10 Things To Do in July
Author:Abigail StoneJuly really feels like the start of summer, a time to explore, whether that’s getting outside or just expanding your mind…
Take the kids and visit The Second Home Serpentine Pavilion at LaBrea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. Second Home, the London-based social business, and The Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County present the 2015 Serpentine Pavilion designed by architectural firm selgascano, now through November 24, 2019. Focusing on the intersection of art, design, science and nature, the translucent, iridescent multi-pathwayed structure is, frankly, colorful and joyous and serious fun for all ages. Photo by Iwan Baan
This Saturday, July 6th is the last day to see artist Alexandra Grant’s “Born to Love” at Lowell Ryan Projects. The solo exhibition, from the artist’s Antigone 3000 series, which revolves around Antigone’s statement to her Uncle Creon in the play by Sophocles, “I was born to love not to hate,” is at once playful, thought-provoking, political, feminist and powerful. Grant’s large-scale and vivid tableaus on paper, a collage of text and paint, curves and straight lines, color and black and white, underline that Antigone, in choosing love over hate, rises above all opposition with her steadfast conviction, a fitting proposition for the present climate.
Take a drive down La Cienega Boulevard and through Los Angeles’ famed Design Quarter and spot the inaugural piece in Farrow & Ball’s Creative Billboard series. The piece entitled SUMMER, by Los Angeles-based artist Ali Silverstein, can be seen on the northern facade above the brand’s flagship store and will be on view through September. Wild, unpredictable juxtapositions create what Silverstein refers to as “a monochrome of pattern.” The project was a true collaboration — Farrow & Ball mixed the colours, and Silverstein, with paint cans lined up beside her canvas for spontaneous inspiration, dipped into each colour as it called to her. The work was then transferred to vinyl for the billboard.
Summer in Los Angeles means it’s time for The Friday Night Wine Tastings at Barnsdall Art Park which run through September 6. The event, which highlights a selection of beverages from Silverlake Wine, welcomes Angelenos and visitors alike (21 and up) to sip wine, picnic, listen to music and watch the sunset atop Olive Hill on the west lawn of historic Hollyhock House (which you can tour during the evening for an additional $15). Proceeds support the park’s art programs and historic renovations. Tickets are $35 per person with special Hollyhock House tours available for an additional $15 and can be purchased here.
For an elegant take on eating outside, check out Auburn on Melrose. The indoor-outdoor restaurant, designed by Klein Agency, is a serene and beautiful backdrop for Chef Eric Bost’s inventive fine-dining tasting menu
If a martini — or an Aperol Spritz — against a classic Old Hollywood backdrop with a casual menu is more your style, check out DTLA’s Hotel Figueroa. The 14-story Spanish Colonial-style hotel, originally built in 1926 and skillfully renovated Studio Collective in partnership with Rockefeller Kempel Architects, offers a choice of places to eat overlooking the famous coffin-shaped pool, from the rattan-chaired and cement-tiled Veranda to the two story cocktail bar, Rick’s
The movies are indelibly linked with Los Angeles. Experience that for yourself. No, not with a tour of the Star’s homes (though we must admit, as a pure house tour it can be intriguing), but with a night watching classic films under the stars on the lawn of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Cinespia runs through the end of August with a roster of films that runs the gamut from “Rear Window” to “Mad Max” and “Never Been Kissed”. For the full list and tickets, click here.
If you haven’t done so already, consider buying new outdoor furniture to spruce up your exterior space. Two lines we’re loving recently are Australia’s Coco Republic, recently introduced in the States and available at H.D. Buttercup (currently in the midst of their half-yearly sale), and Peter Dunham’s ever-expanding line for Hollywood at Home, available at their shop on La Cienega. Both are ideal for California’s indoor-outdoor lifestyle: stylish, durable, timeless and design-forward.
Museums are the perfect place to wile away a hot summer day and SF MoMA’s Andy Warhol exhibit, which runs through September 2nd, is the perfect show to see. The first retrospective of his work since 1989, it reconsiders the work of one of the most inventive, influential, important and well-known American artists. Stretching across three floors, it builds on a wealth of new materials, research, and scholarship that has emerged since the artist’s untimely death in 1987, and reveals new complexities about the Warhol we think we know. Surcharged and timed tickets available by clicking here.
With a long weekend about to kick in, it’s time to stock up on reading material to accompany your swimsuit and glass of rose. Head out to the newsstand to pick up your copy of our latest issue or treat yourself to a subscription here.
Now, get out of the house!
