Summer Sketching on Sunset Blvd.

...from Silver Lake to Hollywood...

Sitting in the shade of a flowery alcove outside The Casbah Cafe at Sunset Junction...with a view of the Boulevard and the hills above the Silver Lake neighborhood...

Traveling west on Sunset to East Hollywood, I returned to a favorite place to sketch...Barnsdall Park with its panoramic views in all directions of the city, and the Griffith Observatory...

...and some sketching in Hollywood...at Sunset and Vine--almost hidden from the street by the giant ficus is a bell signpost for El Camino Real.  The old "royal road" runs most of the length of California, and apparently this section of Sunset was part of it--the bell markers are part of the history of California which I love seeing!

... and just down the street is a modern piece of history, and a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural monument...the Cinerama Dome...

Summer in the City

...with the arrival of summer, I'm finally back out sketching!

With a return to some favorite Los Angeles places...like the wonderful India Sweets and Spices for a spicy lunch and always interesting customers...

...and Echo Park...the neighborhood along Sunset Blvd....

...and the park in lotus season!  The light in summer is so beautiful, and wonderful to see the lotuses blooming again! 

Heading west on Sunset Blvd. to the Silver Lake neighborhood, returning to sketch at a favorite spot...Sunset Triangle--a tiny urban plaza with a farmers market twice a week...

 I've been so lucky in finding friendly staff people at corner cafes up and down Sunset Blvd. (so far!)...here at "Morning Nights" I'm feeling right at home...

Good to see there's still filming in Los Angeles!  Here's a film crew packing up for the day...

Back at Echo Park...

...and some other stops around Los Angeles and the east end of Sunset Blvd...

When I last visited Echo Park, I was delighted to discover that the paddle boats have returned to the lake!  These are not the funky old boats I remember from years ago, but sleek new shiny "rubber duck" yellow!  They've made an instant hit, and the park is very busy on the weekends now...

Just east of Echo Park on Sunset Blvd. is a little gem of restaurant, Guisado's, that makes great little tacos of all kinds.  It seems to be a favorite lunchtime oasis for nearby downtown office workers...

It was great to have a late summer reunion at a favorite L.A. location, Olvera Street, with friends I sketched with in Barcelona--Shiho, Chris and John.  So much fun to talk about that fantastic experience, and get in a bit of sketching too.  Olvera Street is the oldest part of Los Angeles--I've loved it since I was a child...

Hollywood

It was inevitable.  As I've made my way sketching down Sunset Blvd., I just needed to make a short detour to sketch the Hollywood that millions of tourists come to see, so how could I resist?

 I've always loved the stars on the Walk of Fame that lines Hollywood Blvd. for several blocks, and Vine as well.  Near the fabled corner of Hollywood and Vine, life goes on as usual while tourists look for their favorite stars' stars...and a hopeful future star checks his messages...

 At Sunset and Vine, looking up the street towards Hollywood Blvd.,
the mix of old and new Hollywood...

 The biggest draw for tourists in Hollywood is still
Grauman's Chinese Theater...where costumed characters mix with visitors and some who look a bit lost...The red carpet above was left over from a Cirque du Soleil street performance the night before.















On Sunset, the Cinerama Dome sits across the street from the Los Angeles Film School, with Hollywood hopefuls coming and going...

 A Hollywood neighborhood cafe...

At Hollywood Blvd & Highland Shopping Center elephant towers rise up next to a massive gateway inspired by D. W. Griffith's 1916 silent film, Intolerance. As it turns out, the real location of the Intolerance Babylon set is where the Vista Theater now stands (show previously here)...
Vista Theater

Waiting for Work...

On a very hot summer day, around the corner from the Home Depot in East Hollywood on Sunset Blvd...men wait for work in the shade of sheltering trees...

Traveling west on Sunset...

...from the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, Sunset Blvd. takes you into East Hollywood...in the early days of Hollywood, this was the home of many film studios...now it's quite different...

The beautifully restored 1920's

Vista Theater stands at the intersection of Sunset

and Hollywood Blvd...a last bit of "old Hollywood", this was once the lot where D.W. Griffith built the famous "Babylon" set for his epic "Intolerance"...

Just north of Sunset is Barnsdall Art Park which sits on top of Olive Hill...with the municipal gallery and Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House, built for Aline Barnsdall.  My favorite thing about the park is the views out to the city in every direction!

A sliver of Sunset Blvd. and the city beyond seen through two Kaiser

Hospital buildings...and the Hollyhock House seen from Sunset, over hospital construction...

A local Capoeira group practices on the lawn at Barnsdall Park...

and a view of Barnsdall seen from Kaiser Hospital on a bright winter day...

Views of my favorite building in Los Angeles, the Griffith Observatory, seen from Olive Hill...

Exploring Los Angeles Neighborhoods

...more views of the interesting Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake,

moving further west on Sunset Blvd...

views along the Boulevard...above the bluffs, and a mystery door...

the area around Sunset Junction...

Intelligentsia coffee and 

Silver Lake people...