Chinatown – Year of the Snake – Part Three – Thien Hau Temple

Continuing on our walk of Los Angeles’ Chinatown, we ecountered a Taoist temple, the Thien Hau Temple, also known as Chùa Bà Thiên Hậu in Vietnamese and as Tiān Hòu Gōng (天后宫) in Chinese. It is a popular tourist attraction as well as a place of worship.

This was, in fact, about three quarters of the way through our walk around the Chinatown area but I wanted to dedicate a blog post just to the temple.

Sadly, I don’t know very much about Taoism. This temple is dedicated to Mazu, the Taoist goddess of the sea and patron saint to sailors, fishermen, and to anybody else associated with the ocean. Also, Guan Yu, the god of wars, brotherhood, and righteousness. And Fu De, the earth god.

I am sure all the images have some significance of which I am not aware. But like any kind of art or architecture, you can enjoy looking without knowing what everything means.

The temple is affiliated with the Camau Association of America, a local benevolent, cultural and religious association primarily serving the local Chinese-Vietnamese refugees from Camau Province, Vietnam. The group also supports Chinese, Vietnamese, Teochew and Thai Chinese communities.

The interior of the temple is pretty amazing. I don’t know what I expected, but certainly not this… something more like the simplicity of the local Buddhist temples I am used to.

The next few photos are interior shots. I was surprised how well my Canon Rebel operated in this low light with my shaky hand and no flash, just ambient light! Just a tiny amount of sharpening in Photoshop but no other adjustments.

Thien Hau Temple is festively decorated on the commemoration days of various deities, especially Mazu. I don’t know if the fruit and flowers were part of such a festival or if it is always decorated like this.

On the eve of Chinese New Year, members from various communities gather to receive blessings and to burn incense in worship of the deities. Lion dancers perform and firecrackers are popped in order to scare away evil spirits. Representatives from over 25 family associations headquartered in Chinatown and other communities are present to light the firecrackers at the stroke of midnight.

Many people come to the temple during the first week after New Year to receive a blessing for the year. On the concluding day of the New Year celebrations, people come to the temple to pray and beckon Mazu for blessings and protection for the rest of the year.

Even though my camera did pretty well, because of the low light, my unsteady hand and my lack of understanding of my equipment, some of the photos are not as sharp as they should be. My apologies. Even the sharpen tools in Photoshop can only do so much!

Back on the street.

The original building was an Italian Christian church located within what was formerly Little Italy. The building was purchased in the 1980s. Under a strong faith-based community in and outside of Chinatown, the temple was able to raise enough money to build a larger temple hall. Construction of the new temple was completed and dedicated on September 2005.

I couldn’t find a website for the temple so most of my information came from a Wikipedia article.

Please click on all the photos for a larger view.

All photos and content copyright roslyn m wilkins. Please feel free to pass along this post via email or social media, but if you wish to use some of our images or text outside of the context of this blog, either give full credit to myself and One Good Life in Los Angeles, or contact us for proper usage. Thanks!

Thanks for the memories and rest in peace – Friday – 1995 to 2013

This is the hardest blog post I have ever had to write. But I also feel privileged to be writing it.

My beloved Tuxedo Cat, Friday, passed away yesterday, on Sunday, July 21, 2013 at eighteen years of age. Above is one of the paintings I did of him.

Friday, as I knew him, had stopped being Friday some weeks before. And about five days ago he stopped eating. Going from about 10 ounces of canned food a day (because of his hyperthyroidism) to nothing, I knew he was telling me it was the end. He also started walking around in circles and pacing up and down yowling his head off.

For some time now I have been caught between not wanting to end his life too soon and not wanting to prolong it, only for my benefit. So I decided by not eating, his message was clear. I am grateful for that. Another of my paintings of him. He was a great model!

I adopted Friday at eight months old in November, 1995. I was interested in another cat at the animal shelter. But a gentleman who was hanging around there pointed out this big, muscular cat who was waving his paw out of the cage. “What about this one,” he asked. I don’t know why I didn’t notice him before but it was love at first sight.

