'American Stories' @ American Power

I took the afternoon off from blogging on Friday to visit the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Reviews are at LAT: "Art Review: 'American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765-1915' ...," and "Art Review: 'Renoir in the 20th Century' ..."

LACMA's on Wilshire in L.A.'s Miracle Mile district. I just love it there. As I'm walking into the museum, a look at the main entrance:

As shown, there are actually two exhibits running simultaneously. I'm way more interested in American art, so I visited "American Stories" first. I last visited LACMA in 2006, when the sensational Gustav Klimpt exhibit was running (and generating all kinds of speculation about the future of the museum). A lot has changed, including a complete redesign of the entire facility. Here I'm walking into the "American Stories" exhibit:

No pictures allowed inside the exhibits, but I snapped one more as I'm entering:

My favorite piece of art, Winslow Homer's "The Cotton Pickers, 1876," is on permanent collection at LACMA. The curators moved the piece to a central vantage point for the "American Stories" collection. (I was pleased by that. I bought a "Cotton Pickers" poster in 2006 and I just had it framed last week. I'm mounting it in my office at work, and will update on that when I get it done.) I took notes of the paintings for reference, 35 detailed scribblings in all, so I can post on them later. A lot of photographs of these are in the public domain, so posting is hassle-free. Below, I'm leaving the old side of the museum (the Ahmanson building, etc.), crossing the courtyard where a booth, out of view at left, is set up for ticket sales ($25 to see both exhibits, which was exhorbitant, IMHO). I'm facing Wilshire Boulevard:

The new Eli Broad Museum:

An escalator takes you up to the third floor:

Looking back east, you can see LACMA's older buildings:

Walking into the museum:

Again, no photography permitted, but if you look at the screencap above you can see a glimpse of the exhibit, from the entry on the second floor. Notice the lightness in the white-painted walls, which is a bright contrast to the darker feeling at the "American Stories" exhibit. The curators obviously wanted a smashing show, the least of which to justify the huge ticket prices. I eschewed notetaking this time, mostly from fatigue, but also so as to reflect and wonder more at the paintings. An awesome learning experience, LACMA had short film clips of Auguste Renoir running in a theater alcove. Some of the works on display can be seen at this video:

Walking back outside now, down the stairs. Kind of postmod feel to the place, while retaining the steel-girders of the industrial age. Striking contrasts:

The view facing east on Wilshire. I'm walking back to my car:

Driving east now, to get a bite to eat, here's the Wiltern Theater (at the intersection of Wilshire and Western). The Psychedelic Furs are playing in June, plus Jakob Dylan next month:

Cutting north when I get to Figueroa, then east again on Cesar Chavez, I make my way through Chinatown over to Philippe's, a Los Angeles institution since before the Great Depression. My dad used to take me to eat here when I was a small child. I never forget:

As usual, I had the beef dip sandwich -- but thinking about it now, I should've also ordered potato salad or cole slaw. Maybe next time (and notice that I just started reading Jason Mattera's, "Obama Zombies: How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation"):

A cup of coffee's still just nine cents:

Customers ordering:

I love the ambience. Takes you back to another time. This photo says "Phillipe's as it appeared about 1935 -- sandwiches were ten cents":

My favorite. Kinda hard to read but the caption says "a locomotive dropped in for a sandwich in 1948":

Going home now, past Union Station. I love L.A.: