The Last Miles are the Slowest

The Gardens of the Getty Villa

Lion attacking a horse from the Capitoline Museum in Rome: Greek sculpture & Roman trophy

It seems strange sitting in the basking sunshine of California, listening to the apocalyptic predictions of the impact of Hurricane Sandy as it batters the other side of this continent. We visited the Getty Villa first thing yesterday morning before the main crowds arrived. The Villa is dedicated to JP Getty’s fabulous collection of Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities. The news form the hurricane together with suggestions that the American Empire is on the wane gives one an eerie feeling when looking at the remnants of once wonderful empires that were meant to last forever. Coupled with the almost hedonistic and wasteful lifestyle that many of us live, leads one to think that one day in the very distant future a similar museum may hold fragments of our present civilisation where the certainty that we know will be replaced by the imprecise science and speculation of archaeology.

Whatever, I was expecting something more on the kitsch side but was delighted and astonished by the villa, the setting and the collection. The cream walls of the villa sparkled in the morning light. The house and the gardens have been constructed to give an impression of a Roman Villa at the height of Rome’s power and influence. It does this with ease and any personal cynicism disappeared at the entrance. The collection is significant. The bulk of the objects are Roman or Roman copies of Greek sculptures.  It is so well laid out and each room follows a specific and easy theme. I just wish that this British Museums extensive collection was as well laid out and labelled at this. I have identified some exhibits that shone and I have shown them below.

The killing of the Minotaur by the Athenian hero Theseus (as Ariadne looks on!)

The suicide of Ajax after a dispute over dead Achilles’ armor. (Such a delicate picture)

A roman copy of Venus (Aphrodite)

This is a roman copy of a sculpture of the goddess by the famous Greek sculptor Praxiteles in 350 BC This was the first full-length nude female sculpture in Greek art and became a cult. Many copies were produced. One story tells of a worshiper who was so entranced by her beauty that became transfixed and would not leave the sanctuary!

A really modern muse

A beautiful and sad image from the front of a Roman-Egyptian Sarcophagus

Two girls talking: Could be out of a Jane Austen novel

A scene from a balcony reminiscent of Goya or Manet

A wonderful Roman head

JP Getty's favourite and most valued greek sculpture of Hercules. Perhaps it tell su something about the man!

Back on the road again. Its Sunday and this is a coast road. There are few gaps between urban conurbations as you move down this coast. The whole coastal area has been reduced to a string of beaches and a network of roads that connect them together. There appears to have been a vast urban expansion along this coast, evidenced by complex after complex of condominiums, housing estates and Malls. One can imagine how many times you have to stop at traffic lights.

By the time arrived in Long Beach we were exhausted, despite the fact that we had miles and miles to go!

Ghastly and tedious

I wanted to see the Queen Mary, which was retired to Long Beach as an attraction and a hotel when she was decommissioned in 1967. I believe that my uncle Will (my Dad’s brother), was the radio operator on her for a while. We took some time to find her but there she was. Dwarfed by larger cruise ships but just as elegant as she was when I saw her in Southampton when I was 9. 
There must be so many stories to go with this old lady. She must have carried so many people during the wars and in peacetime across the Atlantic.
We hope to stay on her on our way back to LA.

"Still elegant after all these years"

I must admit that we eventually gave in and took the Interstate. Still plenty of buildings but thank god, no traffic lights. We shot down 405 through the expanding Orange County, past Irving and the John Wayne Airport at Irving. No time to stop but the Duke was a huge part of our lives when we were kids. Don’t know why it’s called after him.

La Jolla Cove

We switched onto Interstate 5, which now incorporates and replaces Route 1. Such a change from that small winding, torturous and narrow road that we joined in Northern California. On one occasion, I counted 14 lanes. Our road has been swallowed!

We are staying at La Jolla (pronounced La Holla) just outside San Diago.

Our journey is almost done. We are just 10 miles away from the city and will go there on Wednesday after doing some serious beach chill in this beautiful place.

The sun goes down on La Jolla Beach

All that glitters is…..

Chasing the dream

Always a place for a Welshman

I had to ask someone to move as they were standing on Greta Garbo

People were begging for all sorts of reasons: At least she was honest

This is meant to be the town of dreams and tinsel but dreams have a habit of not materialising. The many “down and outs” sleeping rough and begging on Hollywood Boulevard are witness to this. Of all the places we have visited on our long trip, this was the one that left us the most uncomfortable.

We approached Hollywood via Sunset Strip. Many of the iconic cool places and clubs have gone. Billboards now predominate, as it becomes an advertising venue. The 1950s Whiskey A-Go-Go is still there but looks shabby and sad. This area became the hip place to visit the 50s and early 60s but it started to run down as new styles, cultures and technologies have changed the way that we enjoy ourselves.

