Good, but disturbing (to be expected from a Fincher film). Also – not having read the millennium trilogy, I’m confused as to what happened to the REAL Anita (did I miss something?)…
Mission Impossible: impossibly silly; mildly entertaining; you’ve seen every frame of the Burj stunts in the trailers; Cruise is aging too much for the role and you expect him to peel off his face in the middle of every close-up to reveal a less hang-dog version of himself..but, despite Simon Pegg’s verbal want for it, this never happens.
Pirates of the Caribbean 3: impossibly silly on purpose.
On Christmas day Sam spent hours in the kitchen making a lamb stew. I think she was trying to compete with Shamshiri’s version, but it was really no contest. Shamshiri’s lamb dish, while good, is just lamb and oil. Sam’s was packed with tomatoes, spices, etc.
The final presentation with cherry rice:
The Sunday after Christmas Sam made this concoction of berries, ice cream and graham crackers for breakfast.
On the weekend before thanksgiving Sam and I went to Costco to pick out a wine to bring to our friends’ house on Thanksgiving. Sam decided to get an extra bottle of Moscato to drink with our dinner of crab legs and lobster bisque. We like the wine and ended up finishing the bottle while watching Awakenings. That was all that was available on Hulu and Sam had never seen it before… don’t judge!
On Thanksgiving day we headed to the auto show. I’d been to the Columbus Auto Show in 2004 and the LA Auto Show in 2008. I think I went to the auto show shortly after moving to Los Angeles as well, but I don’t remember when. This show was probably the best. Not necessarily because the cars were any better but because I went with Sam, who was looking at new cars to replace her lease-ending Accord. We stopped at the Lexus area pretty early on.
The BMW booth was nearby and featured two concept cars that are being used for the upcoming Mission Impossible #46,000 film; apparently they’re electric powered.
The new M3 looks not that different from the old, but I really liked the matte teal color.
Later, at the Toyota booth we hoped to see the new “little prius” that looks really cool in the tv spots. In the tv spots it is a gray version of this:
I’ll post the commercial below and you can skip ahead to 36 and 45 seconds in to see the “c” car:
At the Toyota booth we thought we’d find the final production model. When we looked for it we were presented with this (excuse my language, but I believe it’s necessary to emphasize the mammoth wave of disappointment we felt) boring piece of shit:
I’m sorry, kicking a Yaris in a few spots and dropping in a battery is not what I consider a “cool” looking car. Why bother making a cool concept and then using the Yaris…why not just offer a hybrid Yaris? We actually couldn’t believe this was the same model from the commercials (I didn’t remember it was called the “C” at the time) and so we climbed up the stairs to a sort of “bridge” area that Toyota had thinking it might be hidden up there. There was nothing substantial (no cars) up there, but I did take a shot of the hall. You can only see a small section of the hall due to the hanging banners and floor to ceiling booths.
The only thing notable at the GM area was this hot wheels looking Camaro:
I had hoped that the LA Auto Show would feature the unveiling of the US version of the FT-86 Toyota production model. Unfortunately all they had was the Scion concept, which has been up on the web for a while now.
The car looks nice and is competing in a small market consisting of really only the Hyundai Genesis coupe and nothing else. I may save up and get a second generation one in a few years if the interior is as nice as the exterior. Unfortunately, over the long weekend some official photos and specs leaked out for the Japanese version of this car – the real deal Toyota GT86; and the interior is as plain looking as the spy shots seen last month. The exterior is better than anything else in it’s price range though:
but I couldn’t look at this interior every day and be satisfied. It looks like a 1998 Mazda Miata:
Boooooooring! I was hoping they’d stick closer to the awesome concept interior:
They didn’t even keep the flat bottom steering wheel… how hard would that have been? Oh well… moving on we found the Jaguar CX-16 concept that actually looks really nice:
It looks pretty close to being production ready, hopefully not much changes.
We also saw a new electric Audi convertible called (this is a dumb reference to a movie already a year old) the “e-tron” that probably won’t ever see the light of day on a real road:
Below is a Cadillac concept based on the old 1967 El Dorado. Weird color choice, but I like it. My pictures here don’t show the VERY pointy back end – a clear homage to the 1967 car.
Back end of 1967 (a beautiful car if you ask me):
back end of concept:
Sam’s favorite car of the show was the Volvo “You” concept car. To me it looks like a melted 5 series (which isn’t necessarily an insult) on the outside, but the inside is what was so great.
