Three Hours in Los Feliz - Part II

From Half-Off Clothing on Vermont Avenue, I walked south to the corner of Vermont Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard, and then west across Vermont Avenue. I ended at the corner of New Hampshire Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard, across the street from Barnsdall Art Park.



Barnsdall Arts Park in Los Feliz

Barnsdall Arts Park sits atop Olive Hill, on the border of Los Feliz and Little Armenia. The park was originally the property of Pennsylvania oil heiress Aline Barnsdall. Aline settled in Los Angeles after visiting from Chicago in 1915. She hired architect Frank Lloyd Wright to build her residence on Olive Hill, the Hollyhock House. The Hollyhock House was Frank Lloyd Wright's first project in Los Angeles and second in California. Aline donated the park, Hollyhock House, and all other structures on Olive Hill to the city of Los Angeles in 1927 with the intention of maintaining an active arts and recreation center for the local community.



Today, Barnsdall Arts Park has five major attractions. First, the park itself is a large grass open area city cut by concrete walkways and interspersed with kinetic and stationary modern art sculptures.



Hollyhock House in Los Feliz

The Hollyhock House was built between 1919 and 1921. The house is named for Aline's favorite flower, the hollyhock. At her request, Wright incorporated abstract hollyhock patterns into the structure including in the planters and stained glass windows. A small colonnade leads from the park and its modern art exhibits to the house. The house is situated around a central courtyard with one side open. Split levels, terraces, and steps surround the courtyard. The exterior walls are tilted back 85 degrees, giving the exterior a "Mayan Pyramid" look. In fact, this look is sometimes referred to as Mayan Revival Style. Wright also designed a grand fireplace with bas-relief and a moat. The great lawn in front of the house offers a commanding view north towards the Hollywood hills and west towards Century City and the Westside. Hollyhock House is open for tours Wednesday through Sunday at 12:30PM, 1:30PM, 2:30PM, and 3:30PM.




Los Angeles Municipal Arts Gallery

The Los Angeles Municipal Arts Gallery is a 10,000 square foot venue large enough for extensive retrospective arts exhibits and thematic exhibits showing the work of multiple artists. The junior gallery offers 2,000 square feet of exhibition space for a more intimate showing. The gallery shows about nine contemporary art exhibits per year. The gallery's mission is to promote, interpret, and present to the public the work of Southern Californian artists. The gallery exhibits paintings, sculpture, photographic, architectural, design, video, electronic, , performance, and installation works. Exhibits server 45,000 visitors annually.
The Barnsdall Gallery Theater is a 299 seat venue for live theater, music, dance, spoken word, lecture, and film events. Its goal is to present artistic and diverse cultural events at the lowest possible admission price to maximize attendance and audience development. The theater also co-produces a variety of free community events including the Independent Shakespeare Company and the Silverlake Conservatory of Music's Music Summer Camps.




Barnsdall Arts Center in Los Feliz

The Barnsdall Arts Center is housed in a building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and provides college level arts instruction to the local community. The center also provides arts instruction to children and teens, and offers gallery space for students to display their work.
For further information on the Barnsdall Art Park and its programs, visit www.barnsdallartpark.com or call the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs at 213-202-5500.

My afternoon in Los Feliz passed too quickly. I loved how the neighborhood's charming and crowded sidewalk cafes sat next to discreet, dark old bars that hearkened to an older film noir Los Angeles. I also liked the trendy apparel boutiques for that younger, tragically hip crowd whose patronage keeps one of Los Angeles' last major independent bookstores in business. It's cliche, but there aren't too many places in Southern California where tattoo wearing, skinny jean sporting, big sunglasses wearing 20 (or 30) somethings can share the sidewalk with the stroller pushing, sportscoat wearing, leather shoe shod, BMW driving crowd sporting their own more subtle counter culture body marks.

Museo de Arte y Diseno Contemporaneo, Parque Nacional, and a Quinceanera?

I ate lunch at the Mercado Central again. While eating the counter of a soda, a Dutch tour group came in and I struck up a conversation with their guide, Darren. He's taking the group of 10 through Costa Rica for 22 days. He told me that he takes his tour groups to this particular soda because they have the best food in the Mercado. I think the soda was Soda San Cristobal. I had a pollo de tortilla for 1900 colones (about $4.) From the Mercado, I retraced some of yesterday's steps east along the Avenida Central and then north to Parque Morazan at Calle 5 & 7 and Avenida 3 & 5. From there, I walked east on Avenida to the Museo de Arte y Diseno Contemporaneo, at Avenida 3 and Calle 17. This contemporary art museum, along with two theaters, rehearsal space, a plaza, and other exhibition space is part of the Centro Nacional De Arte y Cultura. Everything except the Museo de Arte y Diseno Contemporaneo was closed for the weekend. The Museo was founded in 1994 and houses contemporary art and audiovisual work from artists around the world in five separate galleries. The Museo is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30AM to 4:45PM. Admission is $3 for foreigners, 700 colones for nationals, and 500 colones for students.

Stepping out of the Museo, I crossed Avenida 3 to Parque National. The tall trees at this city-block sized botanical garden offers ample shade while stone benches provide seating. A small stone bridge leads deeper into the Parque and towards a plaza with a large bronze statue of several women on a stone pedestal. Bronze reliefs on the pedestal depict battles from Costa Rican history. I stopped at Parque National briefly on Thursday. Then, the park was full of people walking through, or stopping to eat their lunch. Today, the Parque was nearly deserted.




From the Parque, I moved southeast on Avenida 3. This walk took me through a gritty neighborhood where I passed shuttered businesses, ruined streets, an abandonded train yard and station, and plenty of graffiti. Avenida 3 crossed Calle 23, and I followed the latter north east. At the corner of Calle 23 and Avenida 9, I found the Church of Santa Teresita. A security guard addressed me in Spanish and I think he asked me if I was part of the ceremony. I smiled and said I didn't speak any Spanish. He didn't speak English so we laughed and I bid him goodbye. Walking past the church, I noticed a crowd parents and teenagers bearing gifts. Was it a wedding? I walked across the street and took pictures of the church's bone white exterior and its crimson dome. Then, I turned back and passed the security guard a second time. He addressed me again and this time he looked concerned. He spoke several sentences, but our language barrier was impassable. Finally, he explained his concern to a passing couple. The man told me in broken English that the security guard was wondering if I was lost or needed help. I laughed and said no, that I was just a tourist taking pictures and that I was fine. The couple walked on, and then the security guard motioned me to follow him to the assembly room next to Santa Teresita. Standing in the doorway were three Latin women dressed in Chinese costume. I motioned to my camera and they happily struck a pose. I peeked into the assembly room and there were Chinese lanterns, Chinese dragons, and Chinese characters about the room, as well as about 30 tables covered in white linen with four chairs around each table. An adolescent girl's smiling face beamed from a video screen in the back. I think I stumbled onto a quinceanera. I thanked the security guard and introduced myself. He introduced himself as Giovanni. I thanked Giovanni again and headed southwest along Calle 23, northwest along Avenida 3 to Calle 21, and then south on Calle 21 to Costa Rica Guesthouse.