I am so glad that we did our own thing and didn’t take an organised tour. The boulevard experience was awful as various unlicensed and uncontrolled tour operators, Darth Varders, Charlie Chaplins and Superheroes vied for your dollars as they tried to sell you their version of the dream.

Another reckless Superhero

One superhero was so rude to Liz because he thought that she was going to take his picture without paying him. He remonstrated that we were stealing his image and this was even worse as he was a retired Vet. He attitude left an enduring stain on our the visit. We called it “The scrap with a prat” 

Some dreams are worth having

Some people don't mind having their pictures taken

We were keen to get to the beach and as a result missed our drive down Laurel Canyon, which leads off Hollywood Boulevard. Many rock stories and histories go with this place where some of the great names of West Coast and American music lived. Ah well, we will need to visit another day. Just a short plug for my favourite Laurel Canyon album by John Mayall called “Blues from Laurel Canyon” Mayall was the major influence on my musical tastes at school. All the great names played with the Bluesbreakers at some time. This album represents the time when he visited LA and hung out with bands such as Canned Heat. Take a look at it. It was one of my first albums.

 John Mayall

Blues from Laurel Canyon

Venice beach on the other hand is exactly what it is. No pretentions, its busy, lively and colourful. It certainly was on Saturday afternoon when we visited. The whole of the city seemed to be there. Some were just promenading in that particular ”looking beautiful” Southern California way, others were biking, skateboarding, dog walking, body building etc…. To many, the place is over the top but it’s there and in your face.

 Venice beach as it is

No lifeguards, no swimmers but plenty of huts 

Sunday on the beach

We watched a tiny kid (perhaps 8 or 9) doing the most extraordinary feats at the skateboard park. She put the bigger kids to shame and was the toast of the beach. I wonder whether ­her dreams will be realised. She certainly deserves it.

Gone surfing

I wanted to visit Venice because this is where the Doors started. The story goes that it was here that poet and singer Jim Morrison (a resident of the Venice cannals) and Ray Manzarek invented this original and “break on through band called the  Doors. With Robbie Krieger and Densmore they changed the face of West Coast Rock for ever. The Jim Morrison’s mural at Venice is one of the enduring images of Morrison worldwide. It so sad that he had such an inglorious death in Paris. He didn’t deserve it.

The Jim Morrison mural at the Beach 

Jim Morrison 

The Doors

Venice Beach has been the home of many great actors, entertainers and musicians. They include Mae West, WC Fields, Stan Lauel, Dennis Wilson, Janis Joplin, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Arnold Schwarzeneggar, Orson Wells and many more. Go to Danny’s Deli and Restaurant where they are all depicted in murals on the walls.

 Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin at Danny's

Danny's take on Botticelli's Birth of Venus

The most intriguing item that we saw the medicalisation of Venice Beach. I need say no more Take a look at this!

 GPs in Venice can be very helpful

Why not try some Botox when you are at the beach.

We called at Venice on the way to take Martin and Liz to the airport. We are bereft without them. They were great travelling companions. And not a cross word! Well a few problems with the heating system in the car…..and occasionally filling with fuel.

A sad farewell

I mentioned that we were staying at the end of Route 66. This is another road and another road trip. I did follow the road until it met Route 1 at the crossing of Lincoln and Santa Monica Boulevards. There is a sign on the Santa Monica Pier but the great road’s end is rather ignominious.

Ignominious end to the great "Mother Road"

The Official end of Route 66 on Santa Monica Pier

Towards the end of the pilgrimage

Santa Barbara Beach in the evening

It’s always the same when a journey nears its end. It acquires a new urgency and vigour. What didn’t we see and can we remember everything that we did. Where did we stay 6 nights ago and what was the mane of beach where we saw a certain seabird?

I hope that I have been able to lay down some of those memories in this blog. The blog is about the 4 friends, about how we started in Seattle with no formal plan but a booked flight from Los Angeles and it’s about how well we got on. Martin and Liz have been the best of companions and we have shared all the high and low points together and prospered.

Martin mentioned a quote and neither of us could remember its origin. “In the past people used to travel for their religion but now travel is their religion”  We too have been on a journey that would have been a pilgrimage. All journeys have a spiritual element. They challenge you, stimulate you and question you. This is certainly the case with us. We have not travelled for the sake of it but to try to assimilate a big powerful country and understand more of what Americana means to us and the rest of the world.

While the American Colonies were fighting to throw off the yolk of the British crown in the east, The Mexicans and Spanish were establishing outposts along this coast and linking them up by a road. Their aim was to join each outpost or mission by a road with a day’s journey between them. They started by founding San Diego in 1769 and finished in San Francisco in 1823. Their route was called the Camino Real and US-101 follows this route today. All those Spanish place names on our journey were missions and religious establishments. Even in the New World, one can follow an ancient religious pilgrimage route.

