Los Angeles

View from my hotel room at the Beverly Hilton

At the beginning of the month, I spent a week in LA for a work trip. The last time I was in LA was 2008, and I spent part of that trip in Anaheim at Disneyland–so it was great to see the city through a completely different (art centric) lens. East Coasters and New Yorkers in particular love to hate on LA, but the trip was pretty great overall and I would definitely at least consider moving there.

Here’s a breakdown of the trip:

Jean-Michel Basquiat (@ The Broad)

Friday, March 31

I arrived late on Thursday night, after some delays and maybe the most turbulent flight I’ve ever experienced. Someone in the row behind me threw up and a teenager on a school trip kept flipping his tray table up and down (until I asked him to stop). I’m seated in a row right behind a set of bathrooms and there’s the looming smell of toilet in the air. I engage in a 6-hour armrest battle with my seat neighbor. Commercial flights are just filled with life’s small pleasures.

The Broad, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro

The jet lag is real–I consistently woke up around 6:00 a.m. (EST) throughout the trip. This is what being a morning person must be like. Spent the day setting up at The Broad (for our meeting the following Monday). Then caught dinner with some colleagues at Norah.

Takashi Murakami (@ The Broad)

Saturday, April 1

This is the first official day of our work program. There are factions of architecture tours, artist studio visits, and private collection visits. Dinner with colleagues is held at Republique.

Sheats Goldstein Residence, designed by John Lautner

Sunday, April 2

Day II of our work program. We continue with more artist studio visits and have lunch at the Sheats Goldstein Residence (designed by John Lautner). The day concludes with private collection visits followed by dinner at a Trustee’s residence.

Jason Rhoades

Jason Rhoades

Monday, April 3

Our meeting is held at the Broad in the morning and we have lunch at Manuela at Hauser & Wirth to view the Jason Rhoades exhibit. Our work program concludes with an Ed Ruscha studio visit. I have dinner with some colleagues at ALMA at The Standard in West Hollywood.

Chris Burden, LACMA

Jimmie Durham

Tuesday, April 4

I make the rounds and visit the Power exhibition at Sprueth Magers, LACMA and The Hammer (the Jimmie Durham show was excellent). I meet up with a high school friend in Marina del Rey with whom I crash with for the rest of my trip.

Wednesday, April 5

After a morning walk down to the marina (with bulletproof coffee in-hand), my friend and his girlfriend take me to Abbot Kinney Blvd (apparently the place for trendy LA shopping) and Venice Beach.

I make a stop at The Underground Museum before meeting a college friend for dinner at Kayndaves in Culver City.

Thursday, April 6

On my last day in LA, I manage to get it to the Getty (Center) for some amazing views of the city. The grounds (and garden) are pretty incredible, but the collection and exhibitions are definitely a bit hard to navigate since the building is basically housed in four separate factions (north, south, east and west).