QANTAS – LA culture
Until recently, if you were to use the word culture in reference to Los Angeles, the word car would invariably precede it. But in the last decade – beginning with the billion-dollar Getty Centre and more recently with the opening of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum – Los Angeles has emerged as one of the hottest cultural capitals on the globe.
While most visitors to Los Angeles come looking for sun, surf, and stars, all of which are in profusion, many may not be aware of the city’s cultural bona fides. According to studies, Los Angeles attracts less than a quarter of the cultural tourists that London, New York or Paris receive, and whereas almost 90% of tourists to Paris engage in some kind of cultural activity, less than 15% of visitors to Los Angeles do.
It’s not that Los Angeles lacks the cultural riches: With the recent opening of the 156 million dollar Broad Contemporary Art Museum, an addition to The Los Angeles County of Art complex, tinsel town now boasts the most contemporary art gallery space in the world. According to Bettina Korek, founder of ForYourArt, an LA based organization that promotes cultural philanthropy, visitors who don’t touch on the city’s vibrant art scene are missing out on a chance to discover a side of Los Angeles one would never find through a camera lense. “It’s an amazing time in Los Angeles” says Korek, “the cultural landscape is taking shape and it’s incredible to be a part of it.”
ForYourArt began organically when Korek worked at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). “While many people were interested in supporting the museum, there wasn’t a reliable source of information to promote cultural philanthropy in a broader sense” said Korek, “So I started an email blast to give people information about events, exhibitions, and others ways to get involved in the arts.” With a diverse, rambling cultural landscape and an exploding gallery scene, LA residents and visitors needed some way to keep track of the fast paced scene. Since then ForYourArt has grown to become a leading cultural resource, which includes quarterly guides and maps, weekly e-newsletters and an online portal.
With arguably the hottest contemporary art scene on the planet, Los Angeles is no longer a one-industry town. Besides the world-class institutions – including the Getty, LACMA, and MOCA – Los Angeles is home to more than 400 independent art galleries. Studies also show that Los Angeles is home to the most working artists in North America, as well as being the fastest growing cultural center in the country.
Besides being cheaper and more tight-knit than other cultural centers, Korek points to the laid-back, livable culture of LA is one of the reasons for LA’s increased popularity among young artists, “Besides offering a wonderful lifestyle, it’s very open here and not as market-driven, which allows for more risk and perhaps even greater focus on process” she said. With five major, world-class art schools there is no shortage of new talent, not to mention that the city has been siphoning artists, including Australia’s Venice Biennale representative Ricky Swallow, away from other art capitals.
LA’s art scene postdates the city’s emergence as a film capital. The scene began to take shape in the late 1950s primarily with the Ferus Gallery, which held Andy Warhol’s very first solo show, an exhibition of his Campbell’s Soup Cans in 1962, and later with exhibitions by pioneering local artists like Ed Ruscha.
Discovering LA’s thriving contemporary art scene is one way to get to uncover the secrets of the city itself. With art communities spread out over most of the city, LA’s decentralized scene can be confounding to the first-timer. Yet, many point to the sprawl as the key to Los Angeles’ non-linear art scene, which produces work that’s iconoclastic and highly idiomatic. “Our MAP ForYourArt was designed specifically with the issue of sprawling LA in mind” explains Korek, “Everyone knows that LA is a driving city, which can be overwhelming considering the “center” depends on who you are talking to. I would suggest taking in a couple of gallery and museum neighborhoods to get a feel for what is happening – Chinatown, West Hollywood, Culver City, Santa Monica, Westwood, Silver Lake to name a few.”
While downtown, recently a cultural wild west, has rapidly emerged as a cultural hub, it is Culver City, in western Los Angeles that is in the midst of a major art quake. Pedestrian friendly Culver City is composed of over fourty galleries, as well as design houses, and art centric bars and restaurants. Until recently, the area was most famous for being the home of MGM, the heart of the notoriously shallow movie-making machine. There’s just a little irony that the erstwhile home of MGM studios (now Sony), which still houses parts of the delightfully fake yellow brick road, is now a white-hot cultural hotspot. I think it’s fair to say that if Dorothy were around today, she wouldn’t know the place.
www.foryourart.com
SEE + DO Cultural Los Angeles
Los Angeles County Museum Of Art (LACMA)
5905 Wilshire Boulevard
323.857.6000
www.lacma.org
Home to an impressive 100,000 works, displayed over 7 buildings and 20 acres, this is one of the most impressive art institutions in the world. The current star is the new kid on the block; the travertine clad Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM), designed by Renzo Piano, which houses the collection of billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad. The inaugural exhibition, which made news when Broad retained ownership of his collection rather than donate it, is a pop-heavy mix of modern art greats, including Warhol, Koons, Hirst and Sherman.
MOCA, The Museum of Contemporary Art
The only museum in Los Angeles devoted exclusively to contemporary art, comprised of three annexes, two of which are downtown. If you’ve only got time for one, head to the largest, the Arata Isozaki designed Grand Avenue complex, which despite exhibiting the works of younger artists, has a great permanent collection spanning almost 70 years. The excellent museum restaurant, Patinette, is also worth a stop.
