We spent more time on L.A.’s freeways today than inside museums. Drove "only" about 60 mi in total, but spent an annoying amount of time on the roads. Don’t understand how the Los Angelinos can handle all the commuting every day. Many crazy drivers, in addition, switching lanes (often 8 to 10) unexpectedly, stopping abruptly or ignoring lights, potholes and construction sites. L.A. is one of the worst cities to drive, but fortunately I had a good navigator by my side and therefore we succeeded to be on time all day long. We’ve been on a very tight schedule, arranged by the cultural department of the L.A. Tourism: five museums in different neighborhoods or towns, miles apart from each other. Started at 8:30 am and came back at 6 pm. It's been cloudy in the morning and not very warm all day.
Our first stop was the Watts Towers in Watts (South L.A.). 17 vernacular structures were built by Simon Rodia, an italian immigrant, in the center of a black neighborhood from 1921-1955. He erected Nuestro Pueblo (Our Town) all alone, all by hand, using steel rods wrapped in wire mesh and coated with cement. Embedded are shards of ceramics, bottles, tiles, shells, porcellan, glass, mirrors etc.
The Watts Towers Arts Center is adjacent and they not only organize art exhibitions but also do a great job in educating, assisting, fostering people in the neighborhood. Art and music events and workshops, a community garden and much more makes it an ambitious project. Since Watts is noted for the 1965 Watts Riots, the neighborhood still struggles with its reputation, though it’s nowadays no more, no less criminal than other neighborhoods.
On to the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park, where they are proud of a new instructive exhibition gallery called „Becoming Los Angeles“. Walking (!) over to the California Science Center we admired the size of an original Space Shuttle Endeavour which the museum is hosting since 2012.
After a quick lunch at Nick & Stef’s Steakhouse in Downtown L.A. - excellent steaks! - with Mike from LA Tourism we got a hardhat tour on the nearby construction site of the new Broad Museum which is supposed to open in 2015. It’s across the street from the fabulous Disney Concert Hall from Frank Gehry.
The museum, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, will be home to the huge collection of Eli and Edythe Broad – among the most prominent holdings of postwar and contemporary art worldwide. Looking forward to see it once it’s accomplished.
On to Culver City, in heavy friday afternoon traffic, to The Wende Museum & Archive of the Cold War, a not too easy to sell sight. The Wende Museum preserves the cultural artifacts and personal histories of Cold War-era Eastern Europe and Soviet Union and tries to put it in an artistic-modern, global context. Founder and Director Justin Jampol gave us an enthusiastic tour through his spectacular collection and we drove over to the site of the new museum (just „across the street“, meaning just a couple of miles away). It’s supposed to open end of this year in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
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