February Trip to Southern California - West LA and UCLA

We took a little trip down memory lane while we were in West LA.  We stayed at the Hotel Angeleno which is right off I-405 at Sunset Boulevard.  It's a round building so we had almost a 180 degree view.

The view of the Getty Museum from our balcony

 The view down 405

 One stop on our trip down memory lane was the restaurant where we got married.  It is now called Killer Shrimp !?!

At least the view was almost the same.

 

Then we walked around UCLA.  Here's the refaced art building.

The sculpture garden

 Royce Hall

 The library

 The inverted fountain

 The Getty Museum

 It was so clear that you could see all the way downtown.  Note our round hotel in the lower right corner.



Watts Towers

On our way from Orange County to West LA, we stopped at the Watts Towers.  They are quite an amazing place.  Simon Rodia built them in the 1920's with items that he had foraged.  (He did work for a tile company.)  He had no engineering background and yet they have stood solid through several earthquakes!

 His house burned down but the original fireplace still stands.

 Looking up through the center of one of the towers.

More Southern California - our trip to Catalina Island



Photos from our day trip to Catalina

Leaving the harbor at Balboa Island

Arriving at Avalon

The Botanical Garden in the hills has many plants that are only found on the island.

At the upper end of the garden is the Wrigley Memorial.  Wrigley (of chewing gum fame) owned the most of the island at one time.  It's a huge concrete monstrosity but it does have some lovely tiles (made on the island) and some art deco details.

 The view from the memorial - back towards the LA basin

 The Casino

 The entrance to the Casino