Later, in the skinny hall for luxury/super cars we came across the Doking.
Sam said it reminded her of some cute anime character’s car. There were two people sitting in the car, which made us think that we’d get to sit in it as there was apparently a line (see the right of the photo above), but it turned out the characters in the car were hired models.
Elsewhere in the supercar hall was my favorite, the Aston Martins. Apparently the AM crew is so snooty they figured nobody needed to show up on Thanksgiving or even turn on their displays.
On the other end of the supercar hall we came across a Nintendo booth promoting the new Mario Kart release on the Nintendo DS. I had erroneously assumed I could actually sit in the life-size working Karts on display. When we went to the booth we were informed that we could not sit in them. The booth had many stations where attendees could play a 4 person pick-up game of Kart on a DS. We played two or three matches and then Sam got tired of it. I guess she didn’t spend her entire college career playing Mario Kart 64 like I did (and many many years playing Super Mario Kart before that). I couldn’t decide if I liked the 3D on or off (there is a toggle switch on the new DS).
An aftermarket parts manufacturer had a booth along the wall connecting two of the halls and they covered it with succulents.
Next we came to the second large hall of the convention center. The first booth we visited was Lincoln.
Some of the new lincolns feature the “mylincoln touch” system. This system is unassuming when you see it, but when you touch it you’ll be impressed. It’s basically flat surfaces that react to your touch (with lights). The technical term is capacitive touch sensing. It’s a simple solution that has been in place (like the power button on my 2007 30″ dell computer monitor) for a long time, but never attempted in an automobile. It has a very classy feel. This combined with the cool dual-sided LCD driver’s information display in the new MKS was, in my opinion, the best actual production car interior (under $100,000). I was very surprised to find this in a lincoln. The touch display is available on two or three cars now, but the new LCD driver info display won’t be on one until about May of next year when the 2013 MKS hits dealers. I looked the car up online later and found it to have a surprising amount of cool tech gadgets and so on for what is essentially, let’s face it, an “old people” brand.
Mytouch center console (he’s not actually touching it, so it isn’t lighting up):
driver info area:
This video shows you what happens much better than the photos above show:
Kia had a cool sports car concept:
We liked the interior which was very similar to the Volvo concept but with lots of leather:
When we came to the Fiat area Sam (the fashion designer) was immediately drawn to the Gucci Edition Fiat 500.
This was unexpected as she hates the mini cooper, which looks virtually the same to me. It was explained to me that the Gucci looks much “cuter” (which I read as “feminine”). However, by the next day Sam’s affection for the little car had waned so much that we didn’t even include in our list of cars for her to test drive.
Porsche had rented out their own small hall (or large room) at the convention center. The exteriors are very pretty, but the interiors (like most of the luxury cars we saw hovering around six figure price tags) are pretty basic and the center console always looks like it’s ripped from a 2001 Chevy Malibu.
Remove the navigation screen and do you really see a $90,000 difference between the center stacks?
Even the great Porsche still uses black plastic buttons all in a row… boring boring boring.
But the outside….
Kentia Hall (downstairs) was filled with aftermarket products. Surprisingly this was the only place in the show were you could actually find a Lamborghini, Ferrari or Bugatti. I remember those brands being on the main floor in 2008 and I wonder why Lambo chose not to show off an Aventador in Los Angeles.
Dub had a bunch of stuff. It all looked dumb. Maybe they just forgot the “m” from the name and it’s supposed to be dumb?…
There was a cool rat-fink roadster:
We had ended up parking near the valet entrance and on our way out the first car in valet was this spotless old Lotus Esprit.
After leaving the show we went straight to Arcadia to join the Thanksgiving meal of a friend’s parents.
The next day Sam agreed to help me clean out my closet. The stack below is what came OUT. I didn’t realize it but I still had some of my “fat pants” from Columbus. I hope I never fit snugly in a 36 waist ever again.
And below is what stayed after Sam color-coordinated everything:
And if you’re curious… Sam ended up test driving a Lexus hybrid and a Hyundai Sonata and chose the Sonata. I’m insanely jealous of her back-up camera, keyless entry, rear-view mirror garage gate switches, etc. I think I can hold out a few more years before my next car though. Although… there is THIS problem from this morning:
100,000 miles on my Mazda. Yikes. The only really scary thing about that is realizing that means it’s been THAT LONG since I graduated from college (the first time) and came to California!
