In slightly over an hour

On Friday, after a couple years of intentions, me and my friend T went to the Butterfly Pavilion at the Natural History Museum. (You may remember the NHM from this post.) Yearly in the summer they set up a greenhouse where you can see and learn about butterflies. From egg to chrysalis to fluttering beautiful creatures.

Each visit is timed to a quick 30 minutes and we had to kill time before our 12:30 appointment.  That side, the museum side, of the USC campus has a lot to offer. The NHM, the USC Rose Garden, the California Science Center and the former Olympic Stadium and swimming pools.  Very fitting for the opening day of the London Olympics. The next 3 posts will be photo essays of our time killing time and our time with the butterflies. Remember that all of these photos were taken in just over an hour.

The Fabulous Biltmore

It is hard sometimes to admit that you are bad at things. I do really like photography and do think I do a fairly good job at taking some artistic looking photos. One thing I am truly bad at is taking indoor shots that have muted lighting. Most of these are washed out or look like I am taking photos of shadows in the dark. I am thinking about this as I scrapple together some photos for the tour I am going to talk about in these next paragraphs.

I really wanted to know more about the city I live in, its history, its architecture.  I did learn a bit from the (500) days of summer walking tour I took a couple years back. Several times they mentioned the LA Conservancy.  And I have heard that name mentioned a lot through friends and the Angel’s Walk kiosks all around the city. Two of those kiosks are very close to my house 1) The Brown Derby-which is now has a strip mall built around its cap.  I think that there is a Boiling Crab in its original space 2) the Ambassador Hotel which is now a K-12 high school. They still have the original doors to the Coconut Grove as part of their theater, I snuck in one day. Part of what the LA Conservancy does is preserve these places so that they do not get turned into strip malls or worse yet, torn down.

Last Sunday I went to the tour of the Biltmore Hotel, which was famous for many reasons. One for hosting the Oscars on and off in the 30s and 40s and for being the birthplace of the Academy Award idea by Louis B Mayer and the Oscar statue by a MGM production designer.  I was able to stand in the room where that idea was born, which was set dressed for a movie shoot.  Other reasons why you should remember this hotel was that it was John F. Kennedy’s headquarters for the Democratic National Convention and the last place the Black Dahlia was seen alive. They have a drink named after her in the hotel bar, it is black. We were there just a bit too early to try it, but maybe sometime.

We met outside the hotel, where the tour guide told us the history of the area, Pershing Square, the Hotel, much better public transportation. He told us about how the facades were designed to reflect California, Mexico, Spain and mythology with architecture similar to the Palazzos of Italy with Beaux Arts touches.  You can see some of those details in these photos.

We entered through the Rendezvous Court, which served as the old lobby, but now is a place where you can sit and have an elegant afternoon tea. I didn’t end up doing that, I felt too underdressed. Plus a bit spendy for me who cannot eat towers of scones with clotted cream.

We toured the ballrooms, bars, the galleria that they ended up having to take out all the seating because of the celebrity looky lous. We saw a secret passage used for get-aways during prohibition.

We learned about the interior designer Smeraldi who turned the ceilings into baroque works of art hiding, all types of flora fauna and zodiac signs. Some of his other work can be found in the Vatican and the White House.

We saw photos of old Hollywood enjoying the Biltmore. Big Bands, Dancing, Dining, Laughing. It helped me to see what the hotel was then, much of it now hidden under casino style loud carpeting.

Next I will be going on the Art Deco tour, at $10 a pop it is silly not to go on them.

what I have been up to-EXPLORING!

I have a few posts cooking in my head. I have been doing a lot of exploring and would like to share some of that with you. Until then I do want to let you know that I have a new email address. Blogger made me get a gmail account. So my new email address is:

eyemheer2@gmail.com

Next up will be exploring Koreatown, I don't think I ever posted about my trip to the Eames House, I just did a LA Conservancy tour of the the Biltmore Hotel and I don't think I ever got around to posting my experience at Integratron.

Until then, stay cool.

fotos de Mexico

Courtyard of Casa de Gracia

Mexican Coffee

More Jumping

Facing the Pacific

We were on a horse riding beach

Where you can get the best fish taco on the face of the earth

The Ladies

Protecting chicks

Me contemplating the sea

Swimsuits I didn't wear

Surfing dolphins

Surfing dolphins

The time I went to Mexico

One of the things I like about living in Los Angeles is how easy it is to get every/any-where else. During the space of this blog I have been to Zion, San Francisco twice, Hearst Castle, out to the desert, but I have never been further south than San Diego. It was time for that to change. How could I be so close to Mexico and have never gone?

In April a group of friends and I packed into a passenger van and headed down Mexico way to celebrate a friends birthday. We drove down the 405, traffic blissfully non-existent for a Friday. Our last stop in the US was the surf themed Pizza Port in Carlsbad for pizza and beer. (They have an okay gluten free pizza, but are a little afraid to cook it)

Then it was through San Diego and National City and then on to colorful Tiajuana which is filled with graffiti style murals, drove too quickly to snap any of them, and smells a bit like sulfur.  Shacks hang on to sides of hills. It is a striking change from just 20 minutes north. From there it was through Rosarito and Primo Tapia further south to the house on the ocean that we rented for the weekend.

When I say on the ocean, I really mean it. A small strip of sand separated the house from the Pacific and when I sat on the couch, all I could see is ocean it was like the house was an island in the middle of it. (Just kidding, that is not the house) We passed this house every time we drove into town and wondered how it was holding on. (I'll post pictures of the house in my next post of photos, but this was just funny....

An hour into our stay we were greeted by a pod of dolphins escorting a whale north, I was henceforth called the whale whisperer for my ability to look out into the gray ocean and find animals in it. We say whales just about every day. I even snapped some pictures of body surfing dolphins which will also be in my next post.

There are two Rosaritos in Mexico the one where it was supposed to be 90 degrees the entire weekend, the other 60 degrees. I chose the wrong, optimistic Rosarito. I packed sundresses, a swimsuit for every day. What helped was my ability to set a fire in the fire place and my deciding on a whim to bring my fuzzy brown at work poncho.  We spent a lot of time around the fire playing games and singing into the night. When we were out we ate some of the best food I have ever had. The seafood was fresh, the vegetables were brighter, the margarita's were stronger. In Rosarito at La Estancia, where I have had one of the better steaks of my life, we were treated to a free drag race show.

The highlight of our trip was the two times we went into Primo Tapia and had the best fish taco I have ever eaten in my life and I still dream about. We talked about how easy it would be to drive there just for lunch.  The tortillas in Mexico are unlike anything you have had here, they are thick and a little chewy. Almost like a tortilla and Indian naan had a baby.

For a first trip to the drivable south it was pretty great. My next post will be a good selection of the  hundreds of photos I took of my time there. Including capturing surfing dolphins which is much harder than it looks.