I’ve visited LA a few times over the years, but think I saw it for the first time this trip. My overwhelming memory is that this is a city dominated by cars with almost no public transport, so I had warned Mark that we had to take taxis everywhere. How wrong I was. It seems that LA is working hard to reduce its carbon emissions and now has a fabulous rail system and buses seemingly go everywhere. We were able to pretty much get everywhere we wanted without taking a taxi.
I also had no memory of old style buildings, so was thrilled to find a few, even though I didn’t always know what their function is.
This building is the Pershing Square building and it’s a stunner.
and it has a glorious lobby. Look at that light fitting!
This time we stayed down by the beach and enjoyed walking along the boardwalk. We walked down to the Venice Beach pier and then walked the other way to the Santa Monica pier. I did take my Closet Case Patterns Sophie swimsuit with me intending to have a swim in the Pacific Ocean, but the weather just didn’t invite me to bare that much skin!
We walked down to the Santa Monica pier early in the morning, before anything was open and enjoyed walking round without crowds of people.
Even at that early hour there were several games of volleyball happening, and we stopped and watched for a minute. Some of the players were pretty impressive.
We caught public transport up to the Griffith Observatory, which is a must see attraction.
To get there catch a DASH bus which leaves from Vermont/Sunset. It costs very little and seems to run really regularly. We didn’t think we would be able to get up to the Observatory because of its distance from where we were staying, but the public transport system is so good that it was a breeze. I think what I’m trying to say is that if you visit LA, use the public transport as it’s easy and cheap.
The drive up to the Observatory is totally worth it on its own, passing through lovely suburbs full of interesting architecture, but the observatory was completely absorbing.
This device is called The Foucault Pendulum and was invented in 1851. It is credited with giving the first proof that the earth rotates on its axis.
The pendulum is a brass sphere and has a ring magnet suspended above it which keeps it in motion without influencing the direction of its swing. In Los Angeles the direction of swing rotates through a full circle in 42 hours, so the dial in the pit is divided into 42 segments.
I did geek out a little bit when I saw the Tesla Coil.
And finally, I was thrilled when Pam from https://www.instagram.com/pammyoh/ contacted me to say I was staying down the road from where she lived and would I like to catch up. She took me shopping at the LA branch of The Fabric Store, and I went mad with the Liberty knits. We were so engrossed that we completely forgot to take photographs, but I managed to get one whilst we were having coffee after the event.
It was so lovely to catch up with her as we have followed each other for a while now, and I was thrilled to visit this fabric store as I have now been to every one of their branches, and even better, bought fabric from every one of their stores!
I remember visiting the Christchurch store in the mid 1990’s when it was called Global Fabrics and then being quite overwhelmed. They then moved into the building I used to work in when they expanded and we moved out for similar reasons. It disappeared here after the earthquakes when the roof caved in and they moved back a year or two ago. I have visited Christchurch regularly, Dunedin and one Auckland store but stayed away from the Sydney, Brisbane and LA Stores when visiting there preferring options I don’t have at home.
I think the Dunedin store is called Global Fabrics, and the stores can be overwhelming. The merino is always worth buying, but I stuck to the Liberty in LA as I don’t think it’s that cheap in the Australian or NZ stores.
I just saw your Instagram post that you were delayed in LA, and as I am flying through there next week, was remembering the time we had an unexpected night in LA several years ago! If that happens again this time, I hope I will be able to do some touring ala Fadanista 😃
Oh, that would be fabulous – I’m almost hoping you get an unexpected night!
I didn’t know about their public transportation system – that’s great news! We always rent a car when in Los Angeles because we find it easier to move around town and visit the family in the suburbs. Been to the Griffith, Venice beach and Santa Monica, but never visited the Fabric Store! A must-do for our next trip to LA. BTW, love Pam’s pink linen top and your fab Liberty knit tee. You look fantastic both.
Hélène, you always say the nicest things! According to Pam the train system is brand new and it was fabulous. Having said that, a car is necessary for moving around the suburbs. The Fabric Store is definitely worth a visit – you’ll love it.
Love the sights from your trip. If you can swing it, a visit to the Getty Villa – a Roman house in the California hills, filled with antiquities.
I’ve been there – about thirty years ago. Quite amazing and I made my son go when he was there a couple of years ago.
I think I have seen that first building in a scary movie. They didn’t have the yellow building in the way though so they must have been careful when shooting or it just wasn’t there. I had to google Foucault pendulum right in the middle if your post. Learn something new everyday! So nice of you to go visiting, thanks for visiting me… from coast to coast from country to country… there goes the #travelingsewingblogger ! 👋 👋
Thanks Linda, made me smile!
I didn’t know about the public transport – maybe it’s newish or I didn’t pay attention. Glad to hear about it though.
I’m with shoes15 about the Getty museum – I loved it.
I think it’s very new Norma. Makes a big difference to tourists.
I’m going to have to Google tesla coil.
Looks like you made the most of your time in LA 😃
I think it’s outdated technology now, but fascinating nevertheless!
I watched a programme on BBC recently about electricity (Jim all Khalili presenting – my new favourite presenter) which referred to this. I remembered as soon as I had a prompt 😃
You’ve had an amazing trip. Really enjoyed reading al your posts and seeing your pictures about your stay in Canada and North America. Besides visiting all these amazing sights you also managed to knit a scarf for Mark.