Angelenos, ready to take your steps? After sharing our NYC Summer Art Guide last week we put together another handy guide to visiting summer art fairs, this time in Los Angeles. We’ve compiled daily itineraries to help you navigate four art destinations in the city, including The Broad, Getty Villa and LACMA, with stops to cool off before and after as you’ll need your strength.
The wide museum
by Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirror Room
The Broad Museum in Los Angeles. Courtesy of Broad.
Yayoi Kusama first produced her Infinity mirror rooms in the 1960s, inviting viewers to step into the kaleidoscopic illusions of infinite space. In recent years, variations of mirrored rooms have been exhibited internationally, gaining new meaning – and Instagram cachet – for contemporary audiences keen on immersive spaces. The room currently housed at the Broad Museum in downtown Los Angeles (221 South Grand Avenue), Infinity Mirror Room – Souls of Millions of Light Years, features dazzling lights that immerse the visitor in a shimmering cosmos. But beware, this is a very busy exhibition; the maximum time to enjoy it is 45 seconds.
Kusama’s installation is the latest in a long history of Japanese cultural contributions to Los Angeles. A 15-minute walk southeast of the Broad will take you to Little Tokyo, a historic neighborhood that has been the heart of the city’s Japanese-American community since the 1880s. Today, the area is a bustling shopping mall. lively air, with niche shops and fun Japanese-style photo booths. A local favorite, Daikokuya Ramen Restaurant (327 1st Street) is the perfect place to recharge after a day of museum-hopping and window-shopping. Sit at the counter and enjoy their signature dish, Daikoku Pork Ramen.
If you see Kusama Infinity Rooms sparked a desire for panoramic views, head to 71Above (633 W. 5th Street), a bar and restaurant located – you guessed it – 71 stories above the heart of downtown. Rising nearly 1,000 feet, 71Above is the tallest restaurant west of the Mississippi. Cocktails are a must at the restaurant’s bistro-style SkyLounge. We suggest a floral concoction called Flower District, made with gin, apple brandy and chamomile.
Getty Villa Museum
Outdoor gardens
The interior peristyle of the Villa Getty. Courtesy of Getty Villa.
Located in the scenic foothills of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, the Villa Getty (17985 E. Pacific Coast Highway) is often overlooked in favor of its sister campus, the Getty Center. Both buildings are part of the J. Paul Getty Museum, along with the Getty Villa inspired by ancient Greece, Rome and Etruria. The villa’s design was inspired by several ancient sites, including the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum, renowned for its library of papyrus scrolls until it was destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius, like the nearby town of Pompeii. Don’t miss Statue of a Victorious Youth (about 300-100 BCE)a bronze sculpture of a young male athlete praised for its realism, or the villa’s extensive jewelry and coin collections.
The so-called statue Victorious Youth is on display at the Getty Villa. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
You can follow the Greek tradition of nature gazing and hike in nearby Topanga State Park. Topanga Lookout is a quick and accessible hike for varying ability levels with great views. After the hike, take a short drive down the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu, which offers both quiet beaches and some of the best seafood around. We recommend grabbing tacos at Malibu Farm (23000 E. Pacific Coast Highway), located right on the pier, where the food is farm-to-table and you can’t beat the coastal setting.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Public Facilities
Photo courtesy of LACMA.
AT LACMA (5905 Wilshire Boulevard), two public sculptures bring new perspectives to the elementary stone and the sun: the famous one by Michael Heizer levitating mass and Chris Burden Urban light. Heizer designed levitating mass in 1969 when he saw a similar rock formation in the Sierra Nevada mountains. He spent the next 40 years searching for an identical rock, eventually settling on a 340-ton megalithic boulder that now hangs over a trail on LACMA land. The burden Urban light is a sculpture made up of 202 historic lampposts originally installed on the streets of Southern California in the 1920s and 1930s. Both sculptures are outdoors and freely accessible.
Chris Burden, Urban light (2008) at LACMA. Courtesy of LACMA.
Whether Urban light inspires you to learn more about the history of Los Angeles, head north to the Original Farmer’s Market at the corner of 3rd and Fairfax. Founded in 1934, the indoor market, still as charming as when it opened, is a great place to grab a quick bite or a souvenir. Enjoy a slice of pie at Du-Par Restaurant like a true Angeleno, then head to La Brea, where the American Rag Co. store stocks some of the best hand-selected vintage clothing. You can also find antique glasses in the cult Optical Sphere store. For dinner, you can’t do better than Son of a Gun (8370 W. 3rd Street), a hip seafood restaurant serving oysters, lobster, and their classic shrimp toast.
Urban art walks
Hauser & Wirth in downtown Los Angeles Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth.
Although Los Angeles isn’t exactly known as a walkable city, there are several art walks that cater to pedestrians. The city is bustling Downtown Arts District is easily navigable on foot. Hauser & Wirth (901 E. 3rd Street) is a good starting point for exploring the area. The large gallery campus also includes a restaurant, Manuela, where you can have a drink or a meal while enjoying works by Paul McCarthy, Mark Bradford and Raymond Pettibon. During your stay in the city center, be sure to visit the Good Liver, a minimalist store offering carefully selected international products.
On the last Sunday of each month, the Leimert Park District in South LA hosts a monthly public celebration of art, music, film and history. The historic African American Arts and Culture Center offers visitors a variety of exhibits, live music, fashion, food, drumming, spoken word, and local shopping. THE Culver City Arts District home to many contemporary galleries, including Blum & Poe and Anat Egbi, where the exhibition “Variations on a theme” examines the artistic practices of a group of intergenerational artists such as Gloria Klein, Jesse Krimes, Suchitra Mattai. Artists won’t want to miss Hiromi Paper, a designer’s dream shop selling a variety of Japanese-made papers.
Check back for Artnet’s summer itineraries for Chicago and Washington, D.C. coming this month, and visit the New York City route here.
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