
Details of our LA Design Crawl Day 2
The fun continues as we share the details of our LA Design Crawl, Day 2.
On day two we started the day with a choice between two California extremes; a leisurely coffee by the pool or a 7:00 am spin class at the famous SoulCycle. Echoing solid endorsements from Oprah, our own design crawler and spin cycle instructor Francine was keen to have all of us mount up. Great music combined with a darkened interior allowed us to focus inward for a truly Zen/LA work out.
Following our Spin Class was a trip to the amazing Caffe Primo and their Juice Bar to replenish and energize.
The Limo we used for the day two tour was not so much for Luxe as livability; allowing us to endure LA freeway traffic while chatting over a glass of Champagne.
In no time we were ascending to the Olympus-like Getty Centre, touring its elegant grounds guided by a retired and highly articulate architect. The suite of elemental, white buildings, designed by the great architect Richard Meier, is absolutely stunning and a perfect compliment to the breathtaking setting!
An added bonus was the opportunity to see Vincent Van Gogh’s Irises painting, done in 1889, and is now part of the permanent collection of the Getty Centre.
Then it was off to lunch at the vibrant Gjelina, an absolute designer must for the savvy Abbot Kinney area visitor. Replete with found wood and steel tables, the restaurant and its food have a distinctly LA casual sophistication.
A stroll along the Abbot Kinney boulevard has almost too many great storefronts with local retailers vying to catch their customer’s eye offering the best in LA style, be it clothes, kitchenware or chachkas.
Angling towards Venice Beach we passed dozens of tiny, up market, beach bungalows interwoven with contemporary modern dwellings, all maximizing their small sites with startling colours, intensive landscaping and playful architectural accents.
This walk culminated in the quintessential California Venice Beach experience bustling with roller-blades, body-builders, acrobats, volley-ballers, strollers, cyclists alongside a chaotic array of beach vendors and colourful kiosks.
Then the limo picked us up and we headed off to the Eames Case House, inspired result of 1940’s initiative by John Entenza’s Arts and Architecture magazine. He invited selected architects to design a home for a hypothetical couple or family. The concept was to use post war materials that would be accessible to the average American family.
Charles and Ray Eames designed a home for a working couple with no children. They ended up building this home in 1949 and living in it until Ray’s death in 1988. The house is an amazing legacy to Charles and Ray Eames and still feels contemporary 60 years on. It was thrilling to see the work and home of such iconic and celebrated modernists.
Totally sated with design we motored back for late afternoon drinks and appies at the infamous Chateau Marmont, home and hideaway for generations of Hollywood legends.
This small but stately hotel is perched on a hillside overlooking Sunset Blvd and is designed/ decorated in an enchantingly electic style, loosely modeled on France’s Chateau d’Amboise. Gothic arches, heavy ornamentation and overstuffed velvet furniture are the backdrop for the entertainment industry’s discreet, and sometimes scandalous, liaisons. Photos are not allowed in this establishment to allow the stars some measure of privacy. We drank in more than the atmosphere, and enjoyed a relaxing end to the day.
That evening we cheered on Shannon as she rode the Mechanical Bull at Saddle Ranch Chop House and then went across the street to the iconic Art Deco Sunset Towers for a nightcap on the terrance.
Check out our instagram feed to see more of our Day 2 activities, at #LADesignCrawl and stay tuned for details of our Day 3 of our Los Angeles Design Crawl.
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Does the idea of a Design Tour appeal to you? Let us know!
Lynne Streeter Childress
June 24, 2015 at 6:47 amThat looks WONDERFUL. I would love to try Soul Cycle, and the Chateau Marmot looks DIVINE. Thanks for sharing!!