Downtown LA

On our last day in LA, we checked out of the hotel and took the metro downtown again. We had breakfast at the 5 cent diner.

Then went to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, home of the LA Philharmonic. It was designed by Frank Gehry, and you may notice a similarity to the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park in Chicago.

They offer a free self-guided tour of the interior and exterior of the building. Very interesting. The donor, Walt Disney’s wife, told the architect that she wanted a concert hall that looked like a little brick church covered in vines. He said he knew exactly what she meant (and built this amazing curvy steel building! He said that he understood her comment to mean she wanted a building that is welcoming, which it is.)

Next door to the concert hall, a new museum called The Broad (pronounced the brode) is opening later this year. I like the earth mounds in front of it.

More views of the concert hall and other downtown buildings.

Here’s The Broad from across the street.

Between the diner and the concert hall there is a steep hill, and this little train incline operated for years to take people up and down. It is closed right now pending some kind of safety certificate but was super cute.

View from top

Lunch at the Horse Thief BBQ, Liam working on some kind of surreptitious filming project. You know how people are in LA.

We had to head back to get our car and then drive to the airport. On the way out of LA, the sky did a science project for us, clearly showing all the colors in the visible spectrum! Yay for ROY G BIV (red orange yellow green blue indigo violet!)

And what can be cooler than flying into Chicago at night, over the lake (though we came from the west???) with a nearly full and super bright moon.