That Hotel California Moment

Santa Barbara was known by the Spanish as the Queen of Missions and I would stay there again. We only saw the beach and the marina but it’s a relaxed and cool place. It’s a beautiful location to see the sun go down behind the palms and the forest of masts (reminiscent of the cover of Hotel California). Drinking Mojitos on our wedding anniversary at sunset, watching the pelicans diving into the water just doesn’t get a lot better!

 Jacqui and I on our wedding anniversary

 Liz gets eaten by a whale

The temperature rises, the countryside becomes more arid and the mark of man is more prominent. The evergreen giants are now replaced by giant King Palms but it all looks great and just as you expect Southern California to look.

Route 1 quickly transforms itself into a freeway but it still hugs the coastline and the sun blinds us as it reflects off the sea. Houses start to encroach onto the beach, as if they almost want to live upon the ocean. Martin comments that the “houses are overhanging the sea desperately hoping to withstand the next great storm”

An empty beautiful Zuma Beach

We begin to hit “Beach-land California”. Each name resonates in our memory as a location used in a television programme or a book. We have mysteriously turned into celebrity seeking tourists. Our first stop is at Zuma beach where some of the episodes of Bay Watch were filmed. Liz is in raptures as we pass 2 separate filming locations. We are getting the LA bug!

To many, much of this could look like indiscriminate building, urban overspill and shabby sprawl. To us its what we wanted to see. As Jacqui says, "its not what you look at, its what you see" Malibu is just like that but its Malibu. We walked to the end of the Pier immortalised by Paul Newman and looked over the parking lot used in the Rockford Files. There is nothing there to remind us, even the bar on the pier is closed. Thos cocktails will have to wait!

 Baywatch

 Malibu from the pier

Somewhere to park your board

LA is famous for some of its canyons which still retain wildness despite the fact that the city has encroaches around them. Names such as Topanga and Laurel Canyons have always harboured people with alternative views, opinions and lifestyles. Topanga became an alternative folk community in the 50s with blacklisted Will Geer and folk singers such as Woody Guthrie making it their home.

Will Geer

The hippies moved there in the 60s and this was followed by a multitude of famous musicians such as Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Marvin Gaye. Billy Preston, Stephen Stills, Bernie Leadon, Gram Parsons, Jim Morison, Mick Fleetwood, Taj Mahal, Alice Copper, Van Morrison, Ryan Bingham, Members of Canned Heat etc…. Neil Young recorded his seminal album “After The Gold Rush in the Canyon”

Wild Topanga Canyon in the middle of LA

 Neil Young

After the Gold Rush

I have always wanted to visit the Paul Getty collection in Los Angeles. Getty and his advisors bought European Art in vast quantities after the war and in the subsequent decades. His appetite for art matched the frenzy with which the English aristocracy bought up Europe a century earlier. I cannot quite understand this obsession that Americans have for all things Europe. Not a piece of Eastern or Islamic art was to be seen in this wonderful place.

The Getty Centre is new, expensive and wonderful. The collection was good but it has gaps and lacks the depth that some of the great European collections have. Still a marvellous experience and I came across some rare treasures which I have been posted below

 John Paul Getty

 Masaccio: The highlight of the exhibition; Western art would had been so different had he lived longer

An early Van Dyke: One of the best portrait painters of all time 

I love the Spanish painter Ribara. He paints old people wonderfully 

Head of  a Woman: Michael Sweerts 1654: One of the exhibition highlights and so modern

 A rare homely portrait by French painter David

This guys is gradually becoming one of my favourite painters: The Milliners by Degas

The Getty Museum 

What would any European Museum give for a venue such as this?

Our hotel was on Santa Monica Boulevard, reputedly 3 miles from the Getty Centre. We arrived on the Boulevard to find that our hotel was number 3070 and the road numbers were over 12000 and going up as we drove down the road. We turned around and spent the next 2 hours battling against the Friday LA rush hour traffic up into the seedy parts of LA to find our hotel. Liz who told us that she retained good karma about the location began to get worried when she saw shops selling bondage equipment and posters offering free HIV testing. Who would have thought that we were going the wrong way and that the road (in our original direction) changed numbers when we entered the city of Santa Monica. We arrived eventually in Santa Monica 2 hours later. Thank god! Martin deserves an OBE for getting us back safely.

LA from the Getty Centre

Two guys taking their pet dinosaur for a walk at the Getty

And finally, Santa Monica represents the end of Route 66 as it final travels to the sea. It is the great mother road that brought people to this once deserted coast. How these road watch the journeys of our lives and intertwine