Los Angeles, California
March 9–13, 2022
March 9–13, 2022
It’s official: I love LA. I really didn’t expect it. I figured this little country mouse would stay on the far outskirts and maybe venture into the city itself once. Instead, I extended my trip and spent most of my time right in the heart of one of the biggest cities on earth. I never had a proper campsite in LA, instead stealth camping in commercial parking lots and on side streets in residential areas that didn’t have NO PARKING signs. No one bothered me, even once, and I realized that such a big city expects nontraditional visitors and has enough actual crime and drama to attend to that the police don’t have time to get worked up about a camper van parked overnight. I stayed in Manhattan Beach, Venice, Glendale, and down in Huntington Beach.
The dogs and I went on an epic, eight-mile hike around Griffith Park, all the way up to the Hollywood sign. At one point, the trail got so narrow, rocky, and sandy that my Chacos were becoming dangerous, so I took them off and hiked barefoot, attracting impressed comments from other hikers. We also visited the epic Huntington Beach dog beach (1.5 miles of leash-free magic!), dog parks in Manhattan Beach (meh) and Huntington Beach (amazing), and the Strand in Manhattan Beach. I also got to stop in Inglewood for a coffee chat with VCFA MFA in Graphic Design Faculty Co-Chair Silas Munro, a.k.a. the coolest dude alive.
I spent a couple evenings cozied up at the Glendale Tap, a beer bar with free wifi and cozy booths. If I lived in Glendale, I think I’d spend quite a bit of time there. On my last full day, I headed into the heart of downtown LA to the LA Museum of Contemporary Art. Tickets are completely free thanks to a generous donor, and I got to marvel at works by Ruth Asawa (my favorite!), Yoko Ono, Bruce Nauman, Nam June Paik, Mark Rothko, Carlos Cruz-Diez, rafa esparza, Lauren Halsey, Louise Nevelson, Rodney McMillian, and so many others. A friendly docent caught me admiring esparza’s painting and shared some extra background information about the piece and its base of adobe. We also shared a moment of confounded distaste for the young ’uns running through the galleries and taking selfies with art they barely glanced at. (He couldn’t have been more than 30 himself, so I appreciated him thinking I was worth venting to.)
As I drove out of the city on Monday, through the legendary traffic on “the five,” I felt a pang of sorrow. I looked forward to some more time in the woods, but I really will miss Los Angeles. I definitely will be back.
The dogs and I went on an epic, eight-mile hike around Griffith Park, all the way up to the Hollywood sign. At one point, the trail got so narrow, rocky, and sandy that my Chacos were becoming dangerous, so I took them off and hiked barefoot, attracting impressed comments from other hikers. We also visited the epic Huntington Beach dog beach (1.5 miles of leash-free magic!), dog parks in Manhattan Beach (meh) and Huntington Beach (amazing), and the Strand in Manhattan Beach. I also got to stop in Inglewood for a coffee chat with VCFA MFA in Graphic Design Faculty Co-Chair Silas Munro, a.k.a. the coolest dude alive.
I spent a couple evenings cozied up at the Glendale Tap, a beer bar with free wifi and cozy booths. If I lived in Glendale, I think I’d spend quite a bit of time there. On my last full day, I headed into the heart of downtown LA to the LA Museum of Contemporary Art. Tickets are completely free thanks to a generous donor, and I got to marvel at works by Ruth Asawa (my favorite!), Yoko Ono, Bruce Nauman, Nam June Paik, Mark Rothko, Carlos Cruz-Diez, rafa esparza, Lauren Halsey, Louise Nevelson, Rodney McMillian, and so many others. A friendly docent caught me admiring esparza’s painting and shared some extra background information about the piece and its base of adobe. We also shared a moment of confounded distaste for the young ’uns running through the galleries and taking selfies with art they barely glanced at. (He couldn’t have been more than 30 himself, so I appreciated him thinking I was worth venting to.)
As I drove out of the city on Monday, through the legendary traffic on “the five,” I felt a pang of sorrow. I looked forward to some more time in the woods, but I really will miss Los Angeles. I definitely will be back.
