Explorations

Thorne is my intrepid traveler sidekick in our explorations of Los Angeles and environs. We've been having grand adventures together since she will now take a bottle delivering me from the hassle of trying to breastfeed her in public. She didn't like it and neither did I. So, once she was willing to feed from a bottle, our options for outings multiplied. We went to Reagan's Library a week ago Friday and she was treated like a celebrity by all the gray haired docents. After taking a tour of Air Force One, the docent saw Thorne and exclaimed, "So this is the cutest baby in the building I've been hearing so much about!" Apparently the docents were using their walkie talkies to alert their friends in other areas to be on the lookout for Thorne. And were they ever! We couldn't sit down before some volunteer strolled up to take a peek at my wee babe. Thorne was a peach the whole day until we got stuck in horrific traffic after dropping my friend off and it took us an hour and a half to go apprx. ten miles. She started her hyperventilating screaming about ten minutes from home because she'd had ENOUGH. I didn't blame her.

Last week we spent five hours at The Getty taking in a wonderful photo exhibit that included Paul Outerbridge, Jo Ann Callis, and Richard Miller. Both Karen and I found many of the photos menacing or at least tension filled. There was a dark undercurrent to many of the nude photos and to such commonplace items as a yellow bed in the work of Jo Ann Callis. I'd say there was a synergistic effect from showing these three artists together. You might say they were dialoging. The show is well worth a visit.

This week we'll be visiting City Hall in downtown LA as part of my Tailing Philip Marlowe series. I found out that City Hall has an observation deck on the 27th floor that is free to the public between the hours of 9am and 1pm. That rather limits the folks who can enjoy it to the 5% of the population who don't work. Thankfully that includes me!

If anyone has suggestions for places to visit in Los Angeles that are not widely known, please leave them in the comments.