Los Angeles: Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

Normally I review attractions in the order we visited them, but the Academy Museum was our first stop; I needed time to decide how to address it.

Part of that is that there is a lot to cover, with many different exhibits. We went largely drawn by reading about the Studio Ghibli exhibit.

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/02/1042155204/academy-museum-hayao-miyazaki-studio-ghibli-exhibition

This was the one exhibit where you could not take pictures inside, Initially disappointing, it made sense. Many things shifted and changed where it would be hard to capture, like forest spirits appearing and disappearing on a well. 

There is a hint outside, with a patch of green inviting for photo opportunities. Initially it looks like it is just leaves and moss, and then you realize it is full of soot sprites.

That exhibit is a chance to view things differently, including lying on your back and watching the (simulated) clouds, but also it very much shows sketches, models,and film clips, giving an idea of the execution of the creative process.

That was also very much the case in the exhibition on costumes, where you could look at sketches, costumes, and film clips showing the costume being worn.

I have not seen this movie, but it looks intense.

You could also learn more about the early technologies leading to cinema, and the art of creating backdrops.

I admit, I did not find those two as interesting, and I had no interest in the Oscars experience, where you can enact and receive a video of you receiving as Oscar. There was a long line for it though. There is enough range between the different exhibits that there should be something for everyone, including movie memorabilia.

In some cases, those are also set up with clips.

This is not a great picture of Bruce Lee's nunchaku, but to see it, and one of his outfits, while footage plays of them in use (plus a clip of Lee grabbing off a chunk of Chuck Norris' chest hair from The Way of the Dragon), well, it is something.

There were two other areas with special meaning.

I had just finished reading Entertainment Weekly's A Celebration of Black Film, so as I passed through displays and clips from the work of Oscar Micheaux and other pioneers, it was familiar.

Perhaps that is not a huge deal, but I had just read it because I had a dream where I was really determined to buy a magazine, despite obstacles, and that is why I decided to check the racks at the store and found it. Regardless, what knowledge and interests you bring with you will affect your experience.

Then there is a gallery with a few Oscar gowns and screens that alternate playing different acceptance speeches. The staff member here was very interesting and helpful, so we made a point of watching more speeches. That included Rita Moreno's acceptance in this displayed dress.

It also included Sacheen Littlefeather's speech, which I had been thinking about a lot since the fallout from the slap at the last ceremony. Those thoughts were what kept me from writing, but I think the answer now is to try and do a few posts on the long-neglected main blog, and get some things out there.

Accessibility: This was set up pretty well, at least for physical navigation. While it may be a loss to not be able to ride the escalator below Jaws, the elevator will get you up next to him for a good view. Most of the exhibits are also pretty quiet with low lights, which should work well for many sensory issues.

That seems like a reason to mention that some people found the orientation aspects of navigation difficult. I think that is more the initial entrance. Though you see the museum on multiple sides, you enter past valet parking, and past the restaurant. Then there is a first line for checking vaccines before you actually get to admission. After that, we started at the top and worked our way down, which seemed to work well. It is common that there is one entrance and one exit for exhibits, to control viewing order.

COVID: Speaking of checking vaccine cards, we appreciated that, but also stayed masked and socially distanced, but that did work out pretty well. It may have helped that we were visiting on a week day.

https://www.academymuseum.org/en/

Universal Studios Hollywood

There are three things that make our Universal Studios trip and this review less than they could be. Two of them were not really in our control.

The first is that there was a terrible heat, also referenced last week in the review of the Los Angeles Zoo. This dampened some of our enthusiasm, though it was nice that they had misters set up for waiting in line.

Shade might have helped more, but it is hard to say with such a punishing heat.

In addition, there is just a lot to do there. While you are much closer to Universal Studios from midtown LA than from Anaheim (starting point of our previous two visits to Universal), there is still travel and traffic and we also needed to go back to the hotel to pick up our checked bags, then get to the airport in time for our flight. 

All of that means that we did not have sufficient time, even if we had not been fighting the heat. For a future attempt, I would stay at one of the adjacent hotels, and for the best chance of avoiding a heat wave go in January. For this trip, that was not completely in our control.

There is a lot to see there, even random things like this classic Dusenberg used in The Mummy.

However, the third issue is really on me.

Our main priority was the tram tour, so we went to that first. That in itself was not a problem.

However, I kept trying to capture everything interesting, in a moving vehicle with lots of people all around, and I drained my freshly charged camera battery before we even finished the tour. Any photos I have that are not of the tram tour happened before we boarded the tram, because I could not take any pictures after.

I should have been able to do better than that, no matter how exciting it is to drive past movie sets that you recognize, especially when so many of  the pictures turned out blurry and low quality.

This was my third time on the tram ride, having gone once in the mid-80s, and again in 2000.

