On Day Four we headed across town on the 101 to Silverlake to visit the Wacko “Soap Store” and De Jesus Gallery.    While parking outside the first meter stole our money.  We were amused (recall my recent blog about the new meme) by the flashing “FAIL” sign. (yes, I know this is on all meters that don’t have time on them)

Parking FAIL!

The store was deemed awesome by Byron, and I would have to agree.  It was basically everything campy you’d ever want plus books on every artist you ever saw in Juxtapoz and… more.  They had everything from books on individual modern Japanese photographers (they like to tie up their women for some reason) to A-Team lunchboxes to Lost action figures to lizard skulls to… well you get the idea. After wandering through the store for half an hour we finally came to the gallery at the back.  Below are some of the pieces I liked (this gallery reminded me of the type of work found at The Hive).

Danny Heller had three very beautifully painted exterior (Los Angeles) home shots.

Chris Peters had two of his 1 parts beautiful and 2 parts creepy skeleton paintings at the show.

This piece by Bonni Reid reminded me of Indian symbolism, the naturalism art of the early 20th century and good looking women.  I felt at $700 it was very undervalued compared to other pieces in the gallery.  I have to say after exploring her website that I’m not a big fan of her work, though.

I don’t know who did this.  I don’t like it, I just took a picture because of the Kewpie reference.  I suppose very few outside of Asia know to recognize a dual reference here… kewpie and.. kewpie!  My Filipina ex-girlfriend used to tell me that people were superstitious about kewpie and thought it made you grow taller or something.

and here we have the Menehune of Hawaii, in their cutest form.

I’ve seen this scary guy before, but I don’t know where…  (the guy on the left)

One of Andrew Verhoeckx’s amazingly detailed automotive engine pieces.

an Allison Reimold illustration.

An appropriately strange Adam Strange piece.

Another dark quirky Luke Berliner painting. I actually like some of the other pieces on his site a lot better.

After the gallery closed at 7pm we drove down the street to Silverlake to walk around.  Byron had mentioned earlier that he would like to eat Indian or Thai while in Los Angeles.  I actually don’t eat Indian or Thai that often and so had no idea where to take him.  But, as it so often happens, after walking down Sunset for a bit the good lord shined his light on the perfect spot:

No, not the whorehouse!  THIS place (next to the whorehouse):

TantraIndian Cuisine.  The interior was nice, and we were surprised that the entrees seemed low priced compared to the surroundings.  The food was delicious, albeit in small portions.

Interior shot.

Byron trying to look “Money” as Vince Vaughn would say.

Me trying to look “cents.”

A curious thing happened at Tantra and Silverlake.  As Bryon chatted with one of the waiters before we left I heard him say he was considering living in Seattle OR Los Angeles.  I think after walking the walk in Silverlake Byron was surprised at the growing artist communities and “cool spots” in Los Angeles… enough to actually consider living here one day instead of his “emerald city.”

From Silverlake we drove down to ChinaTown.  We didn’t walk there, just drove.  On the eastern outskirts as we were turning around I found a row of old beamers and had to take a picture.  Byron was overly worried that we’d get shot or something, but we’re still alive I’m happy to say.

After driving back down broadway and through the gate we proceeded to City Hall.  This time the door was open and people were leaving as we went in (about 8:45pm).  We asked them what the view was like and they said “beautiful.”  Inside we walked up to the security guard and were told to leave.  He explained to us that the observation deck was only open M-F 8am – 5pm.  We told him this was our second time here and he borrowed some of Obama’s gallows humour and started laughing.  He conveniently forgot that HE WAS THE SAME SECURITY GUARD ON SATURDAY THAT TOLD US TO COME BACK DURING THE WEEK!  Is the irony lost on anyone that someone who WORKS and pays the taxes to keep up city hall up and running isn’t allowed to visit it?  We incredulously asked who the hell those people were that just told us it was “beautiful” up there…  “oh, they’re a private party.”

Byron noted that he looked like a latin Jon Denver (or “Jaun Denvares”), complete with round lens glasses.  Having come up short yet again at city hall (I pay taxes here, so I’m confused why I keep getting told I can’t visit my own property) we rumbled down Wilshire, going through KoreaTown, Century City, Beverly Hills, Westwood and a bad tour of the UCLA campus area.  I almost ran a red light, that is how bad it was (or how bad my brain was/is).