Clifton’s Cafeteria looks so absolutely unremarkable from the outside that many probably don’t even give it a second look. But should the adventurous city traveler step through the door to be met by this arrangement, he or she might reconsider whether this is really your average cafeteria eating style place. Walking up the staircase, past [...]
This is a peek into some of the houses at the Heritage Square Museum I showed from the outside in the last post. A cosy corner. William Morris wallpaper, frieze and ceiling treatment; no proper Victorian house would have been complete without these imports from England. A chandelier with colorful detail work. This lamp might [...]
Once, on a flight to the US, I was so bored that I decided to watch a comedy on offer, “Legally Blonde.” About 10 minutes into the film I was giggling and enjoying myself hugely. Talk about East Coast / West Coast stereotypes and what a good script and a delightful main character can make [...]
For 31 years the Lotus Festival in Echo Park was one of the highlights of summer. Founded by an Asian community group, the festival took place at Echo Park Lake with its abundance of lotus flowers in bloom, providing two days of fun in the park, with dragon boat races, music, food stalls and entertainment [...]
For years I tried to find a motif embodying the City of Los Angeles for me. Finally I found it. “Dance Door” by Robert Graham The bronze sculpture, created by Graham in 1978, was donated to the Music Center in 1982 by Frederick and Marcia Weisman. For me this vista is Los Angeles at its [...]
Sometimes it is hard to give away the location of a place. One might reveal a secret to others who then come and take away what is so unique about this little hideaway. But with St Vincent Court I’ll make an exception. The history behind this tiny little court is just so utterly fascinating. This [...]
At the turn of the century (19th to 20th, that is) Bunker Hill in Downtown was what the English would call a “posh” area. It was not only a desirable living quarter, it also loomed above the lower parts of Downtown. The incline was (and is) short, but steep, which made people grumble just enough [...]
The former “Real” Downtown, today known as the Historic Core, starts at Hill street and stretches to the South. What was once (before WW II) the center of the city with company headquarters, banks, department stores, theaters, cinemas, apartment buildings, restaurants and bars, started to change in the ’50s. People packed up and moved to [...]
The layout of Downtown Los Angeles needs a word of explanation: the area is basically split into two – the “old” and the “new” one. The new part is the one with the banks, the museums, the courts, the Civic Center; it is polished and quite impressive. It is also quite empty after 8 PM [...]
What is going on? Rain? In June?????? What’s next? Unicorns? World Peace?
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