Angeltown

Mike Reardon invited a few of his photographer buddies up to shoot the Los Angeles Arts District with him yesterday. Thought it would be good for me to get out of town so I came along as did the somewhat angelic Jon Harwood. Our first stop was the McDonalds, only took a second to figure out that we weren't in Fallbrook anymore. Mike got a little accosted near his car.

The Arts District itself seems to be an old industrial center that is in the process of being revitalized. Lots of murals, Urth Cafe, a coffee shop or two but really not a lot of action on an early Sunday morning.

We met the cool young ex rabbi painter Natan Halevy who showed us his large industrial space and his kabbalistically oriented paintings, strolled around the neighborhood, fairly uneventful really until Harwood got into a messy altercation with a nasty piece of citrus.

I took a lot of pictures of varying quality of murals of varying quality but I am sure that they have been pretty well documented already and will spare you.

Did manage to shoot some stuff that caught my eye. Like this shadow parley.

Shadows can be a great source of inspiration, especially when they start acting in a manner independent from the actions of their hosts.

Afterwards we drove up to Disney Hall to shoot Frank Gehry's beautiful brainchild.

Man with hat in front of Disney Hall 

Woman with poodle, Los Angeles

It will be fun to process these shots. Got some stuff I like, I can tell even after a quick look.

I shot everything yesterday with two lenses that don't get enough use in my bag, the Bower 14mm ƒ2.8 and the early ai converted nikkor 55mm ƒ1.2. Wide and fast. Fun.

Afterwards we drove by McArthur Park but didn't stop. Ended up on Wilshire and snapped a couple pics of the venerable Bullocks building, designed by John and Donald Parkinson in 1929.

We cruised Wilshire for a while and somehow ended up at Canters. Funny how that always happens. Corned beef heals all wounds.

Nice day in the big city.