After meeting Bill and Vivian at the John Wayne Airport, we motored home for some refreshments and visiting. Then off to Redondo Beach Harbor for a walk and dinner.

 

 

 

A friendly guy volunteered to take this photo, and now you can see that I am here also!

 

 

 

The entrance to the harbor.

 

 

The view looking West  from the Pier.

 

 

Two beautiful ladies having dinner at Tony's on the Pier.

 

 

And here Bill and Tom prepare to dig in.

 

 

The next morning, Wednesday, Marie drove us on our sightseeing jaunt. The first stop was at Olvera Street, where Los Angeles all began when the Padres built the first Mission here.

 

 

Maybe this helps explain the history.

 

 

Here we are in Alvera Adobe, the oldest house in Los Angeles.

 

 

This is the indoor kitchen that was used when the weather was bad

 

 

 

 

 

Ready for a nap?

 

This is the courtyard showing some of the cactus .

 

Another view of the courtyard.

 

 

Here is the outdoor kitchen, and Bill is trying to see when lunch will be ready!

 

 

Olvera Street is now packed with many shops and stalls full of interesting items..

 

 

Vivian managed to find a few items.

 

 

We are waitng while Vivian completes some shopping.

 

 

Next we toured the Hancock Park to see the La Brea Tar Pits, where weobserved the archeologists excavating more bones. Then a short drive through parts of Beverly Hills, and then we headed back towards our home in Palos Verdes.  We passed the large modern Sony Studios enroute.

This photo is taken looking North towards Santa Monica from a viewpoint on Palos Verdes hill.

 

 

On Thurdsay morning, we drove to "The Getty Center", a major recent addition to the LA scene. It houses 5 major art museum buildings, research facilities, and a marvelous garden.

 

 

a waterfall and this bush with the hue blossoms.

 

 

The flowers are bewitching!

 

 

I think that is the West Gallery on the hill.

 

 

A nice lunch at the Cafeteria renewed our energy for the remaining galeries.

 

 

Ciew looking South over  Westwood and Brentwood  towards Palos Verdes in the distant sea haze.

 

 

a view of part of the courtyard.

 

 

Looking down on the lower part of the garden.

 

 

Fountains along the main courtyard.

 

 

This is the world famous  "Irises" by Van Gough. It was purchased by the Getty for many many millions of dollars a while back.

 

 

I like this impressionist paintings. I think this may be Pizzaro.

 

 

 

The haze has cleared some, and you can see Palos Verdes more clearly.

 

 

You can get an mpression of how The Getty Center sits atop one of the peaks in the Santa Monica Mountains. One parks one's car in a large underground garage downthere by the San Diego freeway, and then one rides a special tram up to the Center.

 

 

We next drove to the Will Rogers Ranch State Park, but when we got there we found that the visitor center was being renevated, and we had missed the last tour of the Ranch House. But, we persisted, and explored the ranch house from the outside, looking in through the nice clean windows!

 

 

I am glad they did not think we were burglers!

 

 

This is a nice patio where they had cook-outs.

 

 

Photo taken through the window glass of the main room in the ranch house.

 

 

He entertained famous people from around the world in this wonderful room.

 

 

Vivian beside the beautiful bouganvilla. Will's small office, where he wrote his syndicated column,  was just up the stairs.

 

 

This home has a wonderful warm comfortable feeling.

 

 

The varanda that faces the Polo Field, where they still compete.

 

 

Vivian thought that this great tree needed support.

 

 

That is the old bunk house, where the visitor center is being redone.

 

 

Bill said that these plants were much larger than those in his garden!

 

 

Having a nice dinner in Reed's restaurant in Manhattan Beach on the way home to PV

 

 

Friday, the next morning, we drove Bill and Vivian to the Disneyland Marriot Hotel, where they will be staying for the next 5 night. This is where the "Miss American Homecoming Queen" pagent will occur, and here is their grand daughter, Courtney, who is the Queen from Pennsylvania, and she will compete for the national crown this weekend.

 

 

A bevy of beauties!

 

 

Courtney is a very beautiful and charming young lady!!!