Los Angeles

Nov 1-3, 2024
PD 665 YYZ-LAX, AC774 LAX-YUL, AC493 YUL-YYZ

Before the 2024 election, we had planned one final trip to the US to get a nice break from the cooler fall weather and to get back to California. Not knowing the election outcome, but recognizing there could be some unrest, I was certain that we didn’t want to be there after election day, so I scheduled it just before the election. After booking our tickets, one of our favourite podcasts coincidentally scheduled an in-person show for the same weekend, so the timing worked out perfectly for a nice weekend away and to enjoy a fun show.

Nov 1 Porter Airways’ long-haul service out of Toronto Pearson is continuing to shake up the airline market, and with pretty decent discounts we decided to take Porter Reserve rather than buying economy on Air Canada and fighting for an upgrade. The service and legroom were both good, but the narrow, hard seat did a number on both of our backs, so we probably won’t be doing again for flights this long. We landed in LA early evening as scheduled, and had a nice walk to our nearby airport hotel.

Nov 2

On our January 2024 trip, we enjoyed getting back to the Getty Museum, but didn’t book far enough in advance to get reservations at the nearby Getty Villa. This time, we planned in advance and booked an early morning slot. I was up early, had a workout, and walked from the hotel to pick up the rental car, and we headed up the coast just past Santa Monica on the Pacific Coast Highway to the beautiful Villa. The Villa, in addition to housing thousands of antiquities from 6,500BC to 400AD, has a design inspired by the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. Having just visited the Herculaneum ruins in June, it was a fun full circle moment.

Getty Villa Museum entry exterior courtyard

Outdoor theatre opposite the museum entrance

Main entrance into the Villa galleries

One of the many impressive galleries

Interior peristyle

Me posing in front of the main fountain of the inner peristyle

Looking back at the museum building across the fountain in the outer peristyle

Fountain statue

East garden

Sharing a few of the many antiquities. Sicily 500BC Incense Burner in the Form of Nike

100BC Gravestone of a Woman with her Attendant

2700-2300BC Cyladic Harp Player

After leaving the museum, we had lunch in Marina Del Ray

A few sea lions have moved into some moored boats

Art Deco Park Plaza hotel in downtown LA, waiting for renovation, across from Macarthur Park

1960’s American Cement Building, formerly their headquarters, built to showcase their cement, but now redeveloped into 71 live/work lofts. Also the headquarters of the podcasting cooperative that our afternoon podcast event is a member of.

Statue of General Harrison Gray Otis on the edge of Macarthur Park

Trying to capture the best of Macarthur Park, while avoiding the unhoused and dodgy characters hanging around

After the show, we had just a little bit of time to explore the MacArthur park area, which was more than a little gritty and certainly showed the depth of the poverty that much of America is suffering through. It is a striking contrast to the wealth of Getty and the surrounding communities. Before dark, we headed back towards the airport, grabbed some dinner, did a bit of shopping. dropped off the rental car, and walked back to the hotel.

Nov 3

To get at least a premium economy seat home, we flew back through Montreal on a wide body aircraft. It was a relatively early departure so, after I had an early morning workout, we walked back to the airport and got a little bit more fresh air before our flight home.

Catching a photo of the iconic Theme Building of LAX before our early flight

Leaving LA, I didn’t expect the election outcome that shortly followed, and definitely didn’t anticipate the wildfires in January 2025 that ravaged much of LA, including the Pacific Palisades and Altadena & Pasadena areas of LA that we’d visited on this and our previous 2024 trip. It is a terrible tragedy, and I feel lucky to have visited in better times, and hope that those that suffered unthinkable loss are able to recover some of what they’ve lost.