Today we moved on from Old Las Palmas to the adjoining neighborhood of Vista Las Palmas. It is a mecca for lovers of midcentury modern architecture lovers. In the middle of the twentieth century, the firm of Palmer and Krisel, as well as the architect Charles Dubois designed approximately 350 homes in the neighborhood, including Krisel’s iconic ”butterfly” roof houses and Dubois’s distinctive ”Swiss Miss” A-frames. Like neighboring Old Las Palmas, it has been the home of numerous celebrities, including Dean Martin and Debbie Reynolds.
We drove down to Palm Springs for the weekend. Unfortunately, due to the infamous LA traffic, a trip that would normally take two hours, took over four. Once there, we explored the town and neighboring canyons. Our first walk was through the Old Las Palmas neighborhood. The neighborhood dates back to the mid 1920’s and over the years has been the home of numerous celebrities, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Lucille Ball, Kirk Douglas, Liberace and Elizabeth Taylor. There were many beautiful homes, although most were hidden behind high hedges, walls and ornate gates.
On occasion, people have said to us while we have been here in Los Angeles ”It’s a beautiful day today” and we wonder why, because it seems that the weather is perfect every day here in Southern California. With temperatures in the mid-seventies, the sun shining and no humidity, it was perfect walking weather. We decided to wander the streets of Greater Wilshire / Hancock Park, which is a truly beautiful neighborhood with quiet streets of stately homes.
Our son, Ben, lives in the Melrose Hill neighborhood of Los Angeles. It is a relatively small neighborhood just south of Hollywood. In the center of the neighborhood on a slight hill there is a historic preservation zone, where there are a number of beautiful old homes.
Bordering the historic district is a less affluent area of small apartment buildings and single family homes. It appeared to be mainly a hispanic neighborhood.
There were a number of small apartment complexes built around courtyards that often had beautiful landscaping.
There were also an abundance of heavily laden citrus trees in the neighborhood yards.
On another beautiful sunny LA day, we celebrated having avoided the winter storm currently hitting Washington by heading out on a long walk. We started out walking along Melrose Avenue.
The Paramount Pictures studios take up several blocks along Melrose. We passed by their iconic gates.
Most of the extensive lots are hidden behind a beautiful long and high hedge.
Paramount seemed to be pushing Jane Campion’s, The Power of the Dog before the upcoming academy awards.
We then made our way down Larchmont Boulevard. If we had any doubts that we were in southern California we just had to look at the businesses in this strip mall that we passed. It included a meditation community, an acupuncture clinic, something called Integrative Health Systems, and the Staninger Institute, which apparently deals in Toxicogenomics and Bio Ethno Life Science Systems.
And then there was this house which asked us to Believe
One thing about California, the state has amazing farmers’ markets. We dropped by the Larchmont market and admired the produce.
We find LA, by and large, to be a not particularly attractive city. However, there are some beautiful neighborhoods. Case in point is Hancock Park which has some beautiful homes on treelined streets.
We have changed coasts but are continuing to enjoy art. Our son, Ben, took us down to SOLA Gallery in South Los Angeles for the closing of the ”On Black” exhibition, showcasing the art of local black artists.
We enjoyed the art, particularly the work of Showzart
Beauty and the Beast by Showzart
And JosephBrandon Thomas
Lil Joe with the Liberation Fro by JosephBrandon Thomas
We also enjoyed meeting the curator of the event, Anefertiti Bowman.
Ben and Anefertiti
A special treat was meeting with Ben’s good friend Crushow who is also a talented artist. He even painted the Aristocatts painting on the back of Mal’s denim jacket that was commissioned as a birthday gift from Ben.
Crushow and MalCrushow and BenBen and JosephBrandon
To complete our arty weekend, we walked over to the Katzen Arts Center, that is part of the American University campus. The Center is the home to the university’s visual and performing arts programs. The Center was designed by EYP Architecture & Engineering and opened in 2005. To be frank, with its curves and bits and pieces jutting out, it’s not really our type of building.
We did, however, enjoy many of the works by contemporary female artists that were on display.
Claudia SmigrodKara WalkerLorna SimpsonSwoon (Caledonia Curry)Julie MehretuSarah MorrisLinling LuCarol Brown GoldbergJae Ko
Following up on our visit to The Kreeger Museum, we decided to visit another of Washington’s prime private galleries, The Phillips Collection. The Phillips opened in 1921 and was America’s first museum devoted to modern art. It started life housed in the Georgian Revival home of its founder, Duncan Phillips, but has since that time expanded into two adjoining buildings.