Sam has gotten into the habit of making a new dish every weekend for both of us to eat throughout the week for lunch and/or dinner. I certainly can’t complain about this culinary experiment as it has been filled wish spectacular results like the above beef stroganoff and the below lamb chops.
The above food photos have been in my camera for weeks, but I haven’t downloaded or updated in a while. I stopped exhibiting at the Hive when we went to Thailand and haven’t had the time to do it since. I’m still going to do paintings, but they’re going very slow. I decided to try to make my own 4′x2′ cradled panels (4 of them) and that took a few weeks to put together, sand, gesso, etc. Now I have a side project going that is also taking up a fair amount of time. More on that in January.
In the mean time Sam and I have been up to things, just nothing I have photos of. For example; three weeks ago Sam got VIP tickets to a fashion+art+music show at the House Of Blues. No photography allowed. We also went to Iris about a month ago, but, again, no photos allowed.
This weekend we finally got back into the swing of things where photography is allowed. On Friday night we went to an opening at Copro. This show was curated by martin wittfooth. The art was all very high quality and so was the food. That may not sound like a big deal, but from vast experience I can tell you that usually a gallery doesn’t have free food at an opening (but always a for-pay bar of some kind), and if they do it’s cheese cubes and crackers. For this one the Copro broke out the good stuff. Platter after platter came out of the back with all kinds of gourmet cheeses (goat cheese is always my favorite), grapes, strawberries, an assortment of chocolate/yogurt covered pretzels and chips.
Here are some of my favorite pieces. All can be found at Copro’s site.
In my head this next painting reminded me of Rimbaud’s painting at the Louvre.
But after looking it up I think it is more the darkness+water+white dress that reminded me as the pose is different.
The next afternoon we set out to find Rubio Canyon waterfall/s. The directions said the trailhead was in between two houses, and right they were. Here is Sam standing by the trailhead which literally goes back beside the garage of the white house on the right.
After you get past the houses the trail quickly starts winding along the side of the canyon. After a while we realized we’d missed a turn somewhere as we weren’t getting anywhere near any waterfalls but could hear water below.
We doubled back and headed down a lower path and came to a dried up creek bed.
We hiked over the rocks (all kinds of sparkly granite, etc.) until we came to the falls. These waterfalls were more like a trickle.
So we turned around and headed back down the dried up creek. Eventually we came to this ancient dam that burst open at some point, probably when the side of the hill on the other side caved in.
At the bottom we saw another trail going up the other side of the hill and followed it about halfway to the top before turning around.
In the photo we’re on the western side of the hill and you can see downtown Los Angeles off to the left. The photo below is zoomed in. Rubio Canyon is in Angeles National Forest in the San Gabriel Valley up above Altadena, which is itself above Pasadena, so to see downtown Los Angeles at all means visibility was quit good. Although it can’t be seen in the photos, in real life we could see the ocean, a good forty miles away. For the folks back home that’s a little like being able to see Athens from Marietta.
On Friday Sam and I drove to Venice for the Abbot Kinney Boulevard First Fridays “event.” Our plan was to walk around and find a cool place to eat dinner. Unfortunately there were many more food trucks than restaurants. In the photo below you can see the line for the Grilled Cheese truck (the orange truck) going around the corner and down the other street.
We kept walking. There were food trucks everywhere. We came upon AnnaBruce, the “smallest shop in LA.” That “shop” you see on the right is really just a little shack. You can almost see the back wall in the photo.
We passed by Brasa, which sells outdoor (I hope) “ventless flame.”
We walked all the way down to the corner of Abbot Kinney and Venice and saw Lemonade. Lemonade has a great selection of ten or so homemade lemonades, but their real specialty is their “sides” and braises (soup with meat). Below you can see the great selection of unique (and delicious) sides. My favorite was probably the side that mixes nectarines, cheese, rice and other things. There was also a crazy fried (?) watermelon salad thing. You can see that one in the shot below in the third slot from the left.
There were eight braises to choose from including chicken chili, beef stroganoff, jamaican jerk chicken, BBQ brisket, Miso Beef and three others I can’t remember. We had the miso and the stroganoff and both were great.
