sunday funday: dtla adventure day ... the day before labor day edition

So my good friend Diana, who moved home to Long Island two years ago, is back this week for a whirlwind tour of friends and fun. Sunday, we decided to reinstate an old tradition and took the metro to Pershing Square, got off and wandered. The only plan was lunch at Clifton's... everything else was just spotted as we wandered looking for stuff Diana had never seen before.

The Broad

We didn't have a reservation and didn't go in, but I took this pretty awesome shot of the outside. One day I'll go in and take some awesome shots in the Infinity Room.

Disney Concert Hall

There wasn't anything going on the middle of the day except tours, but we had our own personal tour guide, James, who took us to the public park above the back of the hall and up onto the roof, and through the maze of Frank Gehry architecture to see the spot where the original shiny metal (that blinded commuters when the sun hit it after the building was completed) met the new "buffed" less-blinding metal.

This beautiful water sculpture is a rose of broken blue tiles titled "A Rose for Lilly ... Frank Gehry's tribute to Lillian Disney, a gift of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren." 

"A Rose for Lilly" is in the park above and behind the hall. Look for the stairs on the side of the building closest to The Broad, go up and to the right. 

Here's where the original shiny metal meets the buffed out metal... It's on the same level as the park, heading towards The Music Center side of the building.

Shiny metal turned warped selfie mirror

Angel's Flight

Sadly, Angel's Flight has been shut down and is in gross dis-repair. Stupid kids have tagged the windows of the trains and there is trash left by the homeless all over the side of the hill and the stairs that parallel the tracks up the hill. But from here it looks cool.

The Bradbury Building

After walking by the Broad and Disney Concert Hall, Diana said, where is "that other cool building?" It's two blocks down the street. My friend Cwennen used to work here so I've been inside the private offices. But the attrium is by far the coolest part anyway. "Blade Runner" memories anyone??

Clifton's Cafeteria

Going to the recently remodeled Clifton's was the only "must-do" on the "to-do" list for the day. I haven't been here in years and wanted to see it in all it's refurbished glory. It was really cool in that retro way, and most of the food was pretty good too.

The restored exterior

- Carb-fest-o-rama -
Thanksgiving dinner for Day-Before-Labor-Day lunch, with mac-n-cheese instead of mashed potatoes from the Cafeteria.

Clifton's Meets Targaryen

The 3rd Floor Gothic Bar

After we ate, James said to quietly follow him and took us being a secret door (note: there are a lot of secret doors at Clifton's.) It led to a stairway up to the fourth floor, which is still being renovated. The open area at the top houses another bar surrounding the top of the "tree."

Then there was another door leading to a secret "Closed Area" housing an amazing Tiki retro room and bar, still being remodeled. It was like a cross between Indiana Jones and a retro carnival arcade. According to the website, this is the "Pacific Seas" bar. I would book a private party here in a second!

The top of the tree, as seen from the closed 4th Floor bar

The "Sorry this area is closed" sign that James "must not have seen" ;)  I sure hope this giant Tiki idol isn't one of those "Don't trespass here" cursed idols like from "The Brady Bunch"

Los Angeles Central Library

From Clifton's we went to The Last Bookstore and then to the LA Central Library, which in addition to housing millions of books, has really cool architecture, a mini-museum and a beautiful art-deco rotunda.

The Rotunda's ceiling

The elevators are wallpapered in old card catalog cards.

Old magazine covers from the Hollywood art exhibit in the mini-museum

Foreign movie posters from the mini-museum

Sadness. Someone ripped the side of it too. 
This was in the music, film and art library room on the 2nd floor.

Cool Trends Spotted on our DTLA Adventure Day

Owls

When James, Diana, Daryl and I are together, we spot owls, who are trendy now because we decided they should be four years ago on a trip to Ojai.  These were spotted at Clifton's in the Cabinet of Curiosities (aka the gift shop) and one of the artist spaces at The Last Bookstore.

Signs

Some are informational. Some are philosophical. All are interesting.

(Note: That's the line for EggSlut wrapping outside, into the Grand Central Market and all the way around its stall. One day I'll be able to eat there... at like 3pm on a Monday.. when it's raining. Le sigh.)

I soooooo wanted to buy this from the library's gift shop, but resisted. 

Yes, yes it is. The hour, the day, the week, the month, the year... need I go on?

sunday funday: santa rosa island

A few weekends ago, I had a BBQ and my friend Linda mentioned wanting to go hike out on one of the Channel Islands. I have only ever been to one of the eight Channel Islands - Catalina - but have wanted to visit others since high school when I learned all about them from my TOHS biology teacher Mr. Wucherfennig, who was an expert on the islands. So I immediately said I was in! Linda booked a 3-hour cruise with Island Packers out to Santa Rosa Island at the end of August for the two of us and our friend James. 

Here are all the photos from that super fun and gorgeous day. I will definitely be visiting again!

The 3-Hour Cruise

On my last boat ride, I almost puked when I started eating lunch. So I played it safe and ordered motion sickness bracelets for this trip. Best idea I could've had, because it was not smooth sailing. But we saw awesome "nature" on our windy trip out to Santa Rosa.

There were hundreds of dolphins and baby dolphins swimming near our boat. I had hoped to see a whale or two too, but I can be content with baby dolphins :)  

To get to Santa Rosa, you leave from Ventura Harbor and sail in between Anacapa, the smallest, and Santa Cruz, the largest of the islands in Channel Islands National Park. Then you take a right behind Santa Rosa for another half hour or so. Here is a three-part mini-island covered in "island snow" (aka bird poop), off the Santa Cruz Island coast.

Our first view of Santa Rosa

 Santa Rosa Island

After talking to one of the Island Packers crew members on the boat, we decided we'd take a "moderate" hike out to the Torrey Pines area of the island. He told us it was a fairly flat 5-7 mile hike and we'd have to watch our time (we only had about 3.5 hours on the island before the boat left) but we should be able to make it and there would be a nice shady bench where we could picnic.

Fun Facts About Torrey Pines:

• The Santa Rosa Island subspecies of Torrey pine, is considered one of the rarest pines in the world, the last enduring members of a once widespread Pleistocene forest. 
• A remnant, mainland subspecies of Torrey pine also can be found near La Jolla, California, at Torrey Pines State Reserve. 

WTF! You mean we could have FLOWN here?!?!

Path to the beach... and we hope to Torrey Pines.

And there was actually some water in Water Canyon. We had to cross a little plank bridge over a stream to get to the beach. Then we crossed it again back-tracking to search for the trail to Torrey Pines.

But first.... the beach. Ahhhh.....

Who knew there was water this blue this close to California? I thought I had to go all the way to Hawaii to see this.

Yes! We're going the right way!

This is James and Linda. We're heading towards those (Torrey Pine) trees on that hill waaay in the distance. 

Spotted a little bit of color amongst all the shades of brown.

We made it! (Note the pine trees there on the left) Our boat is way off by that land mass in the top left of the photo.

The Torrey Pines Trail up the hill, in search of the illusive "bench" and a stream of petrified pinecones. 

Me, halfway up the hill, admiring nature.
Our boat is that white speck in the top left of the photo. At this point, we still hadn't found "the bench" so we sat and ate lunch on some shaded rocks. Then headed back to the boat the way we came.

Santa Cruz Island as seen from Torrey Pines on Santa Rosa Island.

The abandoned ranch house near the dock. 

Mosses growing on the wooden fence.

Yay! We made it back before the boat docked so we had time for frolicking on the beach.

Getting to the beach by the dock requires climbing down this metal ladder (left).
The barnacles along the pier's posts were still alive.(right).

The Return Trip 

Our return trip took longer than the trip out to the island because we made two pitstops on Santa Cruz Island. The first was at The Painted Cave. Our boat couldn't fit all the way inside, but we got as close a look as we could. You may recognize this cave from a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. 

My video of the cave. If you listen closely, you may be able to hear the captain's commentary.

Then we stopped to pick up a bunch of artists and volunteers who'd been staying on the island all weekend. They had a ton of stuff... "because there's a truck on the island to carry it back and forth between the ranch house and the dock," one of the conservancy volunteers told us once on the boat.

Oh, and on the boat, Linda also found two hikers who'd gone past us on the Torrey Pines Trail and asked them if they ever found "the bench." Yep... about five minutes after they passed us. Oh well.. next time ;)