The cat had to be transported to the vet to be fixed and I picked him up there the next day. It was a Friday. And so he was named.

This is a hand-painted ceramic tile I fired in my kiln.

At first he wasn’t that friendly and hated to be picked up. I nicknamed him Mr. Wriggly as all four legs, head and tail wriggled around whenever I picked him up to give him a hug. And he was such a strong cat I couldn’t hold him for more than a few seconds. Ugh, that was not his thing at all.

But after a couple of months of this he was waiting for me at the front door every night when I came home, meowing to be be picked up and hugged. Hugging became his favorite thing in life. Claws digging into my skin as if he couldn’t get close enough.

I believe he must have been raised with a dog and thought that was what he was. His tail wagged all the time and he followed me around like a puppy. I was constantly tripping over him. In the bathroom, in the kitchen, in the bedroom, up and down the stairs, it didn’t matter. Wherever I was, there was Friday, usually ahead of me!

If I talked on the phone he would be annoyed and try to climb up my legs. Working on the computer he would lie across the keyboard or in front of the monitor so I couldn’t see what I was doing.

I have to take my blood pressure every morning and keep very still and calm. This didn’t phase Friday as he would jump in my lap or get tangled up in the cable. No wonder my blood pressure readings were always so high!

Another ceramic piece I painted.

When anybody came to the house he would be at the front door greeting them. Whenever I gave a party he would go from guest to guest making sure everybody knew he was the star of the show. Of course, he did have his favorites! And once I could not find Friday anywhere. One of my guests told me he was standing out on the sidewalk welcoming everybody to the party!

I had to be very careful opening the front door as he would shoot out down the stairs at lightning speed. He had a lovely roof deck and front balcony to enjoy the outdoors. But he rarely took advantage of that. Nothing was as fun as escaping out the front door. Even when he got out of the building he wouldn’t go very far. He was not an adventurous outdoor cat. Given a choice between being outside or inside, he preferred to be indoors.

He had some unusual habits. Every morning he liked to jump up on the washbasin in the bathroom and take a drink out of the faucet. But he wasn’t happy until I put down a line of jojoba oil for him to lick up. I researched this on the internet to make sure it was okay and it seemed the only side effect was a very shiny coat!

And when I turned on the hair dryer he had to have his turn under it. Oh, he would get really mad if he didn’t get his turn. Those nasty claws would be digging into my leg. The closer the hair dryer was to his skin, the more he liked it. Once or twice I could smell his fur singeing but he only begged for more!

At night he loved to sleep behind my pillow. Sometimes I would wake up in the morning unable to turn my neck, only to discover that he had wrapped his body around my head. Some days he would wake me up by licking and tugging at my hair. Yuck. I had to pull the sheet up around my head and at that point he would crawl under the covers.

Well, he didn’t exactly come to Mykonos, Greece with me but I painted him into this tile anyway!

When he first came to live with me I realized he could be very aggressive. One minute he was overly lovey dovey. The next he would be biting my arm. It became such a problem that at night when I was sleeping he was biting my cheeks and nose and drawing blood. I had so many bruises and wounds on my face that my co-workers even believed I was being abused by my boyfriend…. yes, my four-legged one!

My vet put him on a very low dose of amitriptyline. I was desperate and decided I didn’t care if it shortened his life (obviously it didn’t) or changed his personality. I just couldn’t live with this cat any longer, so it was drugs or back to the animal shelter. It was a miracle. Not only did it halt his aggressive tendencies but he still maintained all his wonderful Friday characteristics.

And, whereas before I could not have another cat because Friday had tried to kill three other cats when they were introduced into the household, he was now docile enough to try again. I adopted Pharoah and although there was one horrible fight in the beginning when Friday proved his dominance once and for all, after that peace reigned. (And, fortunately Pharoah, who had moved from home to home in his short six months of life, was so happy to have a permanent place to live he didn’t mind playing second fiddle.)

Friday and Pharoah trying to share the sofa.

I could tell so many stories about Friday. He was a one-of-a-kind cat. I have had cats all my life but he will always stand out.

