This last Friday I headed in to Orange County to meet my dear friend Laura, and we then spent the day at the Getty museum in Los Angeles. (As opposed to the Getty museum in Malibu.) I didn't tell Laura this, but I had risen very late in the afternoon the day before. Since I had to leave the house at 4 AM to catch the train, I decided it would be easier on me to forgo sleep that night, maybe dozing on the train. In fact, sleep-wise, I did quite well that day, only dozing off in the car after we left the museum and then spent an hour or more in traffic. Truth to tell, I would have dozed off under those circumstances anyway. I find it very hard to stay awake in any car at nearly any time of the day.
At the train station I ran into an old casual friend named Patricia who used to give me rides home from the train station a couple nights a week when I was a regular rider. She lives just up the street from me, and I always appreciated her help. It was fun to catch up with her for a few minutes. I took a seat on the train next to the doors in the car most of my friends used to ride in. However, I didn't see anyone else to chat with. I'd told Laura I would be on the third train out of San Bernardino in the morning, but, in fact, I caught the second train. This was intentional on my part because I would rather spend the excess time in Orange than in San Bernardino. Because I had to catch two city buses to get to the train, it wasn't possible for me to delay my trip to the train station so I got to Orange 40 minutes early and waited. That time was probably the best spent time of the day... but I will cover the events of that 40 minutes in a future blog post. This post will be long enough without adding more.
Laura picked me up shortly after 7 AM, and we headed over to a new restaurant she had seen so we could get some breakfast. It's called the Pasta Connection, and it's located at 2145 W Chapman, in Orange, just off the 57 freeway. I had steak and eggs, and the steak was probably the best breakfast steak I've ever eaten. (I've eaten a lot, if you must know. I love steak and eggs for breakfast!) The steak was generous in size, tender, and very flavorful. The menu advertises that the beef is from Argentina, and I have to say that Argentina grows some mighty tasty cows.
We made a brief stop at a local mechanic so Laura could ask about their service since she is looking for a new mechanic. Then we made another brief stop at her place so she could grab her camera. After that, we were off. We took the 22 out to the 405. The Getty is just off the 405 in Los Angeles. However, while crossing Long Beach, Laura decided we should stop to visit her sister and niece at the coffee shop in which they work. I was all for that as I desperately needed more caffeine! The two women turned out not to be there, though, so we enjoyed a few minutes of relaxation and then drove over to Laura's sister's house. Her sister was in the shower so we played with the dog (Winston, a Staffordshire terrier) and then hit the road again.
No more stops along the way this time. About 30 minutes later and we were parking deep in the underground beneath the Getty. The good news is that the Getty does not charge admission to the museum, and you do not need reservations to go. But, it costs $15 to park, which is steep, but paying for parking is just one of the pleasure of visiting Los Angeles.
Upon surfacing from the parking structure, one then queues up to catch the tram that ferries visitors up and down the hill. The Getty sits on one of the tallest hills in Los Angeles and commands a spectacular view of the ocean to the south and the greater mass of Los Angeles to the east. On a clear day— no jokes, please!— the views are spectacular in most directions. (The westerly and northerly views are mostly of the local neighborhoods, like Bel Air.)
I'll apologize at this point for not updating the slideshow that formerly sat to the left of this column. I posted a few dozen pictures on Flickr with the intent of reconfiguring the slideshow to point to them; however, the widget that controls the slideshow no longer matches the current Flickr API and only searches Flickr for the appropriate pictures by using a keyword field that Flickr no longer supports. I searched the Blogger widgets for a new slideshow app, but the only one I saw didn't seem to work. On top of that, I discovered that hundreds of Blogger widgets have been removed, including the slideshow app that I was using. So, instead, I will direct you to look at the pics on Flickr manually: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9017488@N07/tags/gettygrounds2009/. Flickr posts the pictures in your photostream in the reverse order you upload them and I am too lazy to reorder them. So, if you start at the first picture on the page and go forward from there, you will be seeing the pictures opposite to the timeline in which Laura and I encountered them.
Before getting on the tram, Laura and I grabbed an elevator from the parking structure. We were the first ones in the elevator, and Laura very patiently waited for many other visitors to enter before pushing the button to go up. One elderly man seemed amazed that she had done so. After our tram ride, he hiked a set of steps next to us and thanked us profusely for holding the doors. He even went on to say that no one had ever done that for him before, which seemed ridiculous to us. (Even native Californians occasionally remember their manners.) After thanking us, he then asked us our names, and when we parted a minute later, he wished both myself and 'Beth' a nice day. I suspect his hearing may not have been up to snuff.
If you've never been to the Getty and you are living in southern California, then shame on you. This museum, the 'new' one, is an architectural delight. (The original Getty, in Malibu, is architecturally delightful as well, as it is modeled on a Roman villa.) The new museum, unlike the original, is very modern. It is cement and glass and water, inviting visitors to stroll about, taking their time to enjoy the showcased art as well as the grounds themselves.