It was interesting noting some of the changes. They no longer part the Red Sea (which was never as impressive as it should have been), but you do still withstand the flash flood.

You drive past a gallery of movie vehicles...

... and some old set pieces, including the mobile lab from The Lost World, with a few dinosaurs (but not animatronic) nearby.

They have also added two 4-D experiences, one based on King Kong and on on The Fast and the Furious. Try getting a good picture of those! 

Seriously, I did. It didn't work out. Regardless, you get attacked by dinosaurs and giant spiders, and you see the front of the tram knocked away. This does make small children much more likely to cry then when it was just a Cylon attack or riding through an avalanche. Sure, those are very old references, but so was the old Magnum PI car.

Ultimately, we did not mind that the bulk of our experience was the tour. I do feel bad that I did not get more (or any but the one) pictures of Springfield, which was amazing.

I also wish I'd gotten a picture of Scooby Doo hanging out the top of the Mystery Machine. Nonetheless, I do have an idea of what to do differently, and I will keep that in mind.

Accessibility: The mobility seemed really good from what I saw. For sensory processing issues, those 4-D experiences could be rough. There is a guide for the Orlando location that may still give some ideas: https://www.universalorlando.com/webdata/k2/en/us/files/Documents/UOR_Cognitive_Disability_Guide.pdf

The also do offer tram tours in Spanish, and those are regularly scheduled.

COVID: It is very much outside for the most of it. Inside there were masks, somewhat, though it was not really enforced for some of the well-ventilated stores. It seemed pretty safe.

https://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/web/en/us

(I did not find the web navigation helpful.)

Los Angeles Zoo in Griffith Park

Visiting the Los Angeles Zoo was very frustrating. 

I remember back when I expressed an interest in the Santa Ana Zoo (on trips to Anaheim), people would be surprised, because there was so much more at Los Angeles or San Diego. However, the Santa Ana Zoo was a nice little zoo, and we got to see many animals in a short amount of time.

https://sporktogo.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-santa-ana-zoo-at-prentice-park.html

In contrast, we spent a lot of time trying to see animals at Los Angeles, but really saw more statues. Above is a rather nice statue of a koala; below the closest we came to seeing a live koala:

We had a better view of a hot little wallaby trying to rest in the shade.

The heat was a big part of the issue, and that was not the zoo's fault. We arrived in the middle of an unseasonably warm streak: 98 degrees in early April.

This meant that even animals adapted to pretty warm climates (like meerkats) were hiding.

I also do not object to the cassowaries being off display (here are some kookaburras instead) because they were nesting; they are very endangered and grumpy enough in the best of times. It was right to give them some privacy. However, everything combined made for a frustrating experience, and not an inexpensive one (adult admission is $25 and the shuttle cost another $5).

I believe a lot of that was navigation. We discovered a shuttle, and thought that this would solve a lot, but the shuttle stops were often not at great locations for access to exhibits. The stop at the play area had a very clear path, but we weren't interested in that.

That is not to say that it is not a good zoo. There are plenty of animals, including some not included at most zoos. That is not just true of the koalas, but also gorillas and komodo dragons.

There are just no guarantees you will get a good look at any of them. It would be easier to find out on a day where the heat wasn't draining all the life out of you.

(I thought it was just us, but when we had the news on later that day, the weather woman called it an exhausting heat as well. However, we did not turn into fossils like the one above.)

One of the highlights ended up being realizing in front of the flamingo habitat that this was where Pamela Barnes stood on one leg in the Three's Company credits. That clearly meant that the children's zoo was where 1 year old Jason Ritter toddled up to Joyce Dewitt and the goats.

Speaking of the flamingos, intruder alert! (Notice the very nonchalant mallard.)

We know it is possible to have a better experience than we had. It is also possible to have a worse one. So, it's just something to think about.

The Angus cheeseburgers at the Zoo Grill were unusually good. The stuff animals prices were ridiculously high, and the all metal water bottles were dangerous and difficult to open, cutting both Julie and I.

I assume the justification for the metal caps is that then the entire thing is recyclable, without a plastic cap that is only trash. However, bleeding all over the zoo did not make the experience better. (And then trying to get Neosporin and Band-Aids from the hotel was an entire ordeal. There was supposed to be a first aid station at the zoo, but we couldn't find it.)

Accessibility: There is no terrain that is impossible to traverse that we found. Any steps also had ramps available, and the shuttle had places for strollers between the cars. However, because there is so much ground to traverse, with directions not always clearly marked and not a lot of resting places, that can present other obstacles; more benches and shade could have helped. The shuttle does not help as much as you would hope with that.

COVID: Most things are outdoors, and people were pretty good about masks when in shops or lines, so that was appreciated.

If you go, try and stay cool out there.

https://www.lazoo.org/