SYD GOES TO THE GETTY

A month ago for my sister's birthday weekend, my family and I went down to Los Angeles and adventured around. I wrote about the first part of our adventure in previous posts and this post in particular is very, very late. 

The 2nd day in LA, my family and I visited The Getty Museum, or more formally known as the J. Paul Getty Museum. I'm gonna say this right here, I do actually prefer this museum more than LACMA. The Getty sold me architecture wise. Everything was white, beige, cream, and very modern.

I have this thing with ceilings. To be honest, one of my favorite parts of the entire trip was the Tram ride up the mountain to get to the museum. The weather also was absolutely perfect. If you didn't know this about me, I'm all for cloudy muggy gray days. When it looks like it's about to rain hard, that's when I'm most happiest, lol. 

The gift shop had real nice things to sell. My dad bought my sister and I a calligraphy kit that I have yet to use. 

Easily one of the most interesting displays at The Getty. I took a semester of Art History last spring and learned all about Illuminations so seeing how the process of an Illumination being colored was pretty cool. See, school does apply in real life sometimes. 

 This is an Illumination! 

There's something that sets The Getty apart from the LACMA, and if I'm correct on this I would say it's the overall atmosphere. The Getty seems to be a lot more sophisticated and clean, haha. 

I went people watching around the gallery, lol. 

 Vincent Van Gogh's Irises. I cried. 

I kind of fell in love with this spot, so I took a shot before the flood of people came out from those doors. 

The next few photos coming up are basically going to explain why I fell in love with The Getty. 

Are you falling in love yet? 

Go go Power Rangers! We had colorful shoes on that day. :) 

I loved the stream of water going down the hill. 

Actually I loved everything about The Getty, let's leave it at that. 

If I lived in Los Angeles, you can bet your bottom dollar I'd be paying The Getty a visit every weekend. 

See you soon. 

.s

MANHATTAN BEACH MORNINGS

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but brunch is a lot more exciting. During my weekend in California, we stayed in Manhattan Beach. By far, Manhattan Beach is my favorite place to be in because of how relaxing and clean the atmosphere is. Another reason is the amount of real good restaurants in and around the pier. 

The weather was overcast, which is my favorite type. It was really nice seeing locals doing their early morning errands, seeing Manhattan Beach basically waking up was something right out of the movies.

 Go Go Power Shoes Rangers! lol

We had reservations at Manhattan Beach Post. My sister recommended this place and long story short, if my sister recommends a restaurant, you go. You don't think about it, you don't think of any other places/options, you go. She ate here with her boyfriend the last time she was in the area and she knew my family and I would enjoy it. She was right.

 

Already the restaurant sold me on their interior design. I'm sure I'm not the only one on this but I judge the quality of a product or the quality of a place based on design, haha. 

Parental units, hi! 

Really liked where they put all their plates and cups. I love all white kitchenware. We got to the restaurant pretty early so it wasn't as packed, but by the time we left Manhattan Beach Post was extremely busy.

Our little reservation ticket thing was stored in this neat looking envelope.

Now onto the food! If I could, I would fly or even drive down to Manhattan Beach just to eat at this restaurant for breakfast every weekend.

If you're hungry I'm apologizing in advance.

For starters we ordered their Buttermilk Bacon Cheddar Biscuits. The Maple Butter on the side was the perfect spread to this.

Truffle Fried Chicken. The coleslaw right under was also really good. I'm not a fan of coleslaw but I'd eat their take on it anytime.

Eggs Benedict. I really love Hollandaise Sauce, so this made me very happy (and full).

The Bibimbap was served in the cutest little pot, they had their Gochujang sauce on the side.

On the upper middle we also ordered Corn Beef Hash that had hashed browns in it as well. The Housemade Dumplings were to die for. Having a Chinese parent means if there is some type of dumpling and or noodle dish in the menu, it's inevitable that it'll get ordered. Hi Mom :)

Grapefruit brûlée. The best grapefruit I've ever had and it's so simple too! A grapefruit that's been topped with lemongrass syrup, mint, and sugar, then torched. I really want to make this and eat it everyday, haha.

I enjoyed Manhattan Beach Post a whole lot, from the food to the interior design and the efficiency of their serves. Our server also kinda looked like Bradley Cooper but with long hair and a surfer accent. If you have the chance to go, do visit Manhattan Beach Post.

Manhattan Beach Post is located on
1142 Manhattan Ave, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

 

.s 

SYD VISITS LACMA

If you remember sometime last year, I went down to Los Angeles and visited the Urban Lights, the installation right outside of LACMA, or more formally known as the Los Angeles County Museum of Contemporary Art. You can find that post right over here 

Continuing from the last post, we grabbed lunch at Ruen Pair, my favorite Thai restaurant in LA. I didn't take any photos because I was too hungry to focus, lol. Ruen Pair serves the best Thai Tea in my opinion; that and their Pad Thai is the perfect blend of sweet and salty.  

 Upon entrance to the building we were greeted by this really cool installation. I loved the matte texture of it. 

Dramatic ceilings are always A+. 

Before heading to the larger galleries, we went inside an exhibition on Hawaiian art. 

I don't quite know what the name of this installation is but I called it the Noodle House. 

A really huge Matisse! Super cool to see Henri Matisse's work up close, and this huge.

A rather phallic looking sculpture.

I really like this one for some reason!  I think it was a bull getting roasted or something, haha.

The exhibit we stumbled upon next was probably my favorite. I'm a huge fan of the art movement going on in the 60s, so seeing Andy Warhol's works up close, along with Yayoi Kusama's, was extremely exciting.

Roy Lichtenstein's work is always a favorite of mine.

Hello Andy.

I consider Yayoi Kusama to be a huge inspiration in my own art so seeing one of her Infinity Nests in real life was such a treat. The controlled aspect of her work shows severe dedication, something I want to have in my art.

I loved the texture of these two paintings.

Another exhibit had Islamic Art going on. The photography was very interesting, some were really political also. Speaking of political art, I've really got no serious stance on it, I feel that with art and politics, it's something that should be very rarely mixed.

Then in the adjacent gallery had a feature on South Asian and Southeast Asian art.

European Art was probably where we spent the vast majority of our time. Since taking Art History as a class last semester, it was interesting seeing some pieces and being able to identify certain traits I learned.

I freaking loved the color scheme of these pieces.

This one reminded me a of a plant goddess you'd encounter in a video game, heh.

Monet's Water Lilies.

Renoir's work is always so calming.

The LACMA put me into their collection without my knowledge! Haha, I got a kick out of looking at this one.

Lucrezia Borgia, what's up?

Afterwards, my parents went and sat for pastries while my sister and I went to look at East Asian Art.

I found Korean Art to be very boring, LOL. The exhibit displayed screens upon screens of practically the same image.

Chinese Art was in the next room.

Xu Bing's work was a breath of fresh air, I really loved how it was both digital and traditional.

The video projected played an animation about consumers and brands and whatnot.

Soon afterwards, my sis and I walked to the Japanese Pavilion.

I was pretty shocked that this Samurai's armor is pretty small. I could easily fit into it, heh.

Tokonoma's displayed across the Pavilion.

LACMA definitely was a great visit, and I'll definitely go again.

.s