Walking back up the east side of Abbot-Kinney we came to the Very Venice art gallery, including the erotic art gallery in the back. The doorway to the erotic gallery was framed with unfurled condoms stretched off a fake fruit wreath. We could see the abstract penis paintings from the doorway, so we opted to skip that part.
Next, we came to the Juicy Leaf, a succulent and dead tree store. I have a thing for dead trees, moss, driftwood, etc. so this store was great. I’m hoping to introduce the artist from Branch of Life to the owner of the store, as their succulent selection was small and would greatly benefit from Kit’s designs.
In addition to driftwood they also had coral.
Throughout the store they had these cool trees that were dead and preserved somehow. Most of them had gray leaves, but some (in pictures later on) had green(ish) leaves.
It was hard to photograph anything because the store was narrow and there were always First Friday attendees coming and going.
Below is one of the dead trees with green leaves (and red bark).
They had some hanging “air” plants. The interesting thing about these is they all sort of looked like organisms trying to escape.
shot from the doorway:
Further up the street we saw this large painting. Many people were watching it being made…I have no idea why…
Further up the street we came across the Ron English show.
There were a few driveways converted into arts and crafts (mostly jewelry and clothing) markets.
I took a picture from far across the street of these two stilt walkers.
Sam wanted me to take a picture of this dress.
Below is a blurry view of the narrow sidewalks. It felt a little claustrophobic at times because of the fashionable low-hanging exteriors of several businesses coupled with the throngs of people and food trucks bracketing us in on the other side.
Most of the actual stores on the boulevard were closed. One can only assume that a store, like the one below, that sells delicate items would not want tons of hipsters bumping into things.
On Saturday night Sam and I made two trips to “Thai Town.” We first went to the Thai market in the valley (Sherman Way and Reseda intersection) to buy fresh fried fish, BBQ meat on a stick, sausage on a stick, mangosteen juice and guava juice. Later in the day we went to Thai Town east of Hollywood for dinner before heading down the street a few miles to the Beyond Eden art show at Barnsdall Park.
In the photo above of the entrance you can see two paintings in progress. I didn’t get the name of any of the artists, but the painting on the right was a collaboration.
Inside there was lots of good art (as always with this show) and a much larger amount of “pop-sculpture” (my term).
As always the crowds were big and featured many art-world-celebrities. We saw Audrey Kawasaki walking out as we walked in.
Around 8pm there was some sort of announcement about the success of a long-time artist on the scene. I wasn’t sure who he was, but I did recognize someone else in the crowd. The fellow in black in the middle of the photo with long white hair and black glasses is Ron English.
Some of the more memorable pieces from the large show are below:
There was also a good Amy Sol piece, but I can’t seem to find it online.
Looking north I tried to get some photos of the hollywood hills, but a big truck was in the way, I didn’t bring a tripod and there was nowhere to put the camera down. So the below shot is all you get.
Over on the west side things were a little better. Still nowhere to set the camera down though – so most shots were really blurry, and I didn’t even bother trying a longer exposure.
I knew my father had been to Thailand when he was in the Air Force. In fact, I knew he’d been to Bangkok and was stationed at Udorn before it was an “official” base. Bangkok seems to be an entirely different city now, except for the Grand Palace, which has remained exactly the same. Bangkok was a much smaller place in 1965, with none of the bright colors and “mixed” architecture of today. Although my dad has expressed interest in going back, I have a feeling he would recognize almost nothing in the new Bangkok. Despite this it turns out that on my trip I would end up standing in many of the same spots that he did in 1965. We even took Don Muang Airport to Phuket, which is apparently an airport that my father flew into or out of (or both) 46 years ago.
Don Muang in 1965:
Don Muang today (not my picture, but exactly what it looked like):
Don Muang today is actually an underused mostly empty airport. It felt like a ghost town when we were there. This is due to the opening a few years ago of a brand new international airport on the other side of town.
One thing that didn’t change at all is the Grand Palace, which has stood looking virtually identical for over two hundred years. Take a look for yourself:
even the trees are the same…
They’ve added a rope and removed the red carpet, but that’s about all that’s changed to this building.
I have a feeling if we visited the Udorn area things would be more as my father remembers. The closest we would go to Udorn would be a few hundred miles west in Lampang Province, but in the north there isn’t much development outside major cities (of which, I understand, there are few).
