Travels with Auntie M: Los Angeles

Showing posts with label Los Angeles. Show all posts

The Last Bookstore, Los Angeles - 20 AUG 2015

20,000 square foot emporium located downtown at 5th and Spring Streets.

If you like old bookstores and funky art, this is the place to visit.

The check out counter is made of stacked books.

There are books turned into flight full art,

a mounted Woolly Mammoth head hanging on the wall,

a peek-a-boob wall of books,

and a walk-through arched tunnel of books.

Since this building had been a bank, there are three safes, each turned into reading rooms.

Upstairs is called the Labyrinth (porthole into an alternate universe),

with several cubbyholes for more abstract art,

and the Spring Arts collective gallery and shops.

Ashley Fisher hand cuts intricate silhouettes which are mounted in antique frames.

I love the work from the Lockjaw Garage,

wonderful functional art made from recycled items.

The Lockjaw Garage has some fun videos on YouTube.

Through this dirty window I spotted bare breasted women on the second story of the building next door;

a detail that would be lost from the street view. All the art inspired me to make some of my own:

This photo from the Los Angeles Times shows the book store during an event:

Walking to The Last Book Store there are wonderful sights to see:

Buildings with ornate brick work,

and colorful stores.

Biddy Mason Park, Los Angeles - 20 AUG 2015

There is a wall in the center of the block surrounded by Broadway, Spring, 3rd and 4th Streets (in downtown Los Angeles). It tells the story of Biddy Mason.

The story on the wall says she was born into slavery in 1818, in Georgia. When her owner moved to California (a free state), she petitioned the court for her freedom (in 1856).

She was one of the first African Americans to purchase land in Los Angeles. She worked as a nurse and midwife.

She held a meeting in her home to organize the Los Angeles First African Methodist Episcopal Church (in 1872). She nursed the sick, comforts prisoners, and feeds the homeless.

From other resources, I learned she was quite the entrepreneur, amassing a fortune of nearly $300,000. Her grandson became the riches African-American in Los Angeles at the start of the twentieth century.

Brewery Art Walk, Los Angeles, CA – 27 APR 2013

Once a year, the densely populated art community located in the old Pabst Blue Ribbon Brewery complex, opens its doors to the public for a week-end of art viewing and sales.

The last time I went to this annual event, was in 2010 (Brewery Art Walk-2010). Two of the artists I posted last time are still here and by coincidence were included in the few images I documented. Customized Drink Containers and…

The artist who does strange things with dolls:

Tinky Winky found an interesting traffic cone…turned out this artist puts small rubbery cones (shaped like chocolate chips) on common objects.

This artist make faces out of palm fronds:

Tinky Winky becomes part of the art:

I enjoyed the artistic gardens as much as the studio art:

My art was released in the form of flowers:

And in a reflection:

As we were leaving I saw this horse sitting on top of several shipping containers:

Comikaze Expo, Los Angeles – 05 NOV 11

At the Los Angeles Convention Center, I attended Comikaze Expo; an invasion of Comic, Anime, Gaming, Si-Fi, Fantasy and Horror (that about covers it all). In another words, put on any old costume you have and head downtown.