Lieber in Los Angeles
Travelling to Los Angeles is putting on a mask and entering the Hollywood theater. The soundtracks accompany the long dresses and high heels, while amateur music plays on Venice Beach to the rhythm of surfers and skateboarders.
When I arrive in Los Angeles, the highway is not blocked for the shooting of La La Land, but was congested. The winter climate of the Sun Belt has nothing to do with the snowy freshness of Michigan. I lighten my outfit from my wool vest and take the satin cover off Lieber. We’re ready to watch the Walt Disney Concert Hall from the car window.
From outside, we can guess its acoustic design. It looks like a large concrete and glass flower, or a choir of angels in front of the skyscrapers.
Now, let’s go ahead and meet the inhabitants of L.A.!
What a crowd on the Walk of Fame, the boulevard of stars! It’s not a checkers game, but a sidewalk of celebrities: over here I read Michael Jackson, over there Steven Spielberg.
All afternoon, she shows me her town from the inside. The crab dishes at the little restaurant she takes me to are delicious!
It’s in the calm of the Griffith Observatory that we share the evening at sunset. Passionate about reading and architecture, she points out to me the rugged terrain on which the city is built. The book and quote from Frank Lloyd Wright, “Tilt the world to one side and anything that doesn’t fit will slide to Los Angeles“, evoke to me the tap dance scene between Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, in front of the bench added to the shooting of La La Land.
I play the famous theme from the Oscar-winning film, on the violin.
In front of us, a child runs down the slope and jostles me. He takes with him our joy and my melody to the bustling heart of the city.
Don’t ask a child for the extraordinary, but let him touch with his hand the tune of the air… he will be a lamplighter to make all the streetlights shine with purity.
*The name has been changed to preserve privacy.
Information about Los Angeles
Hollywood
Hollywood is nine letters planted like a billboard on a hill in western California. The sign of the world of cinema is moreover registered Historical Monument. Each sign measures 9 meters wide (30’) by 15 meters high (50’) and is thereby visible from the highway.
Hollywood is also a neighborhood in northwestern Los Angeles, originally known mainly for its film studios, television shows (such as Wheel of Fortune) and recording studios, before their massive relocation to the San Fernando Valley.
However, Hollywood has not always been the kind of luxurious neighborhood that we fantasize about today, between parties and parades of celebrities: in 1853, there was just a simple stone house set up there. In 20 years, the area became an agricultural village. It was during the 20th century that Hollywood took on the appearance of what we know today thanks to its “founding father”, H. J. Whitley. The famous Hollywood Walk of Fame dates from 1956 and has more than 2,200 five-pointed stars engraved with the names of actors and filmmakers. Thus thanked for their investment in the entertainment industry, they are easily two more added each month.
Venice Beach
With its bohemian atmosphere and canals that have given it the nickname “Venice of America“, the district of Venice, located in the west of Los Angeles, has a very pretty 10 km (6.2 miles) long beach. Original dream of Abott Kinney, a cigarette manufacturer, to recreate Venice next to the Pacific Ocean, the place has conquered some celebrities who have walked their happiness in this district: Julia Roberts and Jim Morrison, for example. The basketball court on the boardwalk is also known to have been the recruiting ground for many NBA players.
La La Land
La La Land is an American musical movie released in 2016 and directed by Damien Chazelle.
The story takes place in the city of Los Angeles.
Mia Dolan works there as a waitress in a café, alternating auditions to try to get spotted. Sebastian Wilder plays piano in clubs to make money. The musical follows the love story of the two young artists.
Sun Belt
The southern and western states of the United States are included in the Sun Belt. This part of the American continent attracts people thanks to its 320 days of sunshine a year and its economic dynamism. Los Angeles is the largest city in the Belt and enjoys a Mediterranean climate: it is humid and mild during the winter, while the semi-desert climate settles in during the summer. In September, temperatures are sometimes scorching, due to a wind called Santa Ana.
Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra has been playing in this majestic hall since the fall of 2003, the season of the opening of the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
The building was constructed in a “flower shape” of concrete and glass by American-Canadian architect Frank Gehry. As for the concert hall, it was specially designed like a vine by the Japanese engineer Minoru Nagata to retain the acoustics.
The amphitheatre is not ordinary: seats surround the stage and a large 12-metre (40’) window is placed at the back of the hall to allow natural light to illuminate the daytime concerts.
One of the Walt Disney Concert Hall‘s proudest features is its German organ with 6,134 pipes, installed beyond the orchestra.
Griffith Observatory
The actors of La La Land shot several scenes in one of the largest urban parks in North America, Griffith Park, which covers 1740 hectares of land in Los Angeles. Since its opening in 1935, the Griffith Observatory has been one of the emblems of the City of Angels. Its official mission is “To inspire everyone to observe, meditate and understand the sky” and it is divinely illustrated in the acrobatic and aerial whirlwind filmed by Damien Chazelle.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was born in 1867 and died in 1959. He embodied the architectural creativity of the residential model in America. Very early in his engineering studies, he dreamed of Chicago and high-rise buildings. Throughout the conception of his work, he was attached to his conviction that art serves man in harmony with his natural environment. Very observant, he transposed in his urban “Prairie style” the contemplation of field light that he had as a child in the Wisconsin countryside.
In Los Angeles, you can visit the Hollyhock House, built between 1919 and 1921, on Hollywood Boulevard. The floor is characteristic of the open space innovated by the American architect.
Urban Light
At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), you can admire the popular work of sculptor Chris Burden: 202 historic street lamps (1920s to 1930s). The artist says the idea came to him while walking through the Rose Bowl flea market, when his friend’s child, Max Schimmel, pointed out two antique lamps sold in pieces. A collection was born, a discarded stock moved.
A modern temple took up a street art theme. One of the most beautiful lamps is called Broadway Rose. It has an artichoke in the core, and rosebuds. Chris Burden sees the ephemeral nature of his lined-up lights as a statement about what constitutes our sophisticated society: « safe after dark and beautiful to see ».