Los Angeles

Joy and I are taking a surprise trip to California to visit my family. My mother is getting on in years and has been ailing a bit. She's recovering, but I figure I should make sure she and my son have plenty of chances to interact. My son already has a special place for "Grandma" and I want to encourage that. Hopefully they have years to establish a bond, but they won't if we don't visit when we have the chance.

So, California is on my mind and, inevitably with me, where we plan on eating is on my mind. Which may lead to a few restaurant reviews...

Tito's Tacos
11222 Washington Pl
Culver City, CA 90230
(cross st. Sepulveda)

Cheap, delicious Mexican fast food.

When I first took my wife to meet my family in Los Angeles (her first time in California ever...for the record, everyone I have shown around Los Angeles likes it...) I explained there were certain things I just HAD to do, certain places I HAD to eat. Among them was an early trip to Tito's Tacos. This is a place that is on the way from the airport if you are heading into the bulk of the city, so it was high the list for first stop off the plane. She seemed a bit unclear why a stop at a random taco stand was a MUST for visting Los Angeles, but she took my word for it.

The second time she visited Los Angeles, I hadn't even mentioned what we should or shouldn't do. Our goal was organizing our wedding and all other considerations were pushed aside in my mind. As we got to our rental car and started the engines, Joy turned to me and said, "Tito's Tacos, right?" It had become HER first MUST do in Los Angeles. All it had taken was that first introduction and she was as hooked as I had been from years of addiction.

While I was at the conference at UCLA, I took a break to see what they had at the Fowler Museum, UCLA's little cultural museum. This museum, though small (usually only 4 small exhibits) can sometims have real gems. One time they had the Treasures of Sipan, the only American museum to have this spectacular exhibit of Peruvian artifacts. It was compared to the Treasures of Tutankhamen...and rightly so.

Nothing that spectacular is on display right now at the Fowler, but there is one exhibit that we quite loved. It was an exhibit of art by West African artist El Anatsui using, quite simply, garbage to make beautiful tapestry-like pieces.

(image from Artifacts Net)

For more images, take the photo tour from the Fowler Museum website (if the link works! If not go to their website through the link above).

His stuff is amazing and is made from things like the bits of metal that are used to seal liquor bottles (which are non-recyclable, so El Anatsui recycles them into art!).

My brother, Marty Michaelson, is an artist. His biggest project was working with the artist Judy Chicago on her last project. We are lucky in that the last couple of times we went to Los Angeles we were able to see his latest shows. I meant to publicize his latest when I first came back from LA, but other things kept coming up. Now there are only 8 days left til it closes so I better plug it now!

My brother came to art somewhat late and somewhat randomly. But he loves it and his style keeps developing. You can see some of his stuff (and he is quite prolific, so this is only a small sampling) if you click here.

Among my personal favorites are one he did based on pictures my wife and I brought back from our honeymoon in Japan:

And this rather surreal one called "Frida Kahlo on Monster Island:"

(this gives you an idea of some of his unique themes)

Here's the info on the latest show:

"From The Depths . . ." Showcases Local Art Work

From the depths of downtown Pomona, 17 artists have risen from their basement gallery to spread the word that organisms and objects of all types have come "From The Depths . . ." of space, the jungle, the ocean and their minds and can be found at the Progress Space Gallery in Pomona during the months of June and July 2007.