April 2007: Zoo Graduation, The Autry Museum and the LA Times Book Festival

I hope all is well with you. Here is a look back at April 2007 in the Cameron/Utt household.

THE MASTERSONS OF MANHATTAN
We started the month with a comedy taping at CBS Rexford. It was a pilot for NBC called The Mastersons of Manhattan featuring Molly Shannon, Natasha Richardson, Brian Benben, and Jonathan Cake. We laughed a lot and we all gave it a thumbs-up, but Mastersons isn’t on NBC’s fall schedule. http://imdb.com/title/tt0952667/

In addition to seeing acclaimed director James Burrows at work, there were celebs in the audience, too. Sitting in the front row was Madeline Stowe (Blink). Directly in front of us was Dante Basco (But I’m A Cheerleader) and one row in front of him was T.R. Knight (Grey’s Anatomy).

BERGAMOT STATION/SANTA MONICA
Our friend JJ invited us over to Bergamot Station, an arts complex in Santa Monica that started life in 1875 as a trolley station on the Red Car Line. It has also been a celery packing warehouse, an ice-making plant and something to do with water heaters.
http://www.bergamotstation.com/

Now, it’s a convenient amalgam of art galleries with centralized parking and a café. We spent an hour or two wandering in and out of the buildings without finding anything to bring home but there was something for everybody —furniture, photography, oils, weavings, jewelry, sculptures, etc. The map below has all of the participating galleries and links for more information and artist portfolios.
http://artscenecal.com/Maps/Bgmt.html

LA ZOO DOCENT GRADUATION
Our friend Cynthia announced sometime last year that she was going to become a docent at the L.A.Zoo. In order to have the pleasure of giving up her weekends to tour folks around the park and educate them about our animal friends, she first had to take six months worth of classes. Did I mention that this was a volunteer gig?

Factoid: “Docent” derives from the Latin docēre, meaning "to teach".

She had to learn about animal classification, animal behavior, habitat, nutrition, and endangered species status. She studied everything from California Condors to Pacific Gray Whales and shared some of her new knowledge with us. Did you know that hoofstock is divided into even-toed “artiodactyla” and odd-toed “perissodactyla.” Or that the seating pads found on primates are called “ischial callosities?”

It was a tough course. At the end of six months only half of the class was eligible for graduation and Cynthia was one of them. We were so impressed! Each graduate contributed their own piece to the ceremony. Cynthia presented a poem she wrote using lots of that new animal lingo and inside jokes that cracked up her classmates. She actually got a laugh with “occipital condyles” so you know she was a hit.

Afterwards, we had some snacks and Cynthia gave us a personal tour of the zoo, which was much bigger than I expected. She rattled off some of those facts like she had known them all her life. We were—and still are—impressed. Congratulations!

APRIL VISITORS PART ONE
My Mom signed up for a three-and-a-half week trip through Mainland China. Her flight connected through LAX so she got here a few days early for a visit. We went to see her brother in Joshua Tree, spent a morning at the Getty Villa, walked through the Beverly Hills Hotel, stopped in Pasadena to view The Gamble House and visited the Autry Museum.

GENE AUTRY MUSEUM
The Gene Autry Museum of the American West sits across the street from the L.A. Zoo. We drive by it almost everyday but had never felt the need to go in until my Mom showed an interest. I wasn’t sure what to expect but we were pleasantly surprised.

My favorite presentation was part of the permanent exhibit on the lower level. It was a series of displays comparing the contributions, challenges, and daily life of European, Mexican, Chinese, Mormon, Japanese and Native American settlers.

Saddles, carriages, playing cards, poker chips, bar paraphernalia, tools and Pony Express pouches are part of the permanent collection. Even though the whole gun thing is kind of lost on me, the vintage firearm exhibit was impressive.

Their special exhibit consisted of paintings and women’s costumes spanning the 1800’s. Organized chronologically, it was easy to identify the evolving style trends in both forms. It was also interesting to see how much faster tastes were changing as the 20th century approached.

