A vibrant time in America.
You can read about Googie architecture here. This futurist style from the middle of the past century is never less than fun but, as is the American way, many exemplars of the genre have been torn down.
Here’s a superb example which has been ‘repurposed’ by an interior design firm in Boise, Idaho, having started life as a gas station:
Googie at its best.
iPhone 12 Pro Max, processed in Photoshop and Lightroom to remove the telegraph poles and ugly wires.
At the Getty Center.
iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Superb.
The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena has a wide ranging collection of art, not least the modern sculpture garden in the back. But you come here mainly for one thing and it’s the world class collection of late 19th Century French art, with emphasis on Van Gogh (French in all but birth) and, of course, Degas.
The bronze statue, grass skirt and all, is by Degas.
iPhone 12 Pro Max.
No detail spared.
iPhone 12 Pro Max.
A Hollywood institution.
The bar scene here may not be quite up to Manet’s A bar at the Folies Bergère, but the atmosphere was positively electric when we dropped by this fabled eating spot for dinner. After stumbling along Hollywood Boulevard, that is, trying not to breathe what passes for air in that neighborhood.
Despite its 103 year old provenance and great fame, the food and service were excellent and we lucked out with a small banquette seat isolated from the non-mask wearing set. This being a Thursday I naturally chose the famous homemade chicken pot pie while Winston enjoyed a lovely trout.
If you want to see the glitterati and enjoy a good meal in Hollywood, Musso’s is it.
iPhone 12 Pro Max snap, some taming of the highlights in Photoshop.