Road Trip: Los Angeles

Just back this morning from a long weekend trip to Los Angeles, where I enjoyed catching up with friends and a couple of reunion events at the University of Southern California, where I went to grad school. I have four posts planned on the trip.


We have a number of activities going on with the cabin as well. Mary was out for the weekend, meeting with Uncle D, painting, and typical activities. She tells me the hawks have not left yet and are still vigorously flying around the property. I have an email from Cornell University on identifying Coopers Hawks from Sharp-shinned Hawks - I have been struggling with this and the email has left me more confused.


On to the LA visit...



I travelled with Bill - a neighbor here in Alexandria who also attended the USC IBEAR MBA program, although he was there a few years before me. We flew on Jet Blue, where with only two weeks notice we still got round trip fares of $350 (and exit rows seats outbound!). This first photo is of the Long Beach airport terminal. This is the second time I have flown out on Jet Blue and each time I see this terminal it reminds me of the National terminal here in DC.






After driving up the 405 to our hotel in Manhattan Beach we stepped out for lunch. A short drive down to the beach and we found this place, The Kettle, a 24-hour diner, and we grabbed a bite. While our schedule was hectic on Friday, we were back in the beach neighborhood for breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.






On the flight out, I read Wired magazine and found some information about an exhibition on John Lautner, an LA practicing architect with many contemporary residences to his credit. The show was at the Hammer Museum up in Westwood (in fact, it is a UCLA-run institution), so we took a quick drive up to check out the show.

Here's a bio excerpt from the exhibition catalog: John Lautner (1911-94), one of the most important and influential architects of the twentieth century, had a remarkable career spanning nearly six decades. Residing and working in Los Angeles during much of that time, his designs are known for their radical innovation with specific attention to materiality, space and a consciousness of the natural environment.

The homes offer an interesting perspective of contemporary LA in the 50's, 60's and 70's. They've been featured in a number of movies. Several of the homes are featured in the exhibit: http://www.hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/139/works_1.htm ...there is more at the Lautner foundation site:
http://www.johnlautner.org/wp/

And one of the homes was in one of my favorite LA movies (I have a growing collection of LA-themed movies, currently numbering 12) - The Big Lebowski. Here's a blog post on the exhibition that ties one of the houses in - in the film, it's where Jackie Treehorn resides - and although the story sets the house in Malibu, it's actually on a ridge overlooking the valley.
http://la.metblogs.com/2008/07/19/stay-out-of-the-sheatsgoldstein-residence-lebowski/