A friend of mine wrote to me today to say that as Friday had died yesterday, his passing had made room for another spirit to enter the world in the form of a baby prince. That was the kind of cat he was. So as I watch the latest heir to the British throne grow up, I will think of Friday. Watch out world! He will be very outgoing. A meeter and greeter, always demanding attention, if that is the case! That was a beautiful thing for my friend to say, and I am willing to accept it as true.

So, farewell, my good pal, and I’ll be looking for you next time I open the laundry basket!

All photos and content copyright roslyn m wilkins. Please feel free to pass along this post via email or social media, but if you wish to use some of our images or text outside of the context of this blog, either give full credit to myself and One Good Life in Los Angeles, or contact us for proper usage. Thanks!

 

 

 

First ever hummingbird shots and a cat nap

One of my favorite things to do in life is to sit out on my roof deck in the afternoon and watch my geraniums grow. At tree top level I have a great view of all the birds that fly around my Culver City neighborhood: hawks, parrots, ducks, seagulls, pigeons, mourning doves, crows, mockingbirds, finches, sparrows, and others I can’t identify.

I am often visited by hummingbirds attracted by my brightly colored flowers year-round. But I have never been able to capture a hummer on camera. Even if I have the camera on my lap, by the time I bring it up to eye level, no matter how discreetly I do it, the hummer flits away.

But this little guy was not in the least camera shy. In fact, he seemed to be posing for me. I was able to take about ten shots.

In the first photo he is enjoying that succulent kalanchoe. In the second, he is eyeing the geranium that he eventually stuck his beak into.

My cat Pharoah, who was deep in sleep, heard the hummingbird and immediately sat upright, his eyes wide open. Fortunately, he enjoys watching the hummers who allow him to get within a few feet of them, but he has never attempted to catch one.

Help, my geranium has sprouted legs! Oh, no, it’s only my cat Pharoah tucked under the baker’s rack.

You can just see his sweet little face under the pot. The tighter the space and the more difficult it is to get into, the more he likes being there. But don’t let that fool you. When he heard the hummingbird he was out of there in a nano-second.

Please click on all the photos for a larger view.

All photos and content copyright roslyn m wilkins. Please feel free to pass along this post via email or social media, but if you wish to use some of our images or text outside of the context of this blog, either give full credit to myself and One Good Life in Los Angeles, or contact us for proper usage. Thanks!

Chinatown – Year of the Snake – Part Two

Part One ended with the statue of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, founding father of the Republic of China… and so we move on…

A friend of mine commented, after reading the previous blog post, that she had brought a student from China studying in the US to see Chinatown. The student was not impressed. I can understand because this area is really intended for tourists, including tourists from other areas of Los Angeles like myself.

However, there is a lot of history to be learned about this area. But when you are young and more interested in texting your friends, who cares?

As I mentioned in Part One, the Chinese community was uprooted from Old Chinatown and moved to New Chinatown which opened officially in 1938. This is a simplified version of what happened, of course. One of the problems was that the Chinese immigrants were not allowed to own property at the time.

For the new Chinatown, the Chinese themselves raised all the money, wanting to be self-sufficient and in control after their past experiences.

In 1941 Herbert Lapham, who had helped immensely with the project, stated: “It is quite a thing, this new Los Angeles Chinatown. It is a credit to the enterprise, the courage, and the pioneering spirit of these hard working people.” (www.chinatownla.com/index.php)

The vision for New Chinatown was led by Peter Soohoo who was able to move within the cultures of the Chinese and the leaders of Los Angeles.

Erle Webster and Adrian Wilson were the architects who were able to create Chinese designs while working with the structure of modern buildings. Because of severe budget constraints, they were forced to keep the buildings simple rather than truly authentic.

At the grand opening, the Chinese Consul T.K. Chang remarked that the building of New Chinatown was only because of a willingness to adopt new modern ways, and that the community needed to follow this spirit to promote “our Chinese economic and social status.” (www.chinatownla.com/index.php)

The Wishing Well. It’s much harder than you might think to hit one of these receptacles. I tried several times to hit Good Health… I did hit the side of the bowl once so I hope that counts! Maybe I should have used quarters rather than pennies…

Saying goodbye to the tourist area.

