Los Angeles: the report (Part 2).

Did I mention how exhausted we were, what with our plan to have a whole day and our "we fly at dawn" manifest? Even so, once we'd logged a little quality beach time, we decided we should locate our lodgings and then head on up the 405 to the Getty.

The people, it is worth both the time spent on the 405 (not so bad if you're going north) and taking a whole trip to Los Angeles to go to the Getty. Even if you are exhausted.

Theses about the Getty.

Thesis 1. The Getty aspires to and perhaps reaches the condition of the sublime.

Subthesis 1a. The Getty is made of travertine marble, the white of which is creamy and which contains a compression of the sun, as well as the disappearance of the flesh and veins of leaves.

Subthesis 1b. The Getty's marble is rough-hewn, as if beauty did not require polish but could be effected by sweat and the application of chisels, pry bars and ropes.

Thesis 2. The Getty's collection is beautiful, but its beauty is matched and perhaps exceeded by the design, location, and siting of the various pavilions.

Subthesis 2a. You will feel like you are someplace simultaneously ancient and out-of-time. (perhaps especially if you arrive having had an inhuman amount of sleep.)

Thesis 3. The Getty's planted environment is an enchantment into which you will want to descend and reside.

(note: I may have run out of subtheses.)

We spent a solid half-day at the Getty, where we viewed a terrific exhibit of Irving Penn's "Small Trades," any number of beautiful drawings, prints, paintings, and in a truly splendid exhibit, illuminated manuscripts.

We would absolutely go there again.

How did I miss that Los Angeles is as defined by its mountains as it is by the ocean?

tags: architecture, the condition of the sublime, that miasma, Los Angeles, the rich