SeeDo: Manifest Equality (Los Angeles)

You've heard of pop-up shopping. Now, there are pop-up art shows. For one weekend only, Manifest Equality took over the site and parking lot of a former Big Lots! store on Vine Street in Hollywood to present a diverse showing of artwork for a good cause: promoting full and equal rights to all Americans. Lots of famous artists were represented such as Gary Basemen, Shepard Fairey, and Ron English but also a fair share of up and coming artists.

The last dreary Saturday was a nice time to enjoy some works indoors. 

 

Manifest Equality's logo in yarn

Side view of the yarn heart

This poor chalk bear looks so sad, and then he got rained on.

Some of the installations:

The art show also gave us an opportunity to search for some pieces for our new home. We actually found a piece we both loved, but it was already sold. We looked at the price list anyway and discovered the piece to be extremely affordable. I emailed the artist the next day and now we are in the process of purchasing a few pieces of her work!

All in all, it was a successful outing. Plus, they had an awesome photo booth and free buttons!

SeeDo: Greystone Mansion and Park (Los Angeles)

Greystone Mansion and Park in the City of Beverly Hills has long been on my list of places to visit in Los Angeles. I found myself with some free time one beautiful November day and took a spontaneous trip there. I always saw my visit including a small picnic on the grounds of the park, but that was not to be on this day.

Completed in 1928, Greystone used to sit on 12.58 acres of land owned by the Doheny family. Over the years, the property was subdivided and sold to various interests. In 1965, the City of Beverly Hills acquired the remaining portion of the property, including the mansion grounds, for $1.3 million. The city eventually dedicated the property as a park. Today, the park is open to the public and the grounds are a popular special events and film location. The property has been featured in such films as Ghostbusters, There Will Be Blood, Big Lebowski, and X-Men.

Greystone has always intrigued me for a number of reasons. First, it is a great example of repurposing a landmark. Second, it is a peaceful sanctuary in an urban setting. Third, it gives visitors a chance to see how the extremely wealthy live.

My favorite feature of the park is the descending staircase. The grounds feature a manicured and well-maintained garden and koi and turtle pond. Wandering the grounds and coming upon statues and fountains is a fun experience, and being one of LA’s more well-kept secrets, there are no crowds in this serene setting. The mansion itself is not open except for special events including weekly music presentations and a once a year tour of the mansion. 

 View of the grounds from the parking lot

 

 

 The mansion

 

Turtle pond

Greystone Mansion and Park
905 Loma Vista Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Park Hours: 10 am to 5 pm
Admission to the grounds and parking are free

SeeDo: Andy Warhol Retrospective

The next morning we drove to downtown LA to go to the MOCA and catch the Andy Warhol Retrospective, which I have been dying to see all summer. It was actually showing at the Tate Modern when we were in London but we didn't have enough time to go. So this was definitely an outing we were both looking forward to. We parked a few blocks away from the museum because I wasn't quite sure where it was. It was okay though because it was a cheaper parking lot. As we were walking, we passed by this thing called Angel's Flight. I think it's an old railway point or something but it's supposed to be historic. Downtown LA is actually looking a lot nicer now than before. Anyway, we got to the MOCA right on time because a crowd was beginning to form. The exhibit was pretty big, and there was a lot of stuff that I never saw before. The beginning pieces were a lot of gold foil and ballpoint sketches that I did not even know he did, so it was quite interesting. I thought the Most Wanted series was the most interesting plus all the famous celebrity silkscreens were there too. Stef and I also went to watch some of his silent screentests. We watched Lou Reed eat a Hershey's bar for 10 minutes. That was pretty cool too.

After the exhibit, we wanted to see the MOCA's permanent collection but it turns out the whole space was taken up by the Warhol exhibit. So we decided to go back to her apartment and order Chinese take-out. On our way back to the parking lot, we passed by a Mexican food stand called "Ye Olde Taco House #1", which I thought was a pretty hilarious name. Then we passed by Grand Central Market and went inside to take a look around. I suggested that maybe we could eat there, but there wound up not being that many food stalls. So we decided to go back to Ye Olde Taco House to eat. Not the best Mexican food you can have, but it was cheap. After that, I dropped Stef off at her apartment and headed back to Torrance. The Warhol exhibit is definitely worth checking out and it's ending in a couple of weeks.