What's Opera, Doc?

Finally, somebody turned off the oven.

Look, I love all the free and low-cost summer events like the outdoor movie screenings, the concerts, and Shakespeare in the park, but oh, holy hell, this summer was hot. After long stretches of triple-digit heat (even L.A. sizzled this summer), I was happy as hell when the temperatures dropped 20 degrees at the start of fall.

With fall, comes pumpkin lattes and a slew of cultural events. This week we’re talking opera, tours, and some arts freebies.

Let’s start with opera.

“But Jim, isn’t that just large women in horned helmets?”

Get one thing straight right now – I don’t go to the opera for horned helmets.

The only horned helmet I've ever done. Oh, and be advised, just like in What's Opera, Doc?, the girl usually dies.

  I go to hear Don Jose sing the flower song, trying to convince the temptress Carmen of his love.

I go to hear Athanael sing to a dying Thais that nothing is true but life and the love of human beings.

I go to see Manon seduce Des Grieux.

I go to see want and desire expressed in all its twisting-knife-in-the-gut agony. I go to see love expressed so beautifully it brings tears to your eyes.

I go because it so beautifully expresses the love and desire I feel for  my wife every waking moment.

Nope, I don’t do horned helmets.

Look, I’m very new to this art form. I’m still trying to figure out my Donizetti from my Rosetti and Verdi (I do know Wagner. I loathe Wagner). Until I met my wife, my only exposure to opera was the classic Bugs Bunny cartoon “What’s Opera, Doc?” I still giggle whenever I hear the Ride of the Valkyries (I’m going to kill the wabbit, I’m going to kill the wabbit).

But after accompanying my wife to a couple of operas I was hooked. I can appreciated great music, regardless of its genre, and a beautiful voice is a beautiful voice.

Piotr Beczala and opera goddess Anna Netrebko in a scene from Manon. Seriously, dude, you're going to say no to that? Yeah, I didn't think so.

If you want to give this art form a look, there’s a couple of ways to go without it costing you an arm and a leg. L.A. Opera offers tickets starting around $20 for the balcony (that’s where my wife and I have our season seats). If that section is sold out, keep calling the box. Sometimes us season holders turn tickets in when we can’t make a performance.

Discounts are hard to come by. There are rush tickets for seniors and students, but rarely for matinees and rarely for some of the more popular productions. I have seen tickets on Goldstar, but that is rare.

Tenor Vittoria Grigolo and soprano Nino Machaidze in the L.A. Opera's production of Romeo and Juliet.

There are two other affordable options if you want to just sample opera. One is the Live in HD series from the Met where operas are shown in movie theaters (each gets two showings, one live and then an encore a few days later). Last time I went, tickets were $22 each, steep for movie showing, but cheap for an opera.

You can also catch operas on TV from time to time with PBS Great Performances. There is a version of Carmen featuring Elina Garanca that is absolutely sizzling.

If you’re going to a performance at the L.A. Opera you have some dining options ranging from low-cost to high-end. If money is an issue (and when is it not, really?), you can picnic on one of the tables in the Music Center plaza and at Grand Park. Another option is the Tina Tacos stand on the plaza.
Sometimes we’ll hit Phillipe’s for French dip sandwiches before heading to the Music Center.

Elina Garanca and Roberto Alagna were perfect as the temptress and the obsessed Don Jose in the Met version of Carmen.

If you got the bucks, then go straight to Pinot. Depending on what you drink, a meal for two will set you back $60, depending on what you drink and whether you have dessert (which we always do, my wife says). If you’re there for a matinee and they have the brunch menu, I can recommend the French toast. So fluffy, it’s like eating little clouds.

If you do go to an opera, squeeze the hand of the one you love during the great aria. After the performance, look them straight in the eye and tell them they are your passion, your obsession. And, to borrow from U2, telling them they are the reason why the opera is in you.

A few quick hits:


What’s that, you say? You want your cultural offerings for free? I can help.

