Fridays at the LACMA

I have a new favorite thing to do on Fridays.

It involves wine, picnic blankets, live music, and art.

Does it get any better?

I'd heard about Fridays at the LACMA before,

but due to my AWOL ("always west of Lincoln") inertia,

I had never gone until last Friday.

And it was wonderful.

Brian and I headed out after work,

picked up some wine at Ray's & Stark,

pulled up a seat on the grass,

and hung out and listened to an awesome jazz concert.

I know nothing about jazz,

but I loved listening, and watching all the other people get really into it.

There was even a group of people behind the stage

doing what I can only describe as "interpretive dance."

It was awesome.

I wanted to join in (I'm embarrassing like that),

but Brian was having none of it.

We even got to see the sold-out James Turrell exhibit

(thanks to a friend who got us tickets),

which I can only describe as trippy and completely mind-blowing.

What a genius that guy is.

We followed it up with a dinner at Angelini,

which I have already proclaimed to be 

the best Italian restaurant I've been to stateside.

Brian agreed, so now it's super official.

All around, last Friday was one of those days 

that the effort of planning and going really paid off.

I was just so happy I went and saw and experienced.

There really is a lot out there,

east of Lincoln.

The LACMA & Ray's

Last Sunday, Brian and I took his parents out to the LACMA for lunch and some art browsing.  It was a gorgeous LA day -- perfect for an outside lunch at Ray's!

Everything we tried at Ray's lived up to the hype.  The chile appetizer and the steak were two of my favorites!  Oh!  And Tabatha was eating a few tables away!  Gotta love a reality-show celeb sighting :)

{loved these giant kitchen sculptures!}

Friday Night Date

I've been feeling a little down on LA lately, but Friday night was one of those nights that reminded me just why I decided to move here in the first place.

I had no expectations going into this Friday.  I had resigned myself to maybe a dinner out and some tivo.  But then I came across a blurb on the LAist about this Surf & Skate auction at Bergamot Station -- the first in the Venice Art Walk & Auctions series.  Interesting, I thought.  We would definitely be the square-est people there, assuming there were people there, which there might not be, and that would just be awk.  And it could definitely get weird; I mean, it's an art thing, and it involves Venice.  But.  Imagine the people watching.  Maybe Tree Man will show up.  So much potential there....

So we went.  And it was awesome.

The show and auction took place at Track 16, one of the galleries at Bergamot Station (the largest group of art galleries on the West Side).  All the displayed boards were designed and created by local artists, and most of them were really reasonably priced (many of them went for around $100-200).  They also had a 50's-style diner car inside the gallery for all your PBR-drinking needs, and a DJ playing weird electronica.  Totally set the scene.

After perusing all the people art, and having a drink in the diner car, we took a food-truck break.  (Obviously there were food trucks.  Did you really expect that guy in the cheetah-skull jean jacket to eat food off of a real plate?)  We went with the Lobsta Truck because Brian had read a rave review on Urban Daddy, and let me just tell you, YOU NEED TO FIND THIS TRUCK NOW.  Seriously.  It's worth creating a Twitter account just to track the whereabouts of this truck so that you, too, can experience the sweet, sweet buttery joy of the Lobsta Truck lobster roll.  We went back and gave them a giant tip after we finished our roll because it was just that good.

And then when the auction ended, we went home and drank wine along with Anthony Bourdain while he drunkenly stumbled through some other third-world country, as he does.  

How's that for date night?

First Fridays (Two Fridays Ago)

For those of you who don't live in L.A., First Fridays is an event on the first Friday of the summer months where all the stores and art galleries on this main street in Venice (Abbott Kinney) stay open late and food trucks flood the streets.  It's like a frat party for 20-somethings who like to pretend that they're really there for the art.  I kind of love it (except for the part where the streets get too crowded for my claustrophobic self...but before that, I love it).

Just a few snaps from the galleries we peeped in:

Collages using wheatpaste from the Faile Artist Collective, aka artists Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller out of Brooklyn.

 {I feel awful but I lost the flyer I had picked up with this artist's name on it.  If you recognize his/her work, give me a shout!}

And in case you were overwhelmed by all that culture...

{This time around we had pork buns at the Flying Pig food truck, but there's always a next time.}

Something for everyone here in L.A.

Happy Friday!

Cinemagraphs

Have you ever clicked on the link to Jamie Beck's blog, From Me to You, over there on the right under my blog crushes?  If you haven't, what are you waiting for??  Jamie Beck is my absolute favorite fashion photographer, and she's famous for her cinemagraphs (like this one).  What's a cinemagraph?  A picture that moves -- well, only part of it moves, which makes it even more amazing!

I came upon this article the other day that posts a bunch of Jamie's cinemagraphs and give a bit of an explanation as to how they are made.  I'm so in awe!  Seriously, click.