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| Joshua Tree Retreat Center - FLLY Jr. |
Right after Fourth of July I went to southern California,
again. I realize that many people like to malign Los Angeles. I don’t find it
terribly annoying, but I am only a visitor. I’m sure the realities of traffic
and the vast distance between things would be maddening. But, as a traveler, I
pick and choose my spots to avoid the insanity.
Back in February my yoga friend and I decided to go to a
yoga festival in Joshua Tree, in July. The idea of doing yoga in the high
desert in July didn’t phase me in February. The reality of it was much more
challenging. I visited Joshua Tree a little more than a year ago; I knew there
was pretty much nothing there. It seemed like a nice spot for a
retreat.
Before heading to the desert, I planned one night in Los
Angeles. My yoga friend fully embraced my style of travel: do/see as many
things as possible in a geographically and temporally (slightly) reasonable
amount of time.
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| Guisados - DTLA |
Upon landing in the AM we stopped at the Antwon Kerner
Gallery to see a Richard Prince exhibit, grabbed coffee at Go Get Em Tiger, ate
tacos at Guisados, meandered through The Last Bookstore, took a short walk from
the hotel to The Broad, managed a requisite time-change nap, ate a
quick sushi dinner, and spent few hours at the Comedy Store. Yes, that was
quite a bit. The tacos were glorious. The Broad is a very nice collection and
there was/is a Cindy Sherman exhibit on. And, we saw David Spade at the
Store.
In the morning we grabbed coffee at Verve, ate pies at Bronzed Aussie, hiked in Griffith Park, stopped at a Whole Foods 365, and drove out to the desert. Once in the desert, we didn’t
eat a meal. Yes, five days without a real meal. We drank smoothies and ate
fruit in very yoga fashion. Needless to say, we were starving by day five. One
of the reasons I was excited about the retreat was the location: the Joshua
Tree Retreat Center. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, Jr. There are many
structures on the site and all of them seem reminiscent of Frank. I took two
sunrise walks around the complex and took a few photos.
Once we left the retreat, our first goal was food. My yoga
friend is Armenian and we learned that there is a solid Armenian community in
Glendale. We found an Armenian restaurant, Carousel, not too far out of the way on our
drive to Santa Barbara. Yoga buddy ordered us a bunch of vegetarian stuff. We
ordered so much (and ate all of it) that we felt the need to explain to our
server that we hadn’t really eaten in
five days. We swore that we don’t really eat like that all the time (even
though we kind of do…).
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| Carousel Restaurant |
Our next stop was Santa Barbara. I hadn’t been there since I
was nineteen, and it was only for lunch. We spent a full day enjoying Santa
Barbara. I didn’t have too much in mind: we practiced yoga, drank coffee at
Handle Bar, ate an awesome young coconut and some sort of raw vegan dessert
ball, wandered through the Santa Barbara Court House, drove up to an organic
winery (Alma Rosa Winery), ate sushi for dinner, and caught sunset on the beach. I enjoyed Santa Barbara
for it’s non-L.A. qualities. It feels like the suburbs to me: more relaxed,
more casual.
The next morning we were up and out to try to get to yoga at
Bikram Headquarters. Traffic being what it is in L.A., we realized we weren’t
going to make the class we wanted, so we went to Bikram Yoga Marina Del Ray instead. After class we walked around Venice. In true yogi-style, we were
starving after class, but nothing seemed appealing. We grabbed coffee at
Intelligentsia and some pastries. We were saving ourselves for something later
in the day. I had never been to Venice before. I have to admit, this was the
first part of L.A. that I did not like. The people were…self-absorbed
and out of touch. If I moved to L.A. I could see myself living downtown (I
appreciate the revitalization effort going on there) or somewhere away from the
beach.
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| Pizzeria Mozza |
After coffee we drove over to LACMA. Tuesdays are free; it was packed. Some of the exhibits were sold out. I really
came for James Turrell’s Ganzfeld. It’s a magical experience. I’ll visit it
every time I go to Los Angeles.
After LACMA we drove to the meal I had been thinking about
for weeks: pizza at Pizzeria Mozza. I’ve said it before, on this very blog,
that I am beyond particular about pizza. If I’m eating pizza, it’s going to be
fantastic, or have a very good chance of being fantastic.
Unapologetically, Yoga friend and I ordered an octopus salad, two pizzas, and
dessert. The pizza was excellent. We each ate a whole pie (I mean, of course I’m eating the whole thing) and then left
for the red-eye back to Philly.
Overall, it was a beautiful eight days in Southern
California. The yoga retreat was something not to be forgotten, but that can’t
be put into words. The food was exactly as I wanted. And the sights
were as golden as I remembered.
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| Richard Prince |
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| The Last Bookstore |
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| Walt Disney Concert Hall - Frank Gehry |
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| The Broad Museum |
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| Cindy Sherman Exhibit at The Broad |
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| Verve Coffee, DTLA |
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| Santa Barbara Court House |
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| Judd at LACMA |
Over Labor Day weekend, I went to New Orleans with two
friends. The list of cities I feel the need to visit, in the US, is dwindling.
I’m down to Minneapolis, maybe Dallas/Houston, Miami, and apparently, Memphis. Then,
I’m on to National Parks and other countries. I wanted to visit New Orleans for
years. I didn’t want to visit alone. After a failed attempt to go to New
Orleans last New Years, three busy people managed to plan a trip together. I
was happy to travel with like-minded friends. We worked on a Google Doc of
restaurants/bars for weeks. A few days before, we figured we should add in a
few cultural events. Terms like “strategic reservations” were thrown about. An
itinerary was typed up.
One of the other “strategic reservations” we made was Commander’s Palace for their
Saturday jazz brunch. We were all looking for at least one traditional New
Orleans experience. We were not disappointed. We ended up overly full and very
impressed. The service, the food, the deep-dark French sauces, the bread, the
garlic bread, the desserts, the everything. After lunch we walked around St. Lafayette cemetery across the street. Somehow, we continued on to the New Orleans Art Museum and sculpture garden. It’s
a very nice, compact art museum. A life-sized, gilded log cabin proved
surprising and useful (I showed my US history class photos). 
