#252: UCLA's Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden

Where in L.A. can you sit on a beautifully manicured lawn and enjoy a picnic while taking in world class art? Did I mention that there are naked women? And it's free?

The place is none other than the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden, which spans nearly 5 acres of the UCLA campus. The Garden is home to over 70 sculptures by artists such as Auguste Rodin, Isamu Noguchi, Henri Matisse, Jacques Lipchitz and Henry Moore. 

Before there was the running man, there was The Walking Man by Auguste Rodin

We headed out to the quiet campus on the last day of 2012, and it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. We snagged prime parking ($3/hour), which was the only thing we had to pay for because the garden is free to view!

Queen of Sheba by Alexander Archipenko

Dynamic Rhythms Orange (Phase III) by Fletcher Benton

Brad noted that 90% of the sculptures are of naked women, and he's pretty accurate. Here's just a sampling of the nakedness:

I don't think you're ready for this jelly.

Dance Columns by Robert Graham

Automne by Henri Laurent

Freya by Gerhard Marces

Standing Woman by Gaston Lachaise

Even surrounded by gorgeous statuesque women, Brad said his favorite pieces were of this horse:

Pensive by Deborah Butterfield

and this thing which he called an alien face:

Ptolemy III by Jean Arp

My favorite pieces were the ones depicting mother and child. Some were easy to see such as this one from Costa Rica:

Mother with Child at her Hip by Francisco Zuniga

Others you had to kind of look at and use your imagination:

Mother and Child by Sorel Etroo

I also liked these pieces:

Point as a Set, No. 25 by Claire Falkenstein

War Remembrance by Sorel Etrog

Man contemplating where to go for lunch. (So lifelike!)

Have you been to the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden at UCLA? What did you think of it? Leave me a comment below!

Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden

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#176: Los Angeles National Cemetery

You've driven past it on your way to and from Westwood, but have you ever walked around the Los Angeles National Cemetery? The somber rows of identical tombstones lined up perfectly as far as the eye can see is a sight you will never forget.

Veterans from the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War are interred here. Also included among the headstones are over one hundred Buffalo Soldiers and two war dogs with their handlers. Walking around, you are struck by the sheer number of people who fought and died for the freedom that we now enjoy.

My friend Mike and I were the only visitors walking around this vast cemetery on a Friday afternoon, making for a quiet and reflective walk. I think that it would be amazing to return on Memorial Day when the cemetery is filled with thousands of people honoring the dead.

Directions: The cemetery is on 950 South Sepulveda Blvd. Going north on Sepulveda Blvd, the entrance is on your right shortly after passing Wilshire Blvd. Parking is free.

The Los Angeles National Cemetery

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#171: Westwood's Hidden Farmer's Market

Dave's Gourmet Korean Food

Neatly tucked into a corner of the Vets Garden in Westwood every Thursday from 12-6 pm lies a small, one-of-a-kind Farmer's Market. I discovered this hidden treasure through the (seemingly defunct) blog Adventures in La La Land, and brought along my friends Mike and Michelle to check it out. It was an unusually windy day, and as we walked around, we were startled by a loud crash as one of the tents toppled over. Other vendors were holding onto theirs for dear life. It seemed like a miserable way to spend an afternoon, and I felt bad for them because there were hardly any shoppers around.

The lack of people worked out for us though--more samples! We walked from table to table, sampling the usual bakery sweets, hummus, and salsa. There were about three tents selling produce, three or four hot food stands, a fresh seafood stand, and the delicious Dave's Korean Food stand that I also see at other Farmer's Markets. My favorite find was Smart Simple Gourmet. I bought a canning jar of their curried leek and potato soup and ended up eating it all in one day. The menu changes daily, so check out their website before you go.

There is a small area near the hot food vendors where you can sit and eat. Parking is free. Check it out if you're in the neighborhood--just know that this is no Hollywood Farmer's Market---this one is tiny!

Westwood Farmer's Market

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#98: The Hammer Museum

photos from hammer.ucla.edu

What happens when you mix comic book illustrations and the Bible? You get Robert Crumb's Book Of Genesis Exhibit at the Hammer Museum.