2013: Year of the Snake. Not just the snake but the Water Snake which has not happened since 1953. The fire of the snake is balanced by water.  There may be a lot of changes and some challenges. Hmmm, sounds just like every other year to me!

Joan of Arc stands guard outside the Pacific Alliance Medical Center.

Yes, we are still in Chinatown, although a ways from Yale University!

Nice detailing on the street lamp.

Advancing up the hill towards downtown Los Angeles.

City Hall is within striking distance.

Mr. and Mrs. Dragon. Or maybe they are just living together. Or maybe it’s Mr. and Mr. or Ms. and Ms. I am not enquiring into their personal lives. But I like ’em.

The Chinatown Gateway Monument was dedicated in 2001 with a lighting ceremony in 2004.

My next post will be all about Chinatown’s Thien Hau Temple.

Please click on all the photos for a larger view.

All photos and content copyright roslyn m wilkins. Please feel free to pass along this post via email or social media, but if you wish to use some of our images or text outside of the context of this blog, either give full credit to myself and One Good Life in Los Angeles, or contact us for proper usage. Thanks!
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Chinatown – Year of the Snake – part one

“Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown.” Chinatown, 1974. The movie was filmed all over Los Angeles (I have to Netflix it to revisit the locations) but “The uncompromisingly bleak climax… was filmed in Los Angeles’ real Chinatown, on Spring Street, just south of Ord Street, which has since been largely redeveloped.” – www.movie-locations.com.

I haven’t visited Chinatown in well over ten years so participating in a Sierra Club walk a few weeks ago seemed like the ideal way to re-aquaint myself and take some photos.

We rode the Gold Line from Union Station, just one stop and walkable, but I had not actually gotten out at the Chinatown station before.

View of downtown Los Angeles from the platform.

Artwork at the station: the I Ching,  The Wheels of Change, 2003, Chusien Chang, artist

The I Ching was written over 3,000 years ago and describes 64 states of human situations such as “Inexperience,” “Creative Power,” “Conflict.” I wonder if we have added any since then!

Stairs or escalator, take your pick!

These pedestals are found in various areas around the city with information about the history of that particular neighborhood. As you can see, we are multi-cultural with a box containing copies of “Hoy,” the Spanish-language newspaper in Chinatown.

The story of LA’s Chinatown is a sad one. In a nutshell, it was the sweat of Chinese laborers (with other ethnic groups too, of course) that brought the railroads to southern California. But when the railroad magnates and the city fathers decided to build a new railway station to centralize the different train companies rolling through Los Angeles, they decided that the old Chinatown area was the ideal spot.

Members of the Chinese community were thrown out of their neighborhood lock, stock and barrel and moved to the location where Chinatown sits today. In excavations for expanding Union Station in the 90s, numerous artifacts were discovered that had been left behind in the hurry to move out. But that is a blog post for another day.

Gateway to the “touristy” area of Chinatown with shops and restaurants.

Creative way to designate the pedestrian crosswalk.

Look up or you’ll miss the best parts.

On that note I will end Part One of the Chinatown post. More coming (including the snake) another day.

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All photos and content copyright roslyn m wilkins. Please feel free to pass along this post via email or social media, but if you wish to use some of our images or text outside of the context of this blog, either give full credit to myself and One Good Life in Los Angeles, or contact us for proper usage. Thanks!

A. Quincy Jones: Building for Better Living at the Armand Hammer Museum

A few days ago I posted about my interlude at the Botanical Gardens at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

As I still had some time before I needed to catch the bus back to Culver City, I opted to walk into Westwood Village to visit the Armand Hammer Museum, which is a part of the university.

Dr. Armand Hammer, the former Chairman of Occidental Petroleum Corporation, founded the museum in 1990 to display his art collection. He died shortly after the opening and the museum was not able to be completed. In 1994, negotiations with UCLA to take over the museum were concluded and the art galleries on campus moved into their new home, alongside Hammer’s private collection of old masters.

The museum is small compared to other art museums in the  Los Angeles area. It is built around a central courtyard used for outdoor eating and seating.

