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City Guide - Los Angeles - Culture | ||
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Culture Given the fact that LA is the home of the film industry, it might come as a surprise that the city is also the home of a wide range of thriving and renowned cultural scenes. The leading venue is the Performing Arts Center (PAC), a complex of three theatres, at 135 North Grand Avenue (tel: (213) 972 7211), in the heart of downtown, that stages music, theatre, dance and opera. These include the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (host to the Oscars ceremony), the Mark Taper Forum and the Ahmanson Theater. The new Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by Frank Gehry, is now under construction across Grand Avenue and First Street, and is scheduled to open in 2003/4. The best source of up-to-date information on cultural events around the city is the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau 24-hour multilingual hotline (tel: (213) 689 8822). Tickets can be purchased from Ticketmaster (tel: (213)480 3232; website: www.ticketmaster.com). Other agencies, which handle concert, sport and theatre tickets, include A Musical Chair (tel: (800) 659 1702; website: www.musicalchairstickets.com), Al Brooks Theatre Ticket Agency (tel: (213) 626 5863; website: www.albrooks.com) and V I P Tickets (tel: (800) 328 4253; website: www.viptickets.com). Music: The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the best in the world and the current Music Director is the acclaimed Essa-Pekka Salonen. The Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Opera both perform at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (see above). Chamber music and performances by distinguished alumni can be heard at the Zipper Concert Hall at the Colburn School of Performing Arts, 200 South Grand Avenue (tel: (213) 621 2200). The classic summer venue to hear music outdoors is the Hollywood Bowl, 2301 Highland Avenue (tel: (323) 850 2000; website: www.hollywoodbowl.org), with concerts by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as well as jazz and pop artists. Theatre: The Ahmanson Theater at the PAC (see above) stages large classical productions. Smaller and more adventurous productions take place in the Mark Taper Forum, a theatre-in-the-half-round, also at the PAC. Shubert Theatre, 2020 Avenue of the Stars (tel: (310) 201 1500), presents major Broadway hits. Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Avenue (tel: (310) 208 6500), stages classical and contemporary plays in a historic building in Westwood Village. Pantages Theater, 6233 Hollywood Boulevard (tel: (323) 468 1770), is an outstanding Art Deco theatre that hosts Broadway musicals and concerts, while Pasadena Playhouse, 39 South El Molino Avenue (tel: (626) 356 7529), stages productions in a 1925 Spanish Colonial Revival building. Theatre LA, 644 South Figueroa Street (tel: (213) 614 0556; website: www.theatrela.org), is an association of some 150 theatres; services include Times Tix, a half-price day-of-the-show ticket outlet. Dance: The Joffrey Ballet Company has its main west-coast season in the spring and performs at the PAC (see above). In March, the Shrine Auditorium, 649 West Jefferson Boulevard (tel: (213) 748 5116), hosts the American Ballet Theater. The UCLA Center for the Arts, 4405 North Hillgard, Westwood (tel: (310) 825 2101), is the venue for famous touring dance troupes as well as the UCLA Dance Company. Film: The historic Mann's Chinese Theater, 6925 Hollywood Boulevard (tel: (323) 461 3331), presents first-run movies. Pacific El Capitan Theater, 6838 Hollywood Boulevard (tel: (323) 467 7674), also screens first-run films. The Egyptian Theater, 6712 Hollywood Boulevard (tel: (323) 466 FILM/3456), shows foreign films and documentaries in Hollywood's oldest cinema, beautifully restored. The Pacific Cinerama Dome, 6360 Sunset Boulevard (tel: (323) 466 3401) is good for cutting-edge film and sound technology. As for films that are shot in the city, it would be easier to compile a list of those that weren't. Films that capture various different moods of LA include Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard (1950), starring Gloria Swanson, LA Confidential (1997) and Swingers (1996). Cultural events: The Los Angeles Festival is a city-wide arts festival held in August that focuses on LA's African-American, Hispanic and other ethnic cultures and neighbourhoods, through music, dance, theatre, film and art. The American Film Institute, 2021 North Western Avenue (tel: (323) 856 7600), holds annual film and video festivals in October. The LA Independent Film Festival takes place in April. The Shakespeare Festival/LA is held annually in July. The Cinco de Mayo (5 May) celebrations on Olvera Street highlight LA's Mexican heritage with mariachi music and folk dancing. Also in May is the Venice Art Walk, with art exhibitions and music. Literary Notes Los Angeles has inspired many writers and served as the setting for their books and novels. Nathanael West (1903-40) lived in Hollywood from 1933. His novel The Day of the Locust (1939) is considered one of the best about Los Angeles. The Loved One (1948) by Evelyn Waugh and After Many a Summer Dies the Swan (1938) by Aldous Huxley were both set in LA. F Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon (1941-), his final unfinished masterpiece, was also set in LA. LA has attracted many detective writers over the years. The original, Raymond Chandler (1888-1959), lived in LA, and his character, Philip Marlowe, explores its seamier side in the 1930s, in such novels as The Big Sleep (1939) and Farewell My Lovely (1940). Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles by Elizabeth Ward and Alain Silver is an enlightening look at the author's relationship with the city. Another detective writer James Ellroy was born in LA in 1948 and the city inspired his LA Quartet of novels - Clandestine (1982), Black Dahlia (1987), LA Confidential (1990) and White Jazz (1992). William Harrington created another LA detective, Columbo (not from TV). Some novels in the series include The Helter Skelter Murders (1994), The Hoffa Connection (1995) and The Game Show Killers (1996). Other contemporary novels about LA include Joan Didion's Play It As It Lays (1970), Alison Lurie's The Nowhere City (1965), Walter Mosley's Black Betty (1994) and William Penn's The Absence of Angels (1995). |