There was an area dedicated to Mr. Autry, Tom Mix, Roy Rogers, John Wayne and other Hollywood stars. There were props and costumes—like an original Lone Ranger outfit—surrounded by international movie posters and vintage merchandise. They had the same Hopalong Cassidy sweater that Daryl’s dad wore for his school picture and a display of Johnny West action figures that Daryl and I both had.

The museum has a wide range of offerings so you don’t have to be a student of the Old West or a Gene Autry buff to enjoy it. We were there almost three hours. Ticket prices, operating hours, and exhibit information can be found here: http://www.autrynationalcenter.org/about.php

LOS ANGELES TIMES FESTIVAL OF BOOKS/UCLA
This has become an annual event in the Cameron/Utt household. My Mom just missed going to the festival when she was here in 2005, so I was thrilled she got to see it on this trip and visit the UCLA campus for the first time. http://www.latimes.com/extras/festivalofbooks/

It’s like the Winter Park Art Festival times ten. A book festival might sound like it has niche appeal until you realize people are there to share their passion for travel, cooking, photography, religion, film, coping, politics, puzzles, music, sports, animal rights, poetry, mystery, etc. It’s huge. Just check out this author list—I guarantee you’ll recognize someone. http://www.latimes.com/extras/festivalofbooks/authorlist.html

The family area was sponsored by Target and featured the required-by-law-face-painting-and-crafts tent. There was also a stage where celebrity authors like Billy Crystal read their children’s books and musical artists performed. There were meet & greets with kid-centric stars like Jay Jay the Jet Plane, too. This year we saw “Where’s Waldo?” signing copies of his book. That made us laugh.

Past the family area and beyond one of the two food courts is the Barnes and Noble stage. When we arrived, Kareem Abdul Jabar was talking about On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance which he wrote with Raymond Obstfeld. (His third book, by the way.) It was a thrill to see him, especially at his alma mater.
http://www.amazon.com/Shoulders-Giants-Journey-Through-Renaissance/dp/1416534881/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-9193050-4471325?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181796942&sr=8-1

As the former Lew Alcindor left the stage to do a book signing, Mom and I got seats up front for the next author, Tim Gunn. I had no idea my mother was such a Project Runway fan until we saw Tim's name on the appearance schedule. She was excited to see him in person and enjoyed his Q&A. His book is called Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style and he wrote it with the equally funny Kate Molony. Daryl picked up a copy and got them both to sign it.http://www.amazon.com/Tim-Gunn-Guide-Quality-Taste/dp/0810992841/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-9193050-4471325?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178494368&sr=1-1

Afterwards, we walked by the C-SPAN2 Book TV booth and onto the main thoroughfare, which was very busy. We stopped at the communal crossword puzzle board to solve a few clues with the crowd and then paused at the culinary stage to watch Food TV’s Dave Lieberman prepare something from his cookbook.
http://store.foodnetwork.com/shop/thumbnail.asp?department_code=2&category_code=117&search_type=subcategory

We ended our visit with a quick perusal of the Canada Travel booth and free chocolate samples from Ghiradelli.

APRIL VISITORS PART TWO
Mother’s last day was spent primarily with Daryl as he took her on an architectural tour of LA. I was doing my own whirlwind tour with Kristen and Krista who were visiting from Central Florida. They saw the Chinese Theater, Sunset Boulevard, Beverly Hills, the Hollywood Sign, Burbank, and the Mulholland Overlook.

Kristen is engaged to my nephew Mathew and I was excited to finally meet her. She is also a big fan of The Price is Right which is why she and Krista were out here. They got a hotel room right across from CBS which was smart since the show line practically stopped at the Front Desk.

They had tickets to two shows but there are no guarantees for those 325 seats in Studio 33. First come, first served. For the first show, they went out early and got in line. For the second taping, they joined the line at 1:00am and slept on the sidewalk. True fans! They had great show experiences but didn’t get onstage or much camera time. Nevertheless, they can tell their grandkids they saw Bob Barker in his final month on The Price is Right.

STAR SIGHTINGS
We had breakfast at Dupar’s/Ventura two tables from General Hospital’s Kin Shriner.
http://www.dupars.com/

NEXT MONTH
More visitors and lots of sightseeing.

Until then,
James & Daryl