Evening star., 1946-08-25
Los Angeles Offers Exciting
Contrasts for Visitors
By Jessie Font Eyons

By Jessie
| LOS ANGELES, Aug. 24.-West is
East again for me here, where I
am the guest Of Mrs. Mabel Walker
Willebrandt Of this city and WASH
ington.
| Largest city west Of the Missis-
sippi and one with the largest area
in the United States. Los Angeles
is fringed about with other cities,
towns and subdivisions. Sometimes
the wits describe 1t "as a city in
search of its suburbs"
Mother of Hollywood, Los Angeles
offers a curiously exciting combina-
tion of massive mountains, blue sea,
| Spanish romance, varied industries
and screen glamour.
Its distances require parking lots,
so they have been provided for
churches as well as for movie cen
ters, Office buildings, business con-
Germs and the larger stores. To a
Washingtonian, the parking facili-
ties in Los Angeles seem like a
motorists dream come true, al
though the Angelenos complain
they could be more adequate. Plans
have well materialized, too, about
meeting their ideas on the subject
in the not too distant future.
Convenient Mail Boxes.
Unusual motoring conveniences
are the mail boxes in some areas.
They are so set up that there is
none of the usual bother of getting
out of an automobile to post a
letter. You simply roll down your
car window and drop 1t into the
mail slot, which is on level with
the lowered window.
Architecturally, Los Angeles is a
pot pourri of styles rejecting the
different periods Of its growth. The
range is from post Civil War cupo-
las and curlicues to modern, gleam-
ing white business Offices and apart
ment houses built of concrete, glass
and steel. Movie houses are some
times referred to as "cathedrals. /"
Some of it's nationally known
restaurants are of bizarre design.
One Is like hat, another like a
rabbit, third like an old shoe.
another a fish.
Steadily coming to an outstand-
ing fore, although much less talked
about, are its fine libraries, art GAL
leries, museums, concerts, univer-
sites and educational institutions
of all kinds.
Art and Relics.
The Huntington Library con-
tains such masterpieces as Gains
borough's Blue Boy" Sir Joshua
Reynolds ''The Tragic Muse and
Sir Thomas Lawrence's "Pinkie. !"
Outstanding are two famous por-
traits of George Washington by
Peale and Stuart. OF special in
terest are the Gutenberg Bible of
1455 and Christopher Columbus,
letter announcing the discovery of
America.
AS fascinating from the Spanish
angle as is Williamsburg from the
English Colonial, is Olivera street,
originally Ell Paseo de los Angeles,
which is Spanish for the Walk of
the Angels" A brick paved lane
named for Don Augustin Olivera
who fought against Fremont, it has
been restored in the manner of an
old Mexican street.
Griffith Park is a 3,761 acre slice
OF the Santa Monica Mountains.
A highway runs through valleys
and rises in tortuous curves through
the hills, offering a marvellous pano-
rama of the mountains to the west
and the ocean.
A fairyland of reality Is the night
view of Los Angeles from the
Planetarium Observatory, with all
the thousands of the city's lights
sparkling against the sky. =
symphonies Under the Stars.
An Incompatible experience in an
incompatible spot is that of listen
ing to one of the symphonies
Under the Stars" in a series which
is held in the. vast amphitheater
of the Hollywood Bowl Seemingly,
the maestro's baton commands all
living things to silence, save only
his orchestra choir, in that moment
before the strains rise pure and en-
chanting in the spell of the night
under the stars.
Another novel experience was
my week end at Mrs. Willebrandt'S
date ranch in the desert near Indio
in the Palm Springs area. Nearby
neighbors are the Floyd Odlums.
Mrs. Odlum is Jacqueline Cochran,
the aviatrix. In this portion of the
irrigated desert, which is encircled
by mountains that are snow covered
during the winter and spring
months, orchards Of dates, oranges,
lemons and sweet grapefruit enrich
the land. Hundreds of thousands
of pounds of dates are shipped.
Amazingly, in this dry, vaporless
atmosphere with the thermometer
at lis to 120 degrees, I was cooler
than would have been on humid
summer day in Washington at, say,
80 degrees. Air coolers in the ranch
rooms, utilizing the ancient Aztec
principle of rapid evaporation also
helped considerably.
| It has been interesting greeting
such Californians as Miss Elizabeth
Bates, the sister of Mrs. Cloyd Heck
Marvin; Miss Cecile Finley and
Mrs. Carol Williams, the sisters OF
Lee Base of 1917 Georgetown rd.,
and the Bill Henrys, whose daughter
Virginia married 1t. William Blum,
jr., Of Washington.
Outstanding Women.
To one who has never voted, 1t
is also a challenge to have visited
with such feminine leaders as Judge
May Lahey of the Los Angeles