On Sunday, Sept. 29 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. you can see “The Dude” himself, Gustavo Dudamel via a giant screen TV at Grand Park. They are broadcasting the performance of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles from the Disney Hall into the park.

If you go, go early and bring a picnic. Events at Grand Park fill up quick.

And here’s another Disney Hall-related freebie – On Oct. 5, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. the Music Center is presenting “10 Times the Party,” a celebration of the hall’s 10th anniversary. The event will be held in front of the hall and in it’s W.M. Keck Foundation Children’s Amphitheater, 111 South Grand Avenue.

The event includes music, dance, and arts workshops.

Over the next week weeks you’ll be hearing a lot about various tours you can take around L.A., starting with a great architecture tour. For now, let me offer up a suggestion on a fairly cheap, but wonderful set of tours – the L.A. Conservancy’s walking tours. My wife and I have done three or four of these tours, including the one for Union Station, the art deco tour, and the one for the Biltmore (aka the happiest place on Earth). They cost $10 a person for non-members, $5 for members.

For a great, low-cost date, do the Union Station tour and then go over to Olvera Street for taquitos at Cielito Lindo. You can cut down on the parking fee by using the park-and-ride lot at Universal City and taking the Red Line into Union Station (roundtrip for two $6).

On Sept. 28, Smithsonian magazine is sponsoring Free Museum Day. Several L.A. museums are participating, including the Petersen Automotive Museum, the Zimmer Children’s Museum, and the Pasadena Museum of Art. Find out more at the event website.

Another freebie coming up is Art Night in Pasadena on Friday, Oct. 11. Several museums and galleries will be open for free. There will also be a free shuttle service to get around to the different venues. We’ve got this penciled in our calendar. More information can be found at the event website.

Villains, Charles, and Becoming L.A.

Check out Dimples O'Rawley. Even the grandkids get villainized.

Oh, man, so much good stuff is going on. Let’s dive in.

First, a quick update to my last post: After playing a couple of shows out on the East Coast, Vaud and the Villains are back in Southern California. They are playing Sept. 21 at Fais Do Do (in the West Adams district) and, if you’re the San Diego area, on Sept. 29 at a place called The Belly Up in Solana Beach.



“Jim, you keep gushing about these guys,” you say. “Are they really that good?”

Let me put to you this way: we’re seeing them on Sept. 21 for the third time in three months. Yeah, they are that good.

Speaking of the 21st, it kills me that this is going on the same night because I would really love to go: The Moon Festival is being held in Chinatown. Similar to the Summer Nights series, it features live bands, food trucks, dancing, cooking demonstrations, dragon dancers, and more. A band that I like, The Little Ones (unapologetically sunny pop rock), is scheduled to play. The festival runs from 5 to 11 p.m. and admission is free.

If you drive, there’s relatively cheap parking nearby. If you go Metro, the Chinatown station off the Gold Line drops you off about a block away from the festivities. If we didn’t have tix for Vaud and the Villains, we would be all over this one.

Speaking of Chinatown, “histo-tainer” Charles Phoenix will be conducting tours there on Oct. 6. You don’t know who Charles Phoenix is? Hold on a moment while I face palm and say “oh, dude…”

In addition to being a performer and an author, Charles also likes to experiment with food.

Let me back up a bit. One of our recent dates had us taking in the new “Becoming L.A.” exhibit at the Natural History Museum, seeing an IMAX film at the California Science Center, and then going back over to the museum to see Charles Phoenix’s slideshow: “Architecture in L.A.”

If you have seen a Charles Phoenix show or gone on one of his tours, you know how much fun he is. If you haven’t, in you’re in for a treat.

Charles is the king of retro California. Growing up in Ontario, he fell in love with all that is Southern California – theme parks, neon lighting, googie (space age themed) design, and 50s and 60s cars (his dad was a used car salesman). After stints as a fashion designer (he’s a grad of FIDM where Kim occasionally teaches) and as a classic car salesman, Charles started on the path of becoming an author and entertainer when he found a shoe box of slides of a road trip made in 1957. He’s been collecting slides ever since.

