New York, New York

Last week, I took a quick (3 days, 2 nights) trip to NYC to visit friends, go to museums and eat good food. Here are my highlights:

POD Hotel - For the most part, NYC hotel rooms are small. So why not embrace that and save money at the same time? I loved my perfectly-designed double room at the POD, but what I loved even more was that I paid as much for two nights than I would have for one night at an equally stylish hotel. It's also a block away from the 6 train which is very convenient if you're going to hit the museums on the Upper East Side, and because it's in Midtown, it's an easy to walk to most of the main tourist attractions. The only thing to note is that some of the rooms use the bathrooms in the hallway, which can lead to interesting smells and dormlike/noisy frolicking in the public areas, but I didn't really have a problem with this because I have a high tolerance for noise and I had my own bathroom.

Frick Museum - Still my favorite museum, probably because I'm such a fan of "America's Castles"-type residences. But the collection is outstanding if you like beautiful paintings by Old Masters (with some exceptions). My only quibble is that I wished Frick had collected some Sargents, but I'll take the Whistlers happily as substitutes. I thought it was ironic that the special exhibition consisted of paintings from the Norton Simon, but since I love that collection, too, I didn't really mind.

Madame X at the Met - Probably one of my favorite paintings of all time. When I was last in NYC, it was on loan to another museum, but this time, I got to fully admire John Singer Sargent's controversial painting at my leisure.

Tea @ Alice's Tea Cup - Amazing scones! I had "The Nibbler" tea service which consisted of one scone (pumpkin for me) with jam and cream, a rather hearty tea sandwich (Lapsang Souchong Chicken on multigrain bread), various cookies, and a pot of tea (Lavender Earl Grey). I was pretty ravenous, but this filled me up very quickly, so it makes me wonder who would consider this just a nibble.

Sofia Wine Bar - I needed a quiet place near my hotel to catch up with an old friend and found this new wine bar a block away. The sommelier was very accommodating and helped me to zero in on the perfect glass of Brunello.

Lemony mini croissants @ Sant Ambroeus - These came in a bread basket I had during Saturday morning brunch at Sant Ambroeus and I'm still thinking about them. Dusted with powdered sugar, they had a faint lemon flavor that brightened the buttery sweetness. This restaurant/pasticceria/gelateria gets extra points for the sweet but sophisticated design of its branding (the waiters even wore pink button-down shirts to match!)

Food @ MOMA - I like eating at museums when I get the chance and usually the food is okay to good, but I have to say that the food service at MOMA was revelatory. For lunch at Cafe 2, the lemon ricotta manicotti with swiss chard I had was sublime and better than many dishes I've had at proper sit-down restaurants. Later in the afternoon, despite already eating a chocolate chunk cookie at lunch, I shared the inventive MOMA sundae with a friend at Terrace 5: raspberry & fromage blanc sorbets, cheesecake, fresh berries, vanilla sauce. Decadent, but light.

MOMA Store - I bought a new watch here in addition to some other cool things, and spent more money than I had planned. If you like museum stores and good design, you'd probably drop a bit of cash here, too.

Pret a Manger - I loved these grab and go food shops in London and was glad to see them stateside. If only they were in L.A...

AirTrain - This is the first time I've had the chance to take the AirTrain to and from JFK and I have to say that it was very convenient (especially since my hotel was a few blocks away from the subway station.) Previously, I used to take the Grayline Bus from JFK to Grand Central, but I liked this much better. Unless I have more than one suitcase to carry by myself, I will definitely be sticking with the Airtrain for my NYC airport transfers.

I really enjoyed myself on this trip because I didn't have to really worry about orienting myself (which can be a drawback when you go to a new location). I just got to re-experience all the stuff I love, while checking out some of the new things I've heard about. To me, NYC is one of the best repeat travel destinations because it does a fantastic job of preserving its history and character while still moving forward at a dizzying pace. It's always easy to find something to satisfy any one of my many moods and I am never bored there. While I love home, it's definitely a nice change of pace from laidback and less-accessible Los Angeles.

