#220: jAdis

Entry fee $100. 99% Off with Cash, reads the sign on the door. Good thing I had cash on me! Next to that sign read another one that said "Knock First." Brad and I followed the directions, and a man greeted us at the door. Welcoming us in, he exclaimed that since we knocked, we got half off our entry price. We happily paid the dollar admission and were instantly transported into an inventor's wonderland.

If the interior of jAdis on Santa Monica's Main Street seems familiar, you've likely seen its props in many movies (eg. Superman, Wonder Woman, Wild West, The Prestige, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus).  From the genuine Tesla generator sitting near the entryway to the large model rocket ship with a man moving inside, everything in jAdis brought out the wide eyed kid in me. If you're so inclined, you can even buy some of the items to take home.

jAdis is hard to define. It's part prop rental business, part museum, part curiosity shop. The owner of jAdis, Parke Meek, passed away in January 2010. His life story is one of the most unique and inspirational I have heard. Parke Meek left school with a 6th grade education, but his vision was way beyond anything that school could teach. He was always curious about how things worked, and by observing the world, he made mental connections that most people are blind to. Even at a young age, he was already thinking like an inventor. Meek wasn't afraid to speak his mind, yet he never made an enemy in his life. He became great friends with Charles and Ray Eames and worked at their firm for 25 years. He also befriended Frank Lloyd Wright, Howard Hughes, and other prominent figures of the time. 

To learn more about Parke Meek and see his collection for yourself, be sure to drop by jAdis on Friday-Sunday from noon to 5 pm.   Bring a dollar, and don't forget to knock ;)

jAdis 

L.A. King's Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to April A. for winning the Barry's Ticket's L.A. Kings Giveaway! April, an email has been sent to you with your tickets.  Thank you to everyone who entered. Stay tuned for more giveaways in the future :)

L.A. Kings Giveaway!

photo from wallpaperpimper

Woohoo! Time for another giveaway! Barry's Tickets is generously giving away a set of 2 tickets to the L.A. Kings hockey game this Tuesday, November 8 at the Staples Center! These are great seats too--I looked them up and they're selling for about $100 for the pair. Act fast because the winner will be chosen in less than 48 hours. 

Barry's Tickets is one of L.A.'s best resources, with tickets to sports, concert, theater and exclusive events around the city. With no service fees, 24 hour customer service, and a 200% guarantee, you'll be hard pressed to find a better ticket distributor. The Lakers, Katy Perry and Disney on Ice are just a few of the events that look awesome coming up. Check out their site--you'll be impressed!

*This giveaway is closed*

#219: The Schindler House (aka Kings Road House)

Tall people better be prepared to duck because this house is made for shorties! The Schindler House is a must-see for fans of modern architecture. The house is tucked away on a quiet residential Kings Road in West Hollywood. Walking past it, you'd never guess that it houses the MAK Center for Art and Architecture.  

The house was designed by Rudolph Michael Schindler, who was friends with other architecture heavy weights such as Richard Neutra and Frank Lloyd Wright.  After overseeing the construction of Wright's Hollyhock House (#64), Schindler set out to build the Kings Road House, which became one of Schindler's most important works. Construction of the house completed in 1922.

There's currently a small exhibit running till January 8th titled Sympathetic Seeing: Esther McCoy and the Heart of American Modernist Architecture and Design.  It focuses on the architectural historian Esther McCoy through photographs, drawings, texts, videos and audio interviews.  Admission is $7.

Finally, a word of caution. The bathrooms in the house are for you to use, but beware! The toilet refused to flush, and as Brad fiddled with it, one of the tubes came loose and started whipping around, soaking our clothes and getting us both in the face a couple of times. It was like a scene from Three Stooges. Nyuk nyuk nyuk. Pretty embarrassing, especially when I had to inform the front desk about it, utterly drenched. :P

 Short doors for short people

The driveway

Have you been to the Schindler House? What did you think of it? Leave me a comment below!

The Schindler House

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#218: Travel Town

Kids everywhere! Travel Town, located in the northern part of Griffith Park, is just the place to bring out the rambunctious five year old in you. At Travel Town, old trains are like playground equipment waiting to be climbed on.  Hoist yourself aboard, play with the knobs and buttons, and perhaps even have a picnic on one of these vintage vehicles.

Travel Town is free, as is the parking. There's a gift shop, a small indoor photo gallery, and a warehouse with more old vehicles. There's also a cute miniature train that goes around the town. $2.50 buys you a ticket for twice around the track.

Travel Town is also a great place to host a birthday party. There were several going on when we went, and it doesn't cost much to rent a train car (I think it was a little over a hundred for a few hours).