Moca Grand Avenue
250 South Grand Avenue
www.moca.org
The Geffen Contemporary
152 North Central Avenue
Moca Pacific Design Center
8687 Melrose Avenue
Watts Towers
1765 East 107th Street
213.847.4646
With everything from art deco movie theatres to Mediterranean castles, Los Angeles is known for its architectural curiosities. For sheer spectacle, Watts Towers, built by Italian Immigrant Simon Rodia, takes the cake. The complex is comprised of 17 towers, two of which reach heights above 30 meters, assembled from glass, steel, shells and other found materials. Condemned in the 1950s and later saved, Rodia’s masterpiece is an enduring testament to the power of the imagination as well as LA’s penchant for the eccentric.
Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Blvd
310.443.7000
www.hammer.ucla.edu
Part of UCLA, this adventurous museum merges the classic and the contemporary in a range of exhibitions spanning all mediums. Opened in 1990, the museum has displayed everything from Catherine the Great’s treasures through to architect Jean Prouve’s prefab Tropical House.
Architecture and Design Museum
5900 Wilshire Blvd
323.932.9393
In recent years, the boundaries between art and design have blurred tremendously. This Culver City museum is dedicated to exposing the importance of architecture and design, with an excellent series of exhibits featuring design world stars. Also, don’t miss the photography gallery, which displays and sells pieces from luminaries like Julius Shulman.
Museum of Latin American Art
628 Alamitos Avenue
562.437.1689
www.molaa.org
The largest of its type in North America, this museum, located in the thriving East Village arts district, is dedicated to post war artists from Mexico, and Central and South America. If you have the time dine at the onsite restaurant ViVa, which serves delicious pan-Latin creations.
Barnsdall Art Park
www.barnsdallartpark.com
4800 Hollywood Blvd
323.662.8139
Los Angeles is blessed with a huge number of parks and gardens, not to mention some of the world’s best residential architecture. Enjoy all of the above at this relatively undiscovered gem, located in the heart of East Hollywood. Home to Frank Lloyd Wright’s impressive 1927 Hollyhock House, his first house in LA, as well as an art gallery, outdoor theatre and park, which has picnic perfect views of the city below.
EAT AND DRINK
Royal T/Maid Café
8910 Washington Boulevard
310.559.6300
www.royal-t.org
This playful Culver City newcomer is a mixed-use space, fusing gallery, store and café. The highlight is the latter; the first US version of the Japanese maid ‘cosplay’ concept. The café serves Japanese food with a So Cal spin, delivered by waitresses dressed in ‘French maid’ akihabara uniforms, named after the Tokyo district where the phenomenon took off.
The Mandrake
2692 S La Cienega Blvd
310.837.3297
www.mandrakebar.com
Crowded with hipsters and local artists, this timber-panelled hangout has the feeling of a busy, sceney art gallery opening – without the art. What it does have is a lively bar, expertly mixed cocktails (try the Rose’s Garden) and the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the city’s most successful artists.
The Otheroom Los Angeles
1201 Abbot Kinney Blvd
310.396.6230
www.theotheroom.com
Set back from the colorful beachside boardwalk, this handsome New York import is in the heart of Venice’s gallery and retail district. Decorated with pieces from local artists and featuring performances by local musicians, it’s one of the best places to take in Venice’s particular brand of artsy California cool.
Mountain Bar
475 Gin Ling Way
213.625.7500
www.themountainbar.com
Owned by artists Jorge Pardo and galleryist Steve Hansan, this seductive red-lit bar has a semi-hidden location in a building that was once Chinatown’s oldest restaurant. Playing host to some of the cities most unique cultural, musical and artistic events, you can expect a laid-back crowd, good music, and refreshing lack of poseurs.
SHOP
Opening Ceremony
451 North La Cienega Blvd
310.652.1120
www.openingceremony.us
Known for their collaborations with artists and filmmakers (including director Wong Kar- wei), this East coast import has some of the best on-trend threads in the city.
Moss Los Angeles
8444 Melrose Avenue
323.951.0697
www.mossonline.com
From a limited edition Campana brothers chair to cult porcelain from Studio Job, this slick gallery-style Melrose arrival carries the latest and greatest in design pieces and furniture.
Art Catalogues
8687 Melrose Avenue
310.289.5223
www.artcatalogues.com
Housed within Moca’s Pacific Design Centre location, this insider favourite specializes in current and out-of-print exhibition guides, as well as the latest books on modern art and photography.
Equator Books
1103 Abbot Kinney Blvd
310.399.5544
www.equatorbooks.com
LA’s best bookstore, frequented by art world heavyweights like Dennis Hopper and Ed Ruscha, has out-of-print and collectible books organized according to categories like bullfighting and surfing. Don’t miss their selection of vintage magazines and the vinyl record bar.