Hike #1: Debs Park

Last week, I went to Debs Park in Highland Park for the first of my 60 hikes. After parking at the Audubon Center and deciding on my route, I ascended up the hill on the City View Trail (obviously named for its views of Downtown L.A.):

...which eventually led to a nice little pond at the top:


I wandered around a bit (I can't resist taking pictures of dappled light):

...before finally descending and checking out the LEED Platinum-rated Audubon Center (which my company worked on):

Overall, it was a good hike with several decent climbs to work out your calves. To reward myself afterward, I hung out in South Pasadena, eating a fantastic caprese sandwich at the Heirloom Bakery (see my tweets) and trying out the cupcakes at My Sweet Cupcake. Then, I went to the Pasadena Museum of California Art:

I've been wanting to go here for awhile, and though it is a small museum space, it does have its own charm. My favorite exhibit was of 3D images of Mars, courtesy of JPL and Caltech. After putting on the requisite specs, the Martian topography really popped out with the perspectives changing as I walked along the large prints.

Anyway, from one type of landscape to another, it was quite a full day!

DAM!

As mentioned in a previous post, I had the chance to visit the Denver Art Museum (DAM) a couple of weeks ago and I loved it. The museum is divided between the original North Building designed by Gio Ponti in 1971 and the newer Frederic C. Hamilton Building designed by Daniel Libeskind. The Hamilton Building is an architectural photographer's dream:

And the interior:


While in the Hamilton Building, I went to the special exhibition, Inspiring Impressionism, which shows Impressionist paintings alongside the Masters paintings that inspired them. The audiotour was impressive and I liked that they also had a children's version. After checking out that exhibition, I trotted over the skybridge to see the permanent exhibition in the North Building.

The permanent exhibition isn't huge but it's very well-edited and I absolutely loved the way the galleries were organized and designed. Most of the galleries had beautiful seating arrangements with art books to read and activities for kids, and there was a library/reading room where you could just relax and flip through more art books. My favorite gallery design had to be the Davis W. and Ellen N. Moore Gallery's, which showcased Design Before 1900:

I love these yellow benches!

Overall, the Denver Art Museum is definitely one of the best art museum experiences I've had. I love how American cities outside of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago are really making a name for themselves by incorporating some amazing cultural spaces. One unlikely design destination that I'd love to visit is Minneapolis, which has buildings by Jean Nouvel, Frank Gehry, Herzog & de Meuron and Michael Graves. (It also has the Mall of America and Target HQ, both of which would be guilty pleasures for me.) While in that part of the Midwest, I would also have to make the 5-hour drive to Milwaukee to see the brise soleil of the Milwaukee Art Museum by my favorite architect, Santiago Calatrava. In any event, these cities are showing that the Midwest and culture are not mutually exclusive:

Even cows like architecture!

For the full Flickr set of my DAM photos, click here.

Museums

Over the holiday break (which lasted approximately 11 days for me, not counting a few hours here and there of proof checks), I had the chance to check out three museum exhibitions that I've been wanting to see for a while.

The first I took care of while visiting family and friends in the South Bay and OC. "The Birth of Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury" at the Orange County Museum of Art was a nicely composed exhibition of midcentury modern furniture, paintings, objects and music. As I entered, the first room had Charles and Ray Eames' film, "Tops," projected onto the entire wall. The music was very hep. The next part of the exhibition gave some historical context. I really liked the signage and organization of this portion, which consisted of items and flat screens showing film clips, mounted on the wall with a cool blue band of paint behind them. The rest of the exhibit was heavy on the Eames' (rightfully so) and Julius Shulman's photography. (Note to self: Must see his exhibition at the Central Library before that closes on January 20)

The next two exhibitions I saw on New Year's Eve day: "© MURAKAMI" at MOCA's Geffen Contemporary and "Dali: Painting and Film" at LACMA. I really enjoyed both and it was interesting to see how Dali really made it possible for artists such as Takashi Murakami to create the kind of art that they do.

Initially, K & I didn't intend to see the Murakami exhibition, but we had some spare time before our 3pm Dali tickets and a little extra zip from our Intelligentsia buzz, so we went for it. I had seen some of Murakami's work in the "Ecstasy" exhibition a couple of years back, but this was definitely more an in-depth exploration of all aspects of his art. My favorite part was watching the Kaikai and Kiki movie preview. It was so adorable and weird that it made me feel very happy and young inside.

