A Perfect Day in Hollywood

A little bomb squad evacuation on La Cienaga was not going to stop us. We had an itinerary! Thanks to Jeff's expert navigation around the backed up traffic, we arrived in WeHo only slightly behind schedule. Leaving his trusty (but not too rusty) Volvo parked there, we continued in one car down Hollywood Boulevard where just weeks earlier daughter #3 had run in the LA Marathon. We started heading up toward the hills, and after many twists and turns (including a few wrong ones), we arrived at our destination for a picnic lunch from Zinc.

This particular park had been chosen for its fantastic view of "one of the world’s most evocative symbols – a universal metaphor for ambition, success, glamour …" the Hollywood Sign. Suzanne had always wanted to see it up close and it was a perfect day for this FFA.

Many dogs were enjoying the perfect day in defiance of the posted leash requirement. One of the dog owners took this picture of our picnic, and then clued us in to an even better viewing spot. So off we went, further up the hill, to a dead-end dirt road which felt like a secret that few people had stumbled upon.

Our next destination was the historic Hollyhock House in Barnsdall Park, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. We purchased our tickets and enjoyed our tour of this amazing architectural gem. It was our second FLW tour this year. In January we were fortunate to see La Miniatura in Pasadena.

Although we were an hour behind schedule, we decided to swing by Schindler House since that was near where Jeff's car was parked. Tours are free after 4:00 on Fridays, so what did we have to lose? Wow, were we glad we did not miss this jewel! Suzi and I agreed we could live in this one. I liked the concrete kitchen countertops. It seemed vaguely Japanese even though apparently Schindler never visited Japan. Schindler and Wright did work together, though.

My picture here is of the garden because I loved the way the sunlight hit the grasses.

Suzi and I had tickets to a long-awaited program at Royce Hall with two of our favorite authors, Anne Lamott and Elizabeth Gilbert, but there was still time for dinner as we seemed to have magically gotten on schedule with our itinerary. We pulled into the lot at Barefoot Restaurant in WeHo as a Bentley pulled in right behind us, and I immediately regretted wearing jeans and sandals. Oh well, this is LA, right? The food was fantastic and since we don't adhere to the "no religion or politics at the dinner table" rule, the conversation was stimulating and a perfect lead-in to our evening program. We dropped Jeff off at his trusty (but not too rusty) Volvo and off we went to one of the most beautiful venues in SoCal, Royce Hall.

Could have listened to Anne and Elizabeth for hours. Our perfect Hollywood day ended with a perfect Westwood evening. The 405 waits...time to get back to the OC.