Megan took Seda, Bektaş, and me on a fantastic tour in downtown LA, mostly to places I had never been before. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos ’cause I still hadn’t repaired my phone and Ferda didn’t join us (I often poach her photos).
From Pershing Square we went to the Biltmore Hotel with its ornate entrance and fountain. Check out the griffons with fake boobs on the banisters. Almost next door is the Perla hotel which has an atrium with Moroccan arches. Downstairs the toilets are in the old bank vault. Both hotels have notable ceilings. The Apple Store in the theater district is in a restored old theater — beautiful ceilings, old iron work, some Ottoman/Islamic-like drinking fountains. Fantastic. My favorite was the Bradbury building with ironwork reminding me of Eiffel (in Orizaba and Paris) and National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. The Bradbury building predates all of those, built in the last decade of the 19th century.
Other stops on the tour felt more like the typical tourist itinerary, maybe ’cause Megan had taken me before — Grand Central Market, Angel’s Flight, LA Public Library (check out the rotunda and the murals in the children’s section), Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Oh wait, I do have a photo taken at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in the Blue Ribbon Garden (from a visit with my Dad to an actual concert!). This piece by Frank Gehry, called A Rose for Lilly, is made with broken pieces of Delftware. It’s a tribute to Walt Disney’s wife, Lillian Disney, who loved both roses and Royal Delft Porcelain — though 200 vases were shattered to make the rose and fountain!
An LA view from the Blue Ribbon Garden:
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