I didn’t get an exterior shot of the building on this trip but if you click here there is a good photo on the website. Next time I am in the area I’ll take my own photo and update the post.

Vincent van Gogh
Hospital at Saint-Remy
1889 Oil on canvas. The Armand Hammer Collection. Gift of the Armand Hammer Foundation.

One of my favorite Van Gogh’s is housed here, the Hospital at Saint-Remy. (Although I should mention, just about all of Van Gogh’s works are my favorites!) So I first popped into the Armand Hammer Collection Gallery to pay my respects.

But my real reason for visiting was to see A. Quincy Jones: Building for Better Living. As an architectural buff, I had wanted to see the exhibit since it opened on May 25. And this was my opportunity.

A. Quincy Jones was the quintessential southern California architect, working from 1937 until his death in 1979. A professor of architecture at the University of Southern California, his innovative ideas are still reflected in the designs of buildings being constructed today. With the temperate climate of Los Angeles as a guideline, he wanted to bring about an integration of the outdoors with the indoors.

No photography was allowed of the exhibition but the photo at the top of this post gives you a pretty good idea of his style of residential architecture. And if you click here you will see half a dozen photos of his work as it is displayed in the exhibit.

Looking up from second floor walkway of museum into the city.

Jones is credited with over 5,000 projects over a wide variety of building types, most of which are still in use today. He put as much effort and creativity into designing homes for middle class working families as he did for his rich and glamorous clients. His works run the gamut from community developments, large-scale single family homes, work spaces, churches, schools, and libraries.

The exhibit was well laid out with renderings, floor plans, photographs, perspective and axonometric drawings along with large, almost life-size murals of his installations. I always enjoy looking at construction and design drawings as one of my (many) careers was in that field for several years.

If you have an interest in contemporary architecture and happen to be in the Los Angeles area I encourage you to make the trip to the Armand Hammer. The exhibit runs through September 8, 2013. The museum is conveniently located on the corner of Wilshire and Westwood Boulevards in Westwood Village, served by several buses.

Some more random shots of the museum:

Looking into Westwood at Wilshire Blvd.

Seating area with view of rooftops in the Village…

…or into the courtyard.

Please click on all the photos for a larger view.

All photos and content copyright roslyn m wilkins. Please feel free to pass along this post via email or social media, but if you wish to use some of our images or text outside of the context of this blog, either give full credit to myself and One Good Life in Los Angeles, or contact us for proper usage. Thanks!

Southern California cats making the most of the sunshine

 

As much as I enjoy lurching out into Los Angeles with the sole purpose of exploring neighborhoods and taking photos, I do have other areas of my life that need attention. So right now I have to restrain myself until I get caught up with some other business and personal matters.

In the meantime, here is a photo of my 18 1/2 year old Tuxedo cat Friday. He is an indoor cat by choice and rarely takes the opportunity to sit out on the deck or balcony. But he likes to follow the sun around the house and sometimes it’s hard to tell where the sun ends and the cat begins!

On the other hand, my eight year old champagne tabby cat Pharoah lives out on the roof deck most of the day and on the front balcony in the evening. But as a southern California cat, if the temperature dips much below 70F (21C) he prefers to stretch out on the day bed in my office. I know the feeling.

Pharoah has the uncanny ability to take naps standing up. I have seen him do this for up to an hour without moving a muscle.

So, as my cats’ lifestyles are so different, not to mention their temperaments, they pretty much stay out of each others’ way.

Please click on all the photos for a larger view.

All photos and content copyright roslyn m wilkins. Please feel free to pass along this post via email or social media, but if you wish to use some of our images or text outside of the context of this blog, please check with us first for proper usage. Thanks!

 

A quiet interlude at the UCLA Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden

I had a doctor’s appointment at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center a couple of weeks ago. After the appointment it was still early in the day and I didn’t have to be anywhere until the afternoon. As I had been fasting for 12 hours in order to take a blood test, I decided to cross the campus to Lu Valle Commons and hope there was some available food.

