J. Paul Getty Center and Museum (Summer) - Los Angeles

So after our lunch at Light Town House Korean BBQ in Garden Grove, I decided to take my cousin to the J. Paul Getty Center & Museum. Read J. Paul Getty Center and Museum (Winter) if you missed my quickie overview of the Getty with pictures of the garden in winter and some of my favorite art pieces.

I love the Getty best during the summer, you'll see why in a bit.

Part of my love for the Getty is because my move to SoCal, more or less, coincided with its opening. I can't recall the name of the author or the book, but he? she? wrote an article about a recent book tour which included a stop in California. But instead of opting for San Francisco as his/her agent thought, the author chose Los Angeles. I don't remember anything else that was on the list of why SoCal trumps NorCal, except for the Getty.

And oh what a beauty the Getty is during the summer. Evidently, lots of other people thought so too.

It was so hot that day that they had umbrellas out for people to use as parasols. I was amused by this little boy's attempt to carry four umbrellas back to the stand. He did eventually figure out that folding them up would make it a whole lot easier.

Here we come to my favorite water feature. It was turned off during the winter so I didn't take any photos. It starts with a long narrow trickle of water way at the top of this picture and goes to this shallow pool that barely drips into the center of the opened criss cross. Next you'll have to walk down the stairs to see the bottom of the open hole.

And you stare up at this. It's just slowly dripping like the underside of an urn nor cavern.








































Pretty cool huh?

Now we get to the reason why I love the Getty. Just a glimpse of the fuchsia bougainvillea trailing over steel sculptures. Gotta slowly make your way down to it.

Passing through some lovely rock and water features along the way.




Really, if it wasn't so hot, I would have been content to sit underneath the bougainvillea all day.









The azalea maze garden.

And inside the main entrance area is this weird musical art piece. Some of the balloons or whatever you'd call them are the size of buses. I can't remember what else about the exhibit.


And afterward, we stopped by Santa Monica, but after seeing the crowds at the beach and pier, my cousin really wasn't interested in exploring.
The Getty in other seasons:
J. Paul Getty Center and Museum (Winter) - Los Angeles - California

The J. Paul Getty Center and Museum

1200 Getty Center Drive

Los Angeles, CA 90049

Tuesday–Thursday and Sunday 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

Friday and Saturday 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m.

Closed Monday

Free admission, $8 parking