Another Full Day in LA

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This is the fourth post in a series; fifth if you count the prologue. You really should read them in order, so click on this link for the Prologue or on this link for Part One. And if you want to see all the pictures from this trip, click here. 

Friday in Los Angeles

 Friday began with a hunt for an ATM, which really wasn't all that hard to find, it was just hard to get to, because of all the "no left turns" and "no stopping" and "no parking" in the part of town we're in; although since finding one (right down the street about half a mile away) we've passed maybe twenty branches of my bank, and they all have ATMs. Though I've yet to see a drive-up ATM.

 We were looking for a cafe I'd been to a few years ago for breakfast, but we didn't get that far before we spotted a place called Continental Kitchen that looked as good. It actually turned out to be better, and we sat outside on the patio in the marvelous Southern California weather for probably two hours in full-relax mode.

 We had all kinds of things planned for the day, but we never got to them. Instead, the first thing we did took us all day and we haven't finished with it. Or at least I haven't; I'm not sure if Hank has.

The prop horse head from The Godfather

 That was our visit to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Wilshire. The ground floor is just the gift shop, a bar and two restaurants, which took us not much time at all. (An example of the gift shop: I saw a book I thought about buying for $23, but before I did I looked on Amazon and found I could get it for $9. I didn't buy it.) Above the ground floor are three floors of exhibits. I managed to see one of them in the hours before lunch, which we ate at the bar while discussing what we had seen. While Hank had, apparently, zoomed through the second floor without seeing anything, and had gone through the third and fourth floors at his pace, I had spent that same amount of time just on the second floor, where I saw a fascinating exhibit on the Godfather movies; a film called "Image" that presented short exposés on the work of cinematographers, lighting directors, costumers, model-makers and other professions that are involved in the visual realization of a film-maker's ideas; and a film called "Sound" that showed, using the opening scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, how a soundtrack is created. They were fascinating. I also saw an extensive exhibit on costumes, and a presentation about Oscar winners over the years, which included a number of selected acceptance speeches from history.

 After lunch I went on to the third floor, to see an exhibit called "Hollywoodland" about the Jews who mostly came to Los Angeles to escape Thomas Edison's monopoly claims, and ended up starting most of the major studios between 1905 and 1929. It included a film about their background and their understanding of their roles in the film industry, and while I don't necessarily agree with their view as presented, I think I understand their positions a little better.

 There was also an exhibit about the work of Pedro Almodovár, and behind that, a large room on animation in film; then one about science-fiction film, including special effects and alien make-up. I spent the entire afternoon on that floor and never got to the fourth. Henry, meanwhile, went back to the second floor to see all the exhibits he'd missed after I told him about them; and over dinner I told him about all the exhibits on the third floor that he'd missed. 

 We drove out to Griffith Observatory -- or tried to; there was something going on up there and the police wouldn't let us get to it. So instead we went for dinner to Canter's Deli, which is a place Hank had heard of and wanted to go to. It's on Fairfax, near Television City, and when we got there I realized it was a place I'd eaten last time I was here. Certainly didn't mind eating there again. I had something called The Spicy -- I forget now what that was, but I remember it was good -- and for dessert, Russian coffee cake, a sort of apple cake with vanilla ice cream. Excellent.

 After that, we just cruised through Westwood a little and then went back to the hotel, as we were both barely functional by that point. We had a drink at the bar in the lobby but I couldn't finish mine and just went upstairs. Hank came up soon after.