Vanity Fair

For a couple of years my friends and I would make these list of things to do, places to go, restaurants to try, exhibits to see. This list would come in handy when we had visitors but most of all give us a chance to explore this city. As L.A. daily can drain you, but if you search around there are some really cools things to do here. It also a chance for us to explore LaLa land other than the 405, 10, 101, 90, 110. We use to have time to make lists and go on what I would call an L.A. adventure, life gets in the way of fun. We would pick a few places that were relatively close together so we wouldn't have to take the 405, 10, 101, 90, 110 to get from one place to another. Today came together VERY last minute, but ended up being a lovely adventure. All of us wanted to see the photography exhibit at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art). So with connections, yes it's WHO you know in this town, we were able to go for free.


Of course you can't take photo's of the photographs but I did take a few of the outside entrance. The Vanity Fair photographs are amazing, every well-known photographer, actor, musician, writer, director, politician has a photograph for this magazine. Here is a list of a few favorites: Did you know that Fred Astaire had a sister named Adele that he would dance with before Ginger? She married a Lord and became a Lady, but the photograph that captured these siblings was fantastic she had the best outfit on with wide sleeves and amazing details on the edges. C found a picture of an author, none of us could remember, but she loved the hair cut and is vowing to mimic that look.




New sculpture at the entrance of LACMA was pretty amazing and made for some cool photos.

We went on to see the William Randolph Hearst art collection which was a hodgepodge of stuff that a very rich man purchases just because he has the means. Interesting but not that exciting. There was another exhibit of photographs from all the best, William Fox Talbot, Julia Margeret Cameron (Mrs. Subs that made me think of you), Alfred Stieglizt, Weston and Imogen Cunningham to name a few of my favorites. One thing that is amazing is that these people took pictures of their friends and then they or there friends or both became famous. So I figure either I or my friends have a 50/50 chance of this happening to us. Here's to you Zeff and L, we're bound to be famous now.
As you may have seen in an earlier post I love the Chris Burton public installation. Tonight it lit up just as we were leaving the museum. After we illegally climb over everything and took lots of pictures the sun set and it was a gorgeous L.A. evening. I must admit, I think I'm rather obssessed with these lamps.

After this we took off to Sweet Lady Jane to enjoy dessert and hopefully the black ham and jarlsberg cheese sandwich. This place is a little bakery that absolutely has the best cakes, everyone who has ever lived in L.A. has to have this cake at least once. They are both tasty and beautiful. My favorite is the Triple Berry Shortcake as we have ordered that for a few parties before.
A new delicious cake just now found was the oreo cookie tiramisu....delish.

Of course everywhere in the world has to have their version of the red velvet cupcake, this was a good one to try. Love the cream cheese frosting.They no longer serve sandwiches but that didn't stop us from some amazing desserts and a pot of French pressed coffee. It's been a long time since I've been here and this area of Melrose is covered with all the designer shops that we salivate for, Marc Jacobs, Alexander McQueen, Herve Leger, all places I will never be able to afford to buy at, but window shopping is a rush.

There was a slight chill in the air when we left, finally. The fog had set in as we traveled back to the Westside. Since I missed out on my ham and jarlsberg cheese sandwich (I am such a Cuban) I ran to the local store and stocked up on the necessities and made my own version with a nice glass of Voigner and a comfortable evening at home with SB.