The permanent collection includes nearly 3,000 works by American and European impressionist and modern artists. Many of the old favorites were there. Here’s a sampling:
Georges BraqueJoan MiroVincent Van GoghHenri MatisseBridget RileyPablo Picasso
There is a room devoted entirely to the works of Mark Rothko. It is an intimate room and a quiet spot to sit and ponder. The paintings appear to glow. Unfortunately, the photos fail to accurately show the depth and vibrancy of the colors.
Perhaps the museums’s most famous piece is Pierre-August Renoir’s iconic impressionist painting, Luncheon of the Boating Party.
The museum also has a large music room where they hold performances. We once saw a GoGo concert there. They had rolled a harpsichord into the space for a Vivaldi concert to take place the next evening. The ornate room definitely appeared more suited to Vivaldi than Go Go.
But what we had really come to see was an exhibition of Pablo Picasso’s blue period paintings in the adjoining building.
Some people have argued that Picasso is not the greatest modern artist of all time. But they, with all due respect, are wrong. He simply sits head and shoulders above all of the rest. Focusing on the years 1900-04, the exhibition was breathtaking. It’s just unfathomable that at the time he was creating these paintings he was just 19-23 years old. If these paintings were all he ever created, he would still rank among the greats, but he was just starting. Anyway, here are just a few of the paintings from the exhibition. It started off with some of his earliest works, where he showed that he could already knock off a portrait and still life as well as anyone.
Then the exhibition moved onto the blue period paintings.
Finally, it ended up with some paintings from his early Rose Period.
Leaving the gallery, we made our way over to nearby Connecticut Avenue for an early dinner at Bistro du Coin, where we could pretend we were eating at one of the establishments in Paris that Picasso used to haunt. Along the way, we saw some spectacular clouds over the buildings lining the avenue.
Washington, D.C. is well-known for its Smithsonian museums and galleries, which people come to visit from all around the world. But the city also has more than its fair share of smaller private museums and galleries. One of our favorites is The Kreeger Museum. Situated in the middle of the affluent suburb of Foxhall, the museum is located in the former home of David and Carmen Kreeger and houses their collection. The mansion was designed by iconic American architect, Philip Johnson, in 1963. It is worth a trip to the museum just to explore the stunning building. But the art collected by the Kreegers is also astonishing. Among the paintings and sculptures are works by Picasso, Miro and Cezanne. There are sculptures by such legends as Henry Moore.
Studio with Black Vase by Georges BraqueTwo People by Joan MiroHead of a Woman with a Hat and Head of a Woman by Pablo PicassoUntitled by Clyfford StillThe Dark Blue Vase by Paul CezannePomona by Aristide MaillolInventions by John DreyfussThree Piece Reclining Figure No.2 and Standing Figure: Knife Edge by Henry MooreFlame of Friendship by Leonardo NiermanAgainst the Day by Richard Deutsch Revolve by Foon Sham
As well as its permanent collection, the Museum also hold temporary exhibits. At the moment they are showing prints by local print maker, Lou Stovall. When we first came to the District, over thirty years ago we came to know Lou. He has a studio in his home in nearby Cleveland Park where he and his wife Di have created a large body of beautiful work. The workshop has also been used by such famous artists as Alexander Caldwell and Jacob Lawrence. He is not only a fine artist but also a fine gentleman.
On a grey but unseasonably warm final day of 2021 we decided to go on a road trip and drove down to Annapolis, about thirty miles east of Washington D.C. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay, Annapolis is the capital of Maryland. In fact, from 1783-1784 it was briefly the capital of the United States. Originally settled in the mid-1600s, it had a number of names until in 1694 it finally became Annapolis, named for Princess Anne of Denmark and Norway who was soon to become Queen Anne of Great Britain, reigning from 1702-1714. The town currently has a population of over 40,000 and has a thriving old town with a main street that runs down to the bay. Here are some photos from our stroll around town.
Standing on a hill at the center of town is the Maryland State House. The capitol building has the distinction of being topped by the largest wooden dome in the United States constructed without nails. Construction of the building began in 1772 but it was not completed until 1779 due to the ongoing American Revolutionary War.
The Capitol Building
Some of our older readers may remember the hugely popular 1970s miniseries Roots, based on the Alex Haley novel of the same name. At the foot of main street on the edge of the City Dock is the Kunta Kinte – Alex Haley memorial that commemorates the arrival point of Alex Haley’s African ancestor, Kunta Kinte, whose story is related in the book. A sculpture group at the memorial site portrays Haley seated, reading a book to three children.
Mal and Lauren 