I went this past Thursday evening (the museum's free on Thursdays and open till 9 pm) expecting something much more incendiary. However, what I saw were quite literal illustrations of the book of Genesis that I thought were about as controversial as a Batman comic... Pages and pages of it--224 to be exact! I can't imagine anyone reading through the whole thing during one visit. Me, I got to page 86--and this was skimming--when my eyes got tired and I gave up.

I thought the concept of this exhibit was brilliant. Crumb took the actual text from Genesis and broke it up into comic book "chapters". He did a good amount of research into the clothing, architecture and culture of Biblical times and then illustrated the chapters as accurately as he could. He writes in the preface that his goal wasn't to cheapen the message of the Bible, but merely to illustrate it. It's mind boggling to think of the amount of time and work (and re-work... you can see the white out marks if you look very closely) that went into these pages. Click here for an interview with Crumb talking about this exhibit.

There are so many great exhibits at the Hammer Museum, you never know what you'll find. For example, who would have thought you'd see tarp origami in a museum?

Origami tarp guy playing piano

As a bonus, the Hammer Museum also hosts Also, I Like to Rock (#41) on Thursday evenings in July. Calling all Westside hipsters!

Hammer Museum

#96: Mildred E Mathias Botanical Garden

UCLA's Mathias Botanical Garden located in the south east corner of campus is just the place to take me away from the hustle of L.A. life for a while. Special thanks to Renee for suggesting this place to me (Renee, I'm gonna visit the second place you recommended soon!).

When you enter the Mathias garden, you immediately see a sign that says "nest" with an arrow pointing the way... What is that? I googled it on the phone because we wandered all over the place and there was no nest to be found. It turns out the "nest" is an outdoor amphitheater type classroom located within the garden. Aha.

It only took 20 minutes or so to wander around the garden. There were hardly any people there and the place was really clean. Entry is free, and instead of paying $8 to park at the UCLA lot, you can park across the street at the Ralphs lot. It's free for 2 hours with validation.

Mildred Mathias Botanical Garden

The entry gate at the corner of Le Conte and Hilgard

#41: Also, I Like to Rock

I've been to the Hammer Museum in Westwood twice for their Also, I Like To Rock series. Imagine tons of displaced westside indie hipsters converging on a museum for an evening of free art, music and drinks. The first time I went, I caught the band Low vs Diamond (love them!) and the second time I saw the band Eskimo Hunter. While the sound quality was lacking, it's a great venue to get up close to the bands and see some art while you're at it.

Concerts are every Thursday in July. Check it out!

Also, I Like to Rock

#32: UCLA Planetarium Show

Photo from astro.ucla.edu

Nerd that I am, I went to UCLA's planetarium show on a weekday evening to get schooled on brown dwarves (they're objects in space, silly).

What?? UCLA has a planetarium?!

Yes and it's free on Wednesday evenings. But don't come expecting a Griffith sized planetarium; this thing only holds 50 people.

The show is free and it's an hour long, with the first half being a lecture/slide show and the second half being a look at the constellations and stars on the giant dome screen. Come EARLY because they close the doors right at 8 pm, and the place is packed with beginning Astronomy students getting extra credit. They also don't let you in after they close the doors, so the banging won't help, people. You snooze you lose.

The lecture had the potential to be as dry as Mars, but what made the evening so entertaining was our speaker, who was a UCLA grad student in Astronomy. He kept everyone laughing throughout the hour show..with this subject matter, that's hard to do!

The best part is that after the show you can go to the top floor of the Math and Sciences building and look through their giant telescope. Tonight it was focused on the craters of the moon, and the view was just out of this world.

Photo from http://www.astro.ucla.edu/planetarium/

UCLA Planetarium

#9: Westwood Village Memorial Cemetery

Visiting the Westwood Memorial Park was like being on an Easter egg hunt, but in place of eggs there were deceased celebrities. And instead of being in my grandma's backyard, we were in a graveyard.

It seems like every deceased celebrity you can think of has been buried here, from

Truman Capote, Marilyn Monroe, and Jack Lemmon, the list goes on and on. I would suggest printing out this link, and with list in hand go do your easter egg hunting.

Heather O'Rourke from Poltergeist

I'm not gonna tell you where everyone is, but here's a hint: the really famous celebrity graves are the ones with flowers and/or are in the nice garden area. Anyway, you can take a peek at the photos if you are in need of more hints, but in my opinion, the best part is the hunt. Don't forget to bring flowers!

Westwood Memorial