While we were able to take in the MOCA exhibition at a leisurely pace, we had no such luck at the Dali one, which is unfortunate because there was such a wealth of beautiful painting sand films that I could have stayed much longer. After waiting in line for about 20 minutes to get in, we were greeted with a slow-moving line that snaked along the wall of the first room. After waiting in that line for 10 minutes and moving only 10 feet, we decided to walk along the back of it, forsaking an up-close look at the first dozen paintings. After the bottleneck in the first room, it was smoother sailing and we were able to appreciate the rest of the exhibition up close. While I enjoyed the screenings of various Dali collaborations (in particular, Luis Bunuel's "Un Chien Andalou"), the highlight for me was seeing the actual paintings. The colors that he used were so vivid, especially when he paired warm and cool colors, and that definitely gets lost when you just see a poster of one of his works. Actually, with many paintings, a book or poster print usually does not do it justice. For example, when I saw Tamara Lempicka's "Jeune fille en vert" at the 2004 Art Deco exhibition at the San Francisco Legion of Honor, I felt the same way.

In any event, I would recommend seeing all three of these exhibitions. Unfortunately, the OCMA and LACMA ones close this Sunday(!) Luckily, you still have until February for the MOCA one. If you go, be sure to add to this piece of impromptu public art:

Doing the touristy thing

I reserved this weekend to do the unabashedly touristy things. So today, I hit Recoleta Cemetary (final resting place of Evita), the Museo de Bellas Artes, the Museo de Arte Decorativo (not to be confused with Art Deco), and the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (or MALBA). I'm going to write about the Recoleta Cemetary in another post, since I took more than 50 photos there and could have stayed longer than the one and a half hours I gave myself. Needless to say, I did visit Evita's grave, but no, I did not sing "Don't Cry for Me Argentina."

The three museums I went to today were nice, but I must admit that after going to some of the best museums in the world, I was a little underwhelmed. My friend, Dani, and I talked about this once...we were at the Met in NY and she said that after being in Paris and going to Louvre, D'Orsay and Versailles, every museum she has visited since has been a disappointment. I haven't been to Paris yet, but I'm starting to agree with her. My favorite museum in the world is still the Frick in New York, though I really liked the Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid and have a couple of favorites in Los Angeles (Getty, of course, Norton Simon, Jurassic Technology) Of the three museums, I liked MALBA most, because the museum was well-organized and art was all done by Latin American artists. Being from L.A., I do get a healthy dose of Latin American art, but this museum really showcased it well. There was actually one painting, in particular, that I really liked: "George, Gershwin, An American In Paris" by Miguel Covarrubias Maybe it's because I'm a big Gershwin fan, but I wished that they had a postcard or print that I could have bought. Unfortunately, they had none.

When I go to museums, I love buying museum-branded merchandise, whether it be mugs, T-shirts, notebooks or pens. Today was no exception: I bought a mug from Bellas Artes, a yerba mate mug from Arte Decorativo, and from MALBA, I bought 2 t-shirts (one MALBA-branded for me and a futbol one for Kip), 2 MALBA-branded teas (as recommended by my Wallpaper* City Guide) and a MALBA notebook. Because I'm a graphic designer, I just eat up well-branded merchandise. And MALBA is a well-branded museum. They also have a film series there that I might go to tomorrow night. They're showing Tropical Malady, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes. It's a Thai film about 2 men in a passionate gay relationship. It might be strange and hard to follow a film in Thai with Spanish subtitles, but perhaps it will be really good practice for me. Anyway, here's a photo of MALBA's exterior:
I also liked the Museo de Arte Decorativo, which is pretty much a grand old mansion, with a temple-front, filled with museum-quality furniture. I really liked the ballroom, which had an amazing parquet floor and an intricate carved-wood spiral staircase leading up to a mezzanine. Unfortunately, beyond that, there wasn't much else to see. I kept thinking I was missing a section, but alas, no. I would have taken pictures inside, but I was not allowed. I managed to sneak in a picture of this marble staircase, though:
And here's the temple-front:
Now, I could take photos inside the Museo de Bellas Artes, but only a few things caught my attention there:
I really liked this impressionist portrait and the kicker was that the museum guard looked exactly like the subject!

And to file under Weird:It's a bit hard to see, but this is a KISS concert diorama. It was out in the lobby with a sign asking for donations so that this exhibit could become part of the permanent collection. I kept looking around to see if there was a little plaque that said, "Just Kidding!"

To end this post, here's one that is just so exquisite:I just love her expression! I wouldn't mind happening upon that scene in the forest!