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Things to do in Los Angeles
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J. Paul Getty Center
The Getty Center is located in the
Brentwood area of Los Angeles, California, and is known for its
beautiful gardens, architecture, views looking down into the
city of LA and is home to the Getty Research Institute, Getty
Foundation, the Getty Conservation Institute and the
administrative offices of the Getty Trust that owns and manages
the center. In 1983, the trust announced it would buy 24 acres
of land for the center, that was part of a 110 acres site
sitting on a hill some 900 feet above the 405 Interstate. This
area is also surrounded by 600 acres of natural landscapes, and
the entire complex is high enough so that on a clear day, you
can look out over the valley, see the skyline of the city of Los
Angeles, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the San Bernadino
Mountains to the east. Richard Meier was picked to be the
architect of the center in 1984, and after much time spent on a
conditional-use permit, the building started in 1989. It took
some time building it, changing the completion date a few times,
first from 1988 to 1995, then in 1995, when it was only halfway
done, changed again. The center finally opened in 1997, although
costing much more than estimated or imagined. In 1990, the cost
was supposed to be $350 million, but when finished it was more
like $1.3 billion. Another building is located on the premises,
one of the two Getty Museums, is a gorgeous building with some
of the most beautiful paintings in the world located there. The
collection includes pre-20th century European paintings,
sculpture, decorative arts, drawings, illuminated manuscripts
and the 19th and 20th century American and European photographs.
Among the magnificent paintings are the; Arii Matamoe or the
Royal End, painted by Paul Gaugin in 1892, and it was said by
the director then, Michael Brand, that it was one of the
highlights of the history of the collection; Irises by Vincent
Van Gogh from 1889, which had been bought in 1987 for $53.9
million, and the museum purchased it in 1990; portrait of a
Halberdier by Pontormo from 1528 to 1530, and when the center
purchased that painting, in 1989 at an auction for $35.2 million
it was more than triple what had been bought at an auction for
an old master painting. Finally a copy of the Portrait of Louis
XIV, measuring 114x62 and 5 eighths inches, which was produced
by the workshop of Hyacinthe Rigaud around 1701. A 134,000
square foot central garden was created at the center by Robert
Irwin, with planning starting in 1992, and construction starting
in 1996, with it being finished in 1997. The creator, Irwin,
said that the garden was actually a sculpture that was made in
the shape of a garden, that aimed to be art. The walkway is tree
lined going down into a plaza, with water criss crossing the
path and going into the plaza and finally over a stone waterfall
into a round pool. Azaleas float in a maze in the pool, which is
surrounded by specialty gardens. Over 500 varieties of plants
have been used in the garden's creation, but is ever changing
due to the seasons. The Getty Research Institute is devoted to
increasing knowledge and improving understanding of the visual
arts, and over 900,000 volumes of books, auction catalogs,
periodicals, special collections and 2 million photos of art and
architecture. The Conservation Institute started in 1985, and
also has a facility at the Getty Villa, and strives to assist
the conservation community via scientific research, model field
projects, education and training and the dissemination of the
results from its work and the work of others in this field of
expertise. The Foundation gives grants for the understanding and
preservation of the visual arts and runs the Getty Leadership
Institute for future and current museum leaders. The Getty Trust
oversees it all.
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Griffith Observatory
The Griffith Observatory
sits on the south facing slope of Mount Hollywood, in Los
Angeles, California with a spectacular view of the LA basin,
downtown LA towards the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the
southwest and the fabulous area of Hollywood to the south. Part
of Griffith Park, the observatory is a very popular attraction
that showcases a number of space and science related exhibits.
The land was given to the city by Colonel Griffith J. Griffith
in 1896, with the stipulation that an observatory, planetarium
and exhibit hall would be built on it, with other funds he left.
The construction started in 1933, designed by John C. Austin
with sketches given by Russell W. Porter. The observatory and
other buildings were opened in 1935, and during its first five
days, over 13,000 people came here to see it. The first displays
that were opened included the Foucalt pendulum, created to show
the rotation of the earth, a 12 inch Zeiss refracting telescope
in the east dome, triple beam coelstat or solar telescope in the
west and a 38 foot relief model of the moon's north polar area.
Griffith asked that an exhibit about evolution be included which
ended up being the Cosmochron exhibit that also had a narration
by Caltech Professor Chester Stock and associated slide show.
This display was here from 1937 until the mid 1960s. Another
fascinating inclusion was the planetarium that sat under the
huge dome with shows that covered the moon, eclipses and the
worlds of the solar system. In WWII, it was used to train pilots
in celestial navigation, and used for this purpose in the 1960s
for the Apollo program pilots going to the moon for the first
time. It was rejuvenated in 1964 and a Mark IV Zeiss projector
put in.
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Japanese American National Museum
Smuggler's notch is a narrow pass that goes
through the Green Mountains into The
Japanese American National Museum started in 1992, and is found
in the area known as Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, California.
Dedicated to saving the culture, experiences and history of the
Japanese American people from the 1920s through the 1950s, with
over 100,000 feet of 8 mm and 16 mm home movies of these
resilient people. Home to numerous galleries of oral histories,
artifacts, art, textiles and photographs of the Japanese
Americans, as well as over 130 years of history going back to
the first Issei generation, which means the first generation and
the second, or the first children born in the new country are
called Nisei. The Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center was started
in 1997, by Karen L. Ishizuka and Robert A. Nakamura to find new
ways of saving, documenting and publicizing the lives of
Americans with Japanese ancestry. The Manabi and Sumi Hirasaki
National Resource Center was started to allow access to the
information and resources stored at the museum, as well as
online, with documentation of the culture and lives of Japanese
Americans. Three displays are being presented at the
current time, Common Ground; where the heart of the community
concentrates on the earliest immigration to this country, up to
the present time by showcasing numerous media, artifacts and
art. The next is Living Flowers; Ikebana and Contemporary Art
describing the tradition of flower arrangement, ikebana; that
exhibits the contemporary expression, and the Glorious Excess
with Mike Shinoda's artworks and paintings.
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