It was really warm for much of the day today and I had a pretty packed agenda. I started in the morning at the Gaynor Minden showroom. I wear their pointe shoes, but wanted to see if they could help me tweak the fit. It turned out to be really quick, just needed softer shanks. I'm excited to try these shoes at home. Next was a visit to High Line Park. This is a new redevelopment of an old train track into a public garden and park. It's elevated and a really interesting way of reinventing something that was otherwise probably a bit of an eyesore. The track goes through or under a couple of buildings, including the Standard Hotel which has developed a reputation as a place for voyeurs (in the park at night) and exhibitionists (in a hotel room overlooking the park with the drapes open and the lights on). There are benches and wooden lounge chairs scattered throughout the park, and at one area, the designers have built in a theatre style seating area for park goers to watch the activity on 10th street, below. The plantings along the park appear to change from one end to the next, however I'm not much of a plant person so I'm not sure what the themes are. It being late fall, it was mostly in decay stage, although some hardy plants were still showing off.
My next stop was International Center of Photography, located in mid-town, not far from where Ming and Wilson used to live. They are presenting a show called 'Dress Codes' which seemed like it would be interesting. The area appears to be mostly a business district and was very quiet today. The show was a bit disappointing however. I was hoping for some interesting takes on fashion, clothing and photography however I found the pieces in the show to be too much about ideas and not enough about emotions. The one piece I found intriguing was a series of photos of an elderly Moroccan woman who showed how she smuggled clothing across borders by wearing them in layers under her clothes. There's nothing wrong with art meant to express ideas, but very few of the pieces brought out any kind of visceral reaction in me. The museum includes both still and video images in their shows.
My final stop of the day was at the New Museum of Contemporary Art. This museum is in the Bowery and the neighbourhood is really interesting. Lots of high fashion shops and smaller boutique-y places with street vendors all around. The museum is showing pieces by Urs Fischer who was profiled in the New Yorker, where I learned about it. I found this show much more appealing. The artist pretty much took over the museum (3 floors of large gallery spaces). Each floor had a different feeling. The art had a certain obsessive quality to it, which is something I am always drawn to. Each gallery had a very different feel from the others and it was amazing to consider it all came out of the brain of one guy. The museum offers free iPod tours, which is a nice way to give viewers additional information and helps in the appreciation of the pieces.
I was pretty pooped at this point and my feet were ready for a rest. One of the big problems with living in LA is that there are so few opportunities to walk. I had a couple of hours of relaxation at Wilson and Ming's. For dinner, we headed to Bar Breton, near their place. I had a nice ham and cheese crepe (with a sunny side up egg in the middle) and we shared a mousse with rice crisps and fleur de sel. The traditional beverage with crepes is cider and I tried a delicious pear version. By the time we were done and heading home, it started to rain pretty hard. I had been thinking of heading down to the Village Halloween parade but decided that I didn't care enough to get wet in it.
Speaking of Halloween, all day I saw people in interesting outfits. Half the time, I wasn't sure if it was their usual weird outfit or a costume for the holiday. Is that guy in camouflage for Halloween or is he really in the military? Was that guy a real doctor, or is he going to a costume party? I'm pretty sure the 3 zombie nurses and a few people with blood stains were for today only. The David Bowie standing outside the restaurant was pretty convincing, but the real guy is a lot older!
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