Yayoi Kusama and discovering DTLA

I managed to get 2 shots at seeing the sold out Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirrors show at The Broad. This past weekend was my second go with Yuki, Mark and Gigi. They had not seen the show yet.

The first time I experienced Yayoi Kusama was in Cophenhagen. I took the train to The Louisiana Museum and they happened to have a show about Colour in Art. It was a fantastic show and quite extensive, and at one point there was a line to see something (I had no idea what). I was traveling on my own so had no issues standing in a line for an unknown amount of time to see an unidentified art piece. Turns out it was an Infinity Mirror room. They let a few people in at a time, and we had maybe a minute (longer than the time they allowed at The Broad). It was breathtaking!

I was so excited to see this show the first time about 3 weeks ago with a group of 6. The show is very well organized and well timed so that despite having short waits at each room, it never felt like endless waiting. Kudos to the exhibit organizers and museum staff! However in order to accommodate as many people as possible, the amount of time in each room is limited to about 20 seconds!

I'm so glad I saw this a second time because the first time, I was so focused on 'getting the picture' (this being a ridiculously photographable show) that I barely had time to appreciate being in the rooms. In addition, the show includes paintings and sculptures by the artist, as well as posters from her art shows in the 60s when she was working in NYC.

We were in the exhibit for about an hour. After spending some time in the main galleries, we headed to Grand Central Market for lunch. Since Angel's Flight connects Olive to Hill right at the Market, we decided to take this very short funicular, which has had a checkered history (closed for years, reopened briefly but closed again, and only recently reopened). It was a hot day (unseasonably so for late November) and the Market was packed and stiflingly hot. We managed to snag a table rather quickly despite the crowds and each grabbed our own food of the many options. Instead of ice cream at McConnell's (ridiculously long line), Gigi suggested we find the ice cream place at the Spring St arcade, which was kind of on our way back to the 7th/Metro train station.

On the way there, we stopped at The Bradbury Building (famed from the movie Blade Runner), which is right next door to Grand Central Market. The Spring St Arcade also has a Guisado's taco place, but we were there for Gelateria Uli. They had some great unusual flavours (black sesame! jamaica/hibiscus mint!) and they accept suggestions for new flavours. Also, the shop is air conditioned and no crowds, so win-win for us.

After ice cream we walked by Clifton's Cafeteria, which has recently been restored. The decor is essentially intact (fake giant sequoia is still there) but reorganized to include a bunch of different bars and the cafeteria reorganized into zones instead of one long line of food over steam trays. The final stop was the Jewelry Theatre which used to be a vaudeville and then movie theatre, currently serves as home to individual jewelry vendor stations but the theatre decor mostly remains intact above the booths. Worth popping in to take a look even if you have no interest in diamonds.

Thanks to Gigi's knowledge of DTLA, our morning museum outing turned into a mini tour of our own hometown!