In his bio on his website, Charles calls his slide archive the “Slibrary” and employs a “Slibrarian.”

Now he does themed slideshow presentations. He recently did a retro Disneyland show in Anaheim and his annual Christmas slide show is not to be missed. He also does Disneyland-themed tours of downtown Los Angeles (also well worth the time and money).

His L.A. architecture show, which he is performing again in Pasadena on Nov. 24, features unappreciated and under-appreciated buildings and signs from the 50s and 60s. Here’s a description from his website: “With his trademark enthusiasm, gracious wit, and keen eye for odd-ball detail, Charles shares spectacular space-age drive-ins, coffee shops, bowling alleys, strip malls, shopping centers, extreme homes, dingbat apartments, fast food stands, theme parks and much more all in glorious color!!!”

That’s the show: amazing slides of a golden age in Southern California design accompanied by his witty banter.

The key word being “witty.” This isn’t snarky commentary. He makes fun of things, but it is done with love. He has a true appreciation for what he is showing you.

I found this great quote of his from a 2005 interview on NPR: "I want people to stop saying `Oh, that was so tacky or that was so ugly or whatever.' You know, it wasn't all tacky and ugly. It was amazing."

He is doing the architecture show on Nov. 24 at the Art Center College in Pasadena. Tickets are $25 and $30.

On Oct. 6, Charles is doing three one-hour tours of Chinatown. Here’s the description from his website. “Look through the layers of time at Chinatown’s recently restored vintage neon signage, colorful Chinese modern architecture, multi-generation family owned antique stores and curio shops, classic restaurants and more. You will never see Old Chinatown the same way again.”

Tickets are $39 each. A bit pricey, I know, but it is Charles and it is Chinatown.

Back to our date. Before I go any further, remember this: do not drive anywhere near Exposition Park when USC is playing a home game. We made the mistake on a previous family outing of going during a game and got stuck in a massive traffic jam. We kept seeing signs with progressively higher fees for parking, topping at $80 (that’s not a typo - $80). We finally broke free and headed downtown, parked next to the 7th and Metro station for $3, and took the Expo Line back. (The Natural History Museum will knock $1.25 off your admission free for riding Metro.

If you haven’t been to the museum or haven’t been recently, now is a good time to go. The museum has just gone through a major renovation and looks fabulous.

One of the new additions is the new permanent “Becoming L.A.” exhibit, which covers about 14,000 square feet of space. The exhibit chronicles the history of the city (yes, L.A. has history) from the first contact with the Spanish explorers through its development into the city we now love.

Nice tagline.

Kim is a teacher, so she gets into the museum for free. Because we arrived about an hour before closing, my ticket has half off - $6.

An hour is just about the right amount of time to see the L.A. exhibit. Its highlights include one of Charles Chapin’s “Little Tramp” costumes, a 1902 Tourist automobile, and one of Walt Disney’s early animation machines, with a handwritten set of instructions from the man himself. One room is filled with a scaled model of the city, circa 1930.

After seeing the exhibit, we went over to the nearby California Science Center to see one of their IMAX movies, Blue Planet. The movie is fantastic to look at. Be warned it does come with quite a bit of tree-hugging-save-our-planet narration (I’m a tree hugger, so I was okay with it). Tickets were $8.25. I can’t remember the cost of concession stand food, but I do remember it being quite reasonable.

If I were planning another date to Exposition Park, I would get timed tickets to see the space shuttle Endeavour over the Science Center (The center admission is free. Tickets for Endeavour are free, but there is a small fee for getting them over the Internet) and spend the first part of my day there. I would picnic at the tables just outside its backdoors and then head over to the Natural History Museum for the afternoon.

Parking at Exposition Park can be had for $8 or $10, depending on the lot. If you go Metro (always a favorite of ours), the park is an easy walk from the station.

Well, that’s it for now.