USA April/May 2017

Pasadena, Los Angeles  27 April -1 May  2017

Here we are in the country of the Stars and Stripes.  Had a good flight over.  We were put in the top bit of the plane in a row with just two seats, great!  The plane was on time, had fairly comfortable seats and reasonable food.  Good old Qantas!

    

View from our hotel room in Old Pasadena, looking over towards the San Gabriel Mountains.  Pasadena is a beautiful oasis in the crazy world of La La Land.

  The Pasadena Beaux Arts City Hall.

   

  Testing the waters in the courtyard of the City Hall.

 

 Bill between the nine foot heads of the brothers Mack and Jackie Robinson, sports heroes and racial barrier breakers.

   The Pasadena Museum of Californian Art was very interesting.  There are three exhibitions on at the moment. One is by Joseph Kleitsch (1882 - 1932).

  Another is woodblock printer Gustave Baumman (1881 -1971).  This is San Franscisco before it was filled with buildings.

  The third exhibition is sculptural.

  Pasadena is the centre of the Arts and Craft Movement, stressing simplicity of design with superior craftsmanship.  The 1908 Gamble House, designed by the Green brothers, is an excellent example and is open for public tours.  It was used as the home of the mad scientist, Doc Brown, in the  Back to the Future movies.

   The stained glass front door.

  A view of the garden from inside.

  All the furniture is beautifully hand crafted.

  Pasadena also boasts the wonderful Norton Simon Museum, with masterpieces spanning more than 2,000 years of Western and Asian art.  This is a Paul Cezanne, Farmhouse and Chestnut Trees at Jas de Bouffan, 1884.

  Edgar Degas, Dancers in Pink, 1886.

An Aristide Maillol work in the sculpture garden.

  Barbara Hepworth, Assembly of Sea Forms, 1972.

  Diego Rivera, The Flower Vendor, 1941.

An  Indian Dancing Shiva.

  It's amazing to see how many Australian native plants are growing here, like this kangaroo paw in front of out hotel.