Chateau Marmont Hotel in Hollywood

30 January 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Greater Los Angeles Area, Hotels Reading Time:  9 minutes

© flickr.com - Tony Hisgett/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Tony Hisgett/cc-by-2.0

The Chateau Marmont is a hotel located at 8221 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The hotel was designed by architects Arnold A. Weitzman and William Douglas Lee and completed in 1929. It was modeled loosely after the Château d’Amboise, a royal retreat in France’s Loire Valley. The hotel is known as both a long- and short-term residence for celebrities – historically “populated by people either on their way up or on their way down” – as well as a home for New Yorkers in Hollywood. The hotel has 63 rooms, suites, cottages, and bungalows. In 2020, the Chateau Marmont converted to a private members-only hotel.   read more…

Thomas Mann House in Pacific Palisades

7 October 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Greater Los Angeles Area Reading Time:  15 minutes

© Mirkomlux/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Mirkomlux/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Thomas Mann House (German: Thomas-Mann-Haus) in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, in the U.S. state of California is the former residence of Nobel Prize laureate Thomas Mann, who lived there with his family during his exile from 1942 until 1952. Designed by the architect Julius Ralph Davidson, the house at 1550 San Remo Drive was built in 1941/42. In 2016, it was acquired by the German federal government, and opened on June 18, 2018 as a place for transatlantic dialogue and debate.   read more…

Museum of Ice Cream

11 March 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Greater Los Angeles Area, Bon appétit, Miami / South Florida, Museums, Exhibitions, New York City, San Francisco Bay Area Reading Time:  5 minutes

Museum of Ice Cream in San Francisco © Cjfrey/cc-by-sa-4.0

Museum of Ice Cream in San Francisco © Cjfrey/cc-by-sa-4.0

Museum of Ice Cream, started in Manhattan, New York City, is an interactive art exhibit with ice cream and candy themed exhibits, all brightly colored, in a maze of rooms containing “among other things, a rock-candy cave, a unicorn, and a swimming pool of rainbow sprinkles”. The exhibits are very often the backdrop for selfies, and the many selfies posted to Instagram, Flickr, Facebook, and other social media sites have served to promote the exhibit. Each visitor is offered numerous tastings throughout. Tickets must be purchased in advance for specific time slots online only. The term “museum” was chosen for the temporary art exhibition because it was something people would understand.   read more…

Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades

1 March 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Greater Los Angeles Area, House of the Month, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  13 minutes

© Bobak Ha'Eri/cc-by-3.0

© Bobak Ha’Eri/cc-by-3.0

The Getty Villa is at the easterly end of the Malibu coast in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. One of two locations of the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Villa is an educational center and museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria. The collection has 44,000 Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities dating from 6,500 BC to 400 AD, including the Lansdowne Heracles and the Victorious Youth. The UCLA/Getty Master’s Program in Archaeological and Ethnographic Conservation is housed on this campus.   read more…

Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles

10 June 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Greater Los Angeles Area, Environment Reading Time:  6 minutes

© panoramio.com - Ameer Attia/cc-by-3.0

© panoramio.com – Ameer Attia/cc-by-3.0

The Hollywood Hills is a hillside neighborhood of the same name in the central region of the city of Los Angeles. The Hollywood Hills straddle the Cahuenga Pass within the Santa Monica Mountains. The neighborhood touches Studio City, Universal City and Burbank on the north, Griffith Park on the north and east, Los Feliz on the southeast, Hollywood on the south and Hollywood Hills West on the west. It includes Forest Lawn Memorial Park, the Hollywood Reservoir, the Hollywood Sign, the Hollywood Bowl and the John Anson Ford Theater.   read more…

Wilshire Grand Center in Los Angeles

1 December 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Greater Los Angeles Area, House of the Month Reading Time:  9 minutes

© salewskia/cc-by-sa-4.0

© salewskia/cc-by-sa-4.0

Wilshire Grand Center is a 1,100-foot (335.3 m) skyscraper in the Financial District of Downtown Los Angeles, California. It is the tallest building in Los Angeles, the tallest building in California, the tallest building west of the Mississippi River and outside of New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia, and the 10th tallest building in the United States. Its height surpasses the U.S. Bank Tower by 82ft (25m). The building is part of a mixed-use hotel, retail, observation decks, shopping mall, and office complex, expected to revitalize downtown Los Angeles and the area surrounding the building. The development of the complex is estimated to cost $1.2 billion. The plans include 67,000 square feet (6,225 m²) of retail, 677,000 square feet (62,895 m²) of Class A office space and 900 hotel rooms. InterContinental is the tower’s hotel component, comprising 900 rooms and suites.   read more…

The sail training ship Irving Johnson

1 July 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Greater Los Angeles Area, Tall ships, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  10 minutes

2010 Festival of Sail © flickr.com - Port of San Diego/cc-by-2.0

2010 Festival of Sail © flickr.com – Port of San Diego/cc-by-2.0

The twin brigantines Irving Johnson and Exy Johnson are the flagships of the Los Angeles Maritime Institute‘s (LAMI) TopSail Youth Program, a non-profit organization that helps at-risk youth learn discipline and teamwork through sailing. They join LAMI’s topsail schooners the Swift of Ipswich and the Bill of Rights. The boats are named for sail training pioneers Irving and Electa “Exy” Johnson. The brigantines are based on original plans designed in the 1930s by Henry Gruber but never built. Noted yacht designer W.I.B. Crealock was brought in to adapt the plans to meet modern Coast Guard regulations and to fit LAMI’s own stringent specifications based on their years of trial and experience. Master shipbuilder Allan Rawl was retained to oversee the project.   read more…

Brentwood in Los Angeles

14 May 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Greater Los Angeles Area Reading Time:  7 minutes

Getty Museum and Central Garden © flickr.com - Rennett Stowe/cc-by-2.0

Getty Museum and Central Garden © flickr.com – Rennett Stowe/cc-by-2.0

Brentwood is a neighborhood in the Westside of Los Angeles. It is the home of seven private and two public schools. Brentwood is also home to many celebrities such as actors and actresses. As a member of a group of nearby neighborhoods that are affluent, it is known as one of the “Three Bs”, along with Beverly Hills and Bel Air.   read more…

Holmby Hills in Los Angeles

5 March 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Greater Los Angeles Area Reading Time:  8 minutes

View of Holmby Park © Zigzig20s/cc-by-sa-3.0

View of Holmby Park © Zigzig20s/cc-by-sa-3.0

Holmby Hills is a neighborhood in the district of Westwood in western Los Angeles. The neighborhood was developed in the early twentieth century by the Janss Investment Company, which developed the rest of Westwood as well as other Los Angeles neighborhoods. With the expansion of Sunset Boulevard, Holmby Hills was split into two northern and southern sections, each lying within a different community plan area designated by the City of Los Angeles: The portion south of Sunset Boulevard is the area north of Wilshire Boulevard and east of both Beverly Glen Boulevard and Comstock Avenue, and west of the Los Angeles Country Club; it is located within the Westwood Community Plan Area. The portion north of Sunset is the area east of Beverly Glen Boulevard and west of the city limits of Beverly Hills, with Greendale Drive and Brooklawn Drive as its northernmost streets; it is located within the Bel AirBeverly Crest Community Plan Area, though it is historically distinct from the neighborhoods of both Bel Air and Beverly Crest.   read more…

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