Summer session was due to start the following week, so the campus was pretty much deserted except for groups of what looked like ten-year-olds on orientation tours for their upcoming admission to the university. It is a strange phenomenon that the older I get, the younger these groups of students look. Pretty soon, the incoming students will be pushed around in strollers!

I was in luck as breakfast was being served at Lu Valle. I ordered the veggie omelette with home-style potatoes for under four dollars. The same meal would cost twice that much just a short distance away in Westwood Village.

I sat outside under the trees and felt very peaceful. As there was no need to rush back to my real life, I decided a walk through campus would be in order. I circled back to the Medical Center and as I made the turn on to the road towards the Village and my bus, memories came flooding back.

More decades ago than I care to number, I was an undergrad student at UCLA. As I had to pay for my own tuition, I was in the work-study program. I worked part time in the administration office at the hospital, sorting through invoices, and attended classes full time. It was an excrutiatingly dull job, only made bearable by working alongside other students whose schedules coincided with mine.

One of those students happened to be a star football player, so I was told. I don’t remember his name because I was never interested in collegiate sports. But I do remember that he would punch in at the time clock in the morning, immediately leave by the back door, return to punch out for lunch, come back after lunch to punch back in, leave again, and at the end of the day, return to punch out! Everybody knew he was doing this and nobody said a word.

Across the street from the hospital was the botanical garden. The garden was named The Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden (MEMBG) in 1979 to honor a former director. It was my little oasis. For my lunch break, I would take my brown bag and run over to the garden. I never wanted to miss a minute.

The toughest part of my day was extricating myself from the garden. I wanted to stay outside in the midst of the trees and flowers and streams and squirrels, and not spend my precious hours buried deep in the bowels of the hospital.

Had I known at the time there were other opportunities to actually work outdoors, or at least semi-outdoors, or to do something the tiniest bit creative, I would have jumped at the opportunity. But my parents were life-long office workers. That is all they knew. And that is all I knew of the working world. And it was, unfortunately, a glimpse into my future.

But on this day, decades later in my life, I was happy to be back at the botanical garden. And I didn’t even have to worry about punching in at the time clock in 30 minutes. My time was my own.

I have been back to the garden over the years. I believe the last time may have been in the mid ’90s or early 2000s when I was taking an art class at UCLA Extension. I’m not sure. On that occasion I sat in one place for several hours sketching a gnarly tree trunk. I tried to locate the tree but too many years had passed.

But there are plenty of interesting looking trees. The peeling bark on this one was too appealing to pass up… sorry, my inner child loves puns even though I don’t.

I noticed some improvements had been made since my last visit. Steps, retaining walls and fences had been built but all in keeping with the natural ambience… nothing intrusive.

MEMBG was created in 1929 as an educational nature museum for the university and to promote research and the appreciation of plant life for visitors from all over the world. Literally thousands of species of plants call this seven-acre jungle home, including many that cannot be found anywhere else in California.

Among the plants are included tropical and subtropical trees, Australian plants, conifers and Hawaiian species.

One of the nice features of this civilized jungle is that all the trees and plants are labeled so, if like me, you are tree and plant challenged you don’t have to wish you were a horticulturist.

You may have noticed, I love taking photos of trees.

Salamanders, turtles, lizards and koi coexist happily in the garden.

Darn, I was so looking forward to teasing the squirrels!

Looking out of the sanctuary into the city. Wandering around the pathways, it is so idyllic and bucolic, it is easy to forget that traffic is just a few feet away.

A special kind of bamboo that self-decorates with graffiti!

In January, Morton La Kretz, a UCLA alumnus, philanthropist and environmentalist, gifted the university with one million dollars to renovate and upgrade the botanical garden. I will definitely be paying a visit again to see what one million dollars of  improvements looks like!

Following are a few more random shots of the garden.

It was a lovely interlude and as it happened, I still had plenty of time to make another stop in Westwood Village, just a short walk from UCLA. So that will be my next post.

Please click on all the photos for a larger view.

All photos and content copyright roslyn m wilkins. Please feel free to pass along this post via email or social media, but if you wish to use some of our images or text outside of the context of this blog, please check with us first for proper usage. Thanks!