These three fine places of interest in the Los Angeles area are perfect for exploring while you’re attending FMCA’s 75th International Convention.
By Lazelle Jones
March 2009
Lacing the Los Angeles, California, landscape are many fine museums. Seeing these sights can enhance your stay while in Pomona to attend FMCA’s “Celebrating Family” convention at Fairplex March 20, 21, 22, and 23.
Please note that parking a motorhome is difficult, if not impossible, at all three attractions, so you’ll want to take your towed car. Now, let’s get ready to explore.
The J. Paul Getty Museum
More than 10 million guests have explored the museum since the Getty Center opened in 1997 “” proof that it’s quite a place.
This 86-acre complex features the museum, a 450-seat multipurpose auditorium, a restaurant, two cafes, and a bookstore. The galleries are housed in five two-story pavilions that surround a central courtyard. Walkways lead between the second story of each pavilion. The entire place is handicapped-accessible, and wheelchairs and strollers are available.
The use of natural light is the key to how paintings are displayed. Specially controlled louvers in each gallery let just the proper amount of light into the room. The collection’s most famous holding is Vincent van Gogh’s “Irises,” which cost a whopping $53.9 million.
The Getty collection includes European paintings, illuminated drawings, manuscripts, sculpture, and decorative arts; 19th-century American and European photographs; and Greek and Roman antiquities. Masterpieces by Goya, van Gogh, Monet, and Rembrandt are among the classics featured here.
You may want to start your visit by watching an orientation film and picking up a map of the facility. Orientation tours are sometimes offered, too. One-time exhibitions are scheduled throughout the year. Talks, lectures, films, art demonstrations, and concerts are routinely presented as well.
Parking your towed car costs $7, but admission is free. The Getty Center is open Tuesday through Sunday, and closed on Mondays and major holidays. From the parking area, you travel via an electric tram “” a five-minute ride up the hill “” and glean a great view of the Santa Monica Mountains from this facility high at the summit.
The Getty Center is at 1200 Getty Center Drive in Los Angeles, off of Interstate 405 (San Diego Freeway). Travel approximately 12 miles north of downtown Los Angeles and exit at Getty Center Drive. For more information, call (310) 440-7300 or visit www.getty.edu. Those attending the FMCA convention will want to note that a tour will be offered to the J. Paul Getty Museum during the conclave.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Located on Wilshire Boulevard’s “Miracle Mile” between Beverly Hills and the downtown area of Los Angeles, this world-renowned public art museum complex consists of six buildings that encompass more than 700,000 square feet.
Featured is an extensive collection of art from the United States, the ancient East, South and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, Japan, and Latin America; costumes and textiles; decorative arts; European painting and sculpture; photography; and numerous prints and drawings.
The museum complex includes the Boone Children’s Gallery; the Bernard and Edith Lewin Latin American Art Galleries; and Hancock Park, a 12-acre revitalized community park space that serves visitors and the Los Angeles community. Hancock Park includes a sculpture garden as well as an amphitheater for music, dance, theater, and the performing arts. Three museum shops, a cafe, and an exquisite sit-down restaurant for elegant dining are located on-site.
The main buildings at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (also known as LACMA East) are located in the Miracle Mile area on Wilshire Boulevard between Fairfax and La Brea avenues, just east of Ogden Drive. LACMA West is two blocks west, at the northeast corner of Fairfax Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard. Paid parking is available in the lots at Wilshire Boulevard and Spaulding Avenue, at Wilshire and Ogden Drive, and at South Street and Curson Avenue. Parking in the Spaulding lot is free every evening after 7:00 p.m.
The museum is open Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from noon to 8:00 p.m.; Friday from noon to 9:00 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The facilities are closed on Wednesdays. Admission is free on the second Tuesday of every month, and after 5:00 p.m. each evening. General admission is $9 for adults and $5 for seniors (62 and up) and students (ages 18 and over) with ID; children (17 and under) are admitted free. Wheelchairs, assistive listening devices, and text versions of audio information are available. For more information, call (323) 857-6000 or visit www.lacma.org.
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Henry Edwards Huntington, railroad and real estate magnate, founded the Huntington in 1919, with the museum and gardens opening to the public in 1928. The library contains more than 5 million manuscripts, photographs, books, and myriad important works in British and American history, literature, science, and art. Among the items displayed are the manuscript of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (circa 1410); a massive collection of early editions of Shakespeare; original letters penned by Benjamin Franklin and presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln; and a Gutenberg Bible.
This year marks the 300th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin’s birth, and one of the greatest treasures of all time “” the handwritten manuscript of his autobiography “” is on view at the museum through March 26. Related items such as original copies of Poor Richard’s Almanack also will be on display.
The Huntington Gallery “” the original Georgian mansion that Henry Huntington built from 1909 to 1911 “” housed a famous art collection until recently. Currently the structure is undergoing upgrades and its reopening date has not been set. No matter; visitors still can view the artwork in the new 16,000-square-foot Lois and Robert F. Erburu Gallery instead. The famous British paintings include Thomas Gainsborough’s “The Blue Boy”; Sir Thomas Lawrence’s “Pinkie”; and Sir Joshua Reynolds’ “Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse,” among others.
Across the Shakespeare Garden is the Virginia Steele Scott Gallery, where American paintings and decorative arts, including those of Edward Hopper and Frederic Remington, can be viewed. In the west wing of the library are Renaissance-era paintings and French art. Considered by many to be the most important piece of art in the Huntington collection is a 15th-century work depicting the Madonna and Child by Rogier van der Weyden.
In spite of all this, some people visit the place not for the art, but to see the flowers and gorgeous landscaping. The Botanical Gardens features 12 principal garden areas (including the Japanese, Rose, Shakespeare, Camellia, Jungle, Palm, and Australian gardens) and 14,000 different kinds of plants. For those wanting to experience English high tea, the Rose Garden Tearoom “” situated in the three-acre Rose Garden with its 1,500 different varieties of roses “” is the perfect place. Included with tea are small salads, petite desserts, finger sandwiches, cheeses, and fresh fruits. This is a casual place, too, with no dress code. A reservation is necessary at least two weeks in advance, but that’s easily attended to by calling (626) 683-8131.
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens is in San Marino at 1151 Oxford Road. It is closed Mondays and most holidays, and open to the public Tuesday through Friday from noon to 4:30 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors ages 65 and up, $10 for students ages 12 to 18 (or with a full-time student ID), $6 for children ages 5 to 11, and free for children under 5.
The complex can be reached by taking Interstate 10 (San Bernardino Freeway) and exiting at San Gabriel Boulevard. For more information, call (626) 405-2100 or visit www.huntington.org.
Be sure to visit one or all of these great collections while you’re in Southern California.