For instance, Mayan sculptures from Mexico honor one of the largest communities in L.A a city that M

To find both the past and future of Los Angeles in one square block, head over to a neighborhood called Mid-Wilshire to visit Hancock Park , site of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits .
Home to one of the oldest and most exciting geologic sites in America, a huge collection of priceless artworks, a kids playground and a hopping happy hour, this destination collection offers a sprawling park, an enclosed version of an ancient forest and a (fenced-off) pool of bubbling nags head nc vacation rentals oil.
Hancock Park is one of my favorite strolls in L.A., a grassy, elegant plaza bordered by Wilshire Boulevard, Fairfax Avenue, Sixth Street and Curson Avenue, between the tar pits and the city s largest art museum. Named for one of the city s founding oil-fathers, George Allan Hancock , this leafy, hilly sprawl of lawns and meandering nags head nc vacation rentals paths is peppered with a smiling combination of tourists and locals. nags head nc vacation rentals Not to be confused with the nearby neighborhood called Hancock Park, this grassy expanse was once known as Rancho La Brea until digging for oil turned into digging for fossils.
The Tar Pits, real live cesspools in the heart of Tinseltown, are like L.A. s version of the Liberty Bell: you re sure you ve been here once, maybe even on a school trip, but not for years . However, if you re into giant, ancient creatures and the soothing nature of sulfurous gas bubbles slowly expanding on the surface of an oozing, black pond, it s high time for another look.
While the asphalt was first excavated back in 1915 (when this spot was home to the city s natural history museum ), the pits themselves were discovered as many as 40,000 years ago by hapless sabertoothed tigers, dire wolves and ground sloths, who, um, fell in; preserved for an aeon or so, amazing Ice Age fossil lots here have now been tagged to the hilt. However, these excavation pits have also at various times been abandoned, as the ground here is constantly evolving. All around the museum plaza and out on Wilshire Boulevard you can still see asphalt bubbling up from cracks in the road and sidewalk.
Archeological work here progressed at a steady-if-glacial pace until 2009, when amidst construction of a new parking lot next door, a treasure trove of fossils including a wooly mammoth skeleton was unearthed , catalogued and brought into the Page Museum for study. Beyond the imposing stadium-like wings, bronze  bas relief and enormous front door, you re taken through the history of Los Angeles nags head nc vacation rentals and history itself, giving you a glimpse of the Project 23 paleontological laboratory at work and ending out back in a glass-roofed forest of towering palms.
The Los Angeles County Museum nags head nc vacation rentals of Art, known as LACMA (because it s a heck of a lot shorter), has in the almost two decades I ve lived in this town become an increasingly exciting place to explore the world of art and the art world. Aside from its sparkly gift shop and busy lecture/movie hall, you can snag a ticket nags head nc vacation rentals to the latest big-budget show (like lily-pad- loving Monet or local anti-hero Tim Burton) or immerse yourself in a rare and varied collection of collections.
For instance, Mayan sculptures from Mexico honor one of the largest communities in L.A a city that Mexico used to own. The gorgeous Asian wing, which includes a stunning room full of carved-ivory netsuke nags head nc vacation rentals , reflect nags head nc vacation rentals three of L.A. s most influential populations Japanese, Korean and Chinese. Persian tile-works and intricate paintings allude to the city s thriving nags head nc vacation rentals Beverly Hills community of Iranian nags head nc vacation rentals expats, many of whom fled Iran in the late 1970s when the Shah was forced from power. Mysterious carvings and totems from Tonga, Papua New Guinea and more (which could stand to be less mysterious and more thoroughly described) are a nod to L.A. s often-direct-flight proximity to the islands of the Pacific Rim.
And while you can also wander through some impressive European artworks (including Rodin castings in the sculpture garden), a spin through LACMA s newest section has the most to teach about the overblown state of modern nags head nc vacation rentals art collecting. The Broad Contemporary Art Museum , established in 2008 and resembling a futuristic escalator/sailing vessel, this is the brainchild of LACMA founding chairman and real estate magnate Eli Broad. He and his wife Edythe funded this huge (and I d argue, under-utilized) building to house their Warhol and Koons collections, two of Earth s most controversial modern artists, both known for farming out the bulk of their labor to others. You may not be a fan of either though I urge you to check out Koons beautifully detailed Train , cast from pure silver and bourbon you can still discover a new-to-you-and-quite-possibly-confounding artist in a room dedicated to unique, modern exhibitions.
Outside the Broad, the singular oddity nags head nc vacation rentals of Andrea Zimmer s multi-streetlamp installation invites you to wend your way amongst cast-iron nags head nc vacation rentals posts and find some sort of inspiration. Trippy, for sure, and yet iconic in a huge city that must hold tightly to its antique charms.
After an afternoon of exploring Hancock Park, take a seat at  Ray s Stark Bar , a mid-century-styled nightspot that offers a well-heeled hipster crowd, a gorgeous Mediterranean menu and in addition to lunch and dinner, one of the very best happy hours in the area. While sipping a secret cocktail or just enjoying the passage of a sunny day, enjoy a glimpse of a city moving fluidly through time.
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