We first went into a temporary exhibit displaying the marvels of ancient Algiers. There were several books on display as well as photographs, maps, and other artifacts from the city's history. It was an intriguing display if not all that deep. We wandered around for 20 minutes or so, looking at the various items. I would have been entertained more by a deeper treatment. All the same, it was interesting.
Next, at my insistence, we went into one of the painting exhibits. Paintings are definitely the big attraction for me, and I could spend all day just gazing at them for considerable lengths of time. As there were more and more people in attendance as the day progressed, it became more and more uncomfortable to linger for very long in front of any particular painting. The particular wing we chose had maybe 10 or 12 connected exhibit halls, each of which gathered paintings of a different period, style, or medium. I enjoyed paintings in each and every hall, looking forward the entire time to seeing the impressionists and to seeing the much earlier works of Pieter Breugel the Elder, a 16th century artist, and one of my favorites. Unfortunately, we didn't see any Breugels anywhere, but they may have been hiding in the other wing, which we did not get a chance to tour. We did so the impressionist collection, though, at it was amazing. For me personally, the highlight is Van Gogh's "Irises". That was the only Van Gogh we saw, but there
were many Cezannes, Monets, and others.
If I have any complaint about the modern Getty, it is that the paintings are displayed with several feet of blank wall between each of them. They are all displayed individually. In the the original Getty the paintings were displayed on crowded walls. This display choice may seem chaotic and confusing, but I enjoyed the sensation of being swaddled in great art. You could miss a particular painting among the crowd, but there was nowhere you could look without being impressed... unless you gave up and stared down at your shoes!
From the paintings we went down one level so that Laura could see the collection that attracted her: the decorative arts. This exhibit was hall after hall of furniture and porcelains and tapestries and such. While I found many of the individual items to be beautiful, the exhibit on the whole soon cloys me with its excess. On top of that, the entire time you walk through the exhibit you are surrounded by chairs and settees and beds and divans— none of which are you allowed to sit on! Just seeing them all produced a strong need in me to sit down. :-P
From the decorative arts, we went outside again and enjoyed a few minutes sitting under a large umbrella. We sat by several succulent gardens, and you'll see many pictures of them in my photostream. Personally, I love succulents. As I explained to Laura later, I think of them as Nature's fat and misshapen plants, the ones that force you to take them as they are, with no apologies.
With time running short at this point— we had to leave at 2 PM in order to ensure that we had time to get through traffic and get me back to the train on time— we then toured the outside gardens. This is where the bulk of my pictures come from. You'll see a beautiful hedge maze in a fountain in a few pictures. It's quite impressive.
As I said earlier, I nodded off in the car during our return trip. Traffic was heavy and our progress was slow. We had just enough time to stop at one of Laura's favorite Mexican restaurants for a late lunch before heading to the train station. The train home was much more crowded than it was on the ride in and consequently much less comfortable. I saw no one I knew and spent the time reading. Naturally, when it arrived I hustled over to the closest bus stop, arriving 30 seconds after the bus drove past. So, I had to spend at least 20 minutes waiting for the next bus. I then had to transfer buses downtown, and my connector was running late. I spent that 20 minutes listening to a very generic band playing to a crowd of a few hundred at the downtown San Bernardino bandstand. Finally, however, I caught the second bus and a few minutes later was walking the last leg home, shortly after 8 PM.
I was tired and hot from the day and ready to kick off my boots and relax. The day, however, was not done with me. Just as I turned onto my street and was crossing the channel that leads to the local reservoir, an unmarked sheriff's car pulled up alongside me and rolled down its window. The driving deputy asked me where I was headed, and I responded that I was heading home. He then asked me if my name was Cruz. I said 'No' and he asked me what my name was and if I had any identification on me. By this time, the deputy on the passenger side had opened up his door and gotten out. I crossed the street and handed him my drivers license. While the driving deputy ran my ID in the computer, this other deputy asked me a series of questions, including ones about whether or not I'd ever been arrested, etc. It was all very embarrassing, having to explain my stupidity of 4½ years ago. I could see that there deputies were from the anti-gang unit, a particular irony if you consider my ramblings in recent posts. It turns out I 'matched' someone they were looking for, but after looking at my record quickly, they let me go. The whole time I was confounded by the notion that I matched the description of someone named 'Cruz'. I am the whitest guy in my neighborhood. This lack of racial identifying training seems to be consistent with the sheriff's department, however. As many readers will recall, I was previously accused of being Chinese by them.
That was my day. I hope you enjoy the copy of Breugel's "The Tower of Babel" that I've included. Please feel free to stare at for a long time. I do. I find it to be entrancing.
Talk to you soon!
"The world today doesn't make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do?"— Pablo Picasso
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment