Exploring Art

 

 

Another week, another set of adventures. I sat down and made a note of all the places I would like to see before leaving for Denmark. And that very same afternoon I crossed one of the places off my list: Greystone Mansion.

The mansion is used for film and television to an extent that makes it quite infamous. SO of course I had to visit. I recognized it mostly from Gilmore Girls and Death Becomes Her - otherwise it is the interiors that is used (and those were not accessible).

It was a very nice, quiet spot. I was there with a handful of other guests, but had the nooks and crannies of the area mostly to myself. I enjoyed getting away from all the hustle and bustle - and I was able to see the city the whole time perched on this Beverly Hill. 

Also, this might be the best Beauty and the Beast location I've seen in a long while.

 I decided to walk all the way from Beverly Hills to Mid City. It took me just under 2 hours, but it was great to just walk around in the city that I have come to know as unwalkable. From Sunset Strip you get some great views of steep downhill slopes too.

I met up with Arianna for some vintage shopping at Jet Rag and Crossroads. And afterwards we refueled with some sandwiches. It was good to see her again!

Tuesday I ventured to LACMA with Jorden from Gesture class. I enjoyed their collections, but their system felt a little messy and we often got lost inside the artful mazes.

I liked seeing the Magritte (and finding a completely confused LACMA employee when I asked where "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" was located). And my heart always beats for art nouveau. The Breathing Light room was pretty trippy too!

We then headed up for Mark's last class.

Thursday I went to LACMA once again.

Evan had an in with a fellow art history student who interns at the museum, and she got us free entrance to the museum and the Del Toro exhibit!

We basically died over all the Eyvind Earle paintings. How one man can own such an extensive collection of everything we love is beyond me...

 Definitely my favourite sculpture. He even had original Haunted Mansion concept, and basically everything Kay Nielsen from Fantasia.

What was really cool was looking through Guillermo's sketchbooks. You could really see his thought process - and I found those storyboard thumbs that look remarkably like shots from Pacific Rim in his 2005 notebook. Guy likes to plan ahead.

I love how much everyone adores Harryhausen. I guess some people go beyond the normal adoration though - Guillermo own a large quantity of life-sized wax figures (and one of them is Ray).

 Del Toro is a big nerd like the rest of us, and it was really fun to explore the exhibit! I'm glad I made that before leaving.

 We then walked around the basically deserted museum after it had just closed.

And took LA photos.

Afterwards we walked down to Whimsic Alley, and fandom shop with all things British. It says a lot when I wholeheartedly admit this to be the most nerdy store I've ever been in. They had everything. Even their own Great Hall for special events. Just wow, haha.

 

Friday I went to Universal once more. The Kubo exhibit was extended, so we showed Billy the beauty - and I bought a few things in the shop this time around.

Hogwarts was as pretty as ever and I got to try the last remaining Butterbeer type - the fudge. Not the biggest of fans.

We went on the Studio Tour which was pretty restricted this time around due to extensive filming on the premises. A little sad, but it was all right. We went on Transformers, caught our last remaining member of the Scooby Gang, and then went to eat far away from the Universal craziness.

Saturday I drove up to Burbank with Zia and Melvin for her birthday celebration. They'd booked a hotel room and we relaxed in their pool are for a while.

The celebration was very relaxed and we ended up basically watching two Hunger Games movies, as they were being shown on the television. We ate cake and just had fun together. It was a good time

Sunday morning, Daniella and I drove into DTLA for the Kubo exhibit at the Japanese museum. They had two large animation stages on display and I really wanted to see them. The line was a little bit too long for my liking, but we had fun just talking anyway. I felt so betrayed when I noticed that the moss effect was made with actual lace.

 What was cool about this exhibit was that you could walk around the puppets to really take in the details - and the lighting was brighter too.

The fact that they had the mother made me a happy camper too. They had such cool worldbuilding displays!

I mean, look at all of this costume design prep. Embroidery techniques, fabric painting stencils, the tiniest of braids...

We went to the nearby shopping alley since we were in the middle of Little Tokyo. They had so many Japanese beauty brands and I felt like I had stepped back in time a little.

 And I also got my first ever Boba. 

Dan drove me to Union Station and I waited for a little bit in the fantastic art deco chairs before jumping on a train to Anaheim. I bought the ticket with a 20 and got such a large amount of one-doller coins back. I had forgotten that those even existed.

This dude was amazing. He played for a good half hour and it was great for waiting.

 What wasn't so great was my sudden realization about why there are only 4 daily trains. I had been so confused as to why so little trains were departing until I actually set foot in the train. It was so empty. The Anaheim station was the same.

I went back to Laura's place and we talked for a few hours before heading to the night market. There was so much food everywhere, live music, art dealers, and basically just a good vibe. I had another flashback to Japan when I encountered this Okonomiyaki stand.

 So naturally that's what I had.