Huge wheels

Vincent stopping the train

Have you been to Travel Town? What did you think of it? Leave me a comment below!

Travel Town

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#217: Take a Tour of the L.A Central Library

There's lots of crazies here. But don't worry, I don't let the crazies mess with the people on my tour, joked our tour guide. Brad and I were at the Central Public Library in Downtown for their 2 pm tour. It was our first time at the Central Library and we were in awe at all the library had to offer--there was a gift shop, a cafe, art galleries, and even a kids area for shows!  The 1.5 hour tour focused on the art and architecture of the library, while also introducing us to the library's layout. 

Our guide talked a lot about the strange people at the library. When we were about to go into the elevators, he told us we wouldn't go in the elevator if there was a sketchy person in it. We laughed, thinking it was another one of his jokes.

To our surprise, the door opened and there was a man scratching himself vigorously in the corner with a neurotic look in his eye. Our guide gave us the "I told you so" eye and we let the door close. The next door opened and there was another guy vigorously punching the buttons and talking to himself. We let that one go as well. Thankfully, the third one was empty and we hopped in.

If you ever get a chance to ride the elevator (sans sketchy people), check out the walls of the elevator--they're made of old library cards. In one part of the elevator wall, as you go from floor to floor, the topics of the library cards change to the floor you're on. So for example, if you're going to the floor which has all the history books, the library cards that show up will all be for history books!

 Beautiful ceiling

 Another gorgeous ceiling

Brad and I love our local public library, and we check books out there every week, but it's pretty small and sometimes we don't feel like waiting for their library-to-library transfer service. Before visiting the Central Library, I made a list of a bunch of books I wanted to borrow that were only available at the Central Library and I checked them out at the end of our tour. The great thing is that once I finish them, I can simply return them to my own library. Easy! 

I really enjoyed our tour of the library and felt that I had a good idea of where everything was at the end of the tour. Tours are given Tuesday to Friday at 12:30 pm, and Saturday at 11 am and 2 pm. On Saturdays there's also a garden tour at 12:30.  There is ample parking in the underground garage, and with validation from the library, parking is only $1.

 You can take the escalators if you don't want to take the elevator

Have you been to the L.A. Central Public Library? What did you think of it? Leave me a comment below!


L.A. Central Library Tours

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#216: The Hollywood Wax Museum

This place is wiggidy wiggidy wax! 

Did you know that Hollywood has two wax museums within a block from each other? It's a showdown between the old school Hollywood Wax Museum and the newer Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum (#62).  Madam Tussaud's Museum has a lot going for it: it's bigger, the wax figures are a bit more realistic, and it's got interactive props that you can use when you pose with some of the figures. Nevertheless, there's something that I really liked about the Hollywood Wax Museum that I didn't get at Madam Tussaud's--that old Hollywood je ne sais quoi. 

The Wizard of Oz cast and Johnny Depp greeted us at the entrance of the museum, followed by Charlie Chaplin and a handsome Pierce Brosnan. Next we (ok, just Brad--I was scared and waited outside!) entered the Chamber of Horrors, which had wax figures of Hannibal Lecter, Dracula and Chucky. 

We then walked into the "celebrity gallery" which featured the likes of Angelina Jolie, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow. It was funny standing next to each figure and seeing how small we were compared to most of them (not next to Tom Cruise though!).  Some of the figures were incredibly lifelike. The winner was Samuel L. Jackson:

Harrison Ford's beard hair gets honorable mention. Brad was fascinated by how real it looked:

Daniel Craig was pretty lifelike too. He gets a fist bump:

On the other hand, some of the figures were so way off that I had to look at the sign just to figure out who they were. Fans of Jessica Alba, Will Ferrell, Antonio Banderas, Steve Carrell and Jackie Chan will be sorely disappointed. 

I guess Jessica Alba's beauty is really hard to capture in wax because 

Madam Tussaud's version was equally as bad as this. 

As you're walking around, don't forget to read the little signs that accompany the wax figures. They give really interesting background info about the making of each of the movies. 

The wax museum has great hours: 10 am to midnight, 365 days a year!  Imagine how fun it would be to visit on Halloween night and walk through the Chamber of Horrors. Tickets are $13 if you buy them online, or $16 at the door. There are also discounts for children and seniors. 

Another cool thing about the Hollywood Wax Museum is that they offer package deals where for just a few bucks more you can buy entry into the Guinness Book of World Records Museum and the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, both of which are right across the street. We did the double deal and bought entry into the Guinness Museum where we saw video of the world's largest dominos display, replicas of the world's smallest and largest people, and the world's largest vegetables and fruit. 

 Transformers

Have you been to the Hollywood Wax Museum? What did you think of it? Leave me a comment below!

The Hollywood Wax Museum

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