STOATMOBILE WORLD TOUR! (all are welcome)

Some early (1979-1981) Frank O. Gehry apartment/studios, (called the Arnoldi Complex), on Indiana Avenue in Venice -

It's a little hard to see these closely, but Gehry is certainly playing with materials here, as explained in the Arcspace article below.

from http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/gehryca/indiana.html -










from you-are-here.com,






Arcspace Article HERE



Guggenheim article on Gehry's "unbuilt aesthetic" HERE



(I found out from reading one of these links that the lifeguard building is called the Norton Residence.



Last I heard, and I don't know if it is still true, Gehry had plans to build another house for his family on a lot about six houses away from my old house. That would be fun to see in construction....

For those who haven't heard of Frank Gehry before my going on and on about him here, here's one of his major buildings, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain -







Time for the Stoatmobile to bid Venice adieu and to think of a place to park it in Orange County.

Osso pulls a2kers away from El Tarasco mexican restaurant (it's right near the Grand Canal on Washington Street...) and drags them, still holding on to the wonderful burritos, back to our craft.



These burritos will NOT make a2kers gassy, not on the Stoatmobile.

We lift off over the Pacific Ocean, as evening approaches on this lovely day.

The Stoatmobile whizzes around Orange County, picking a place to land -




Catalina Island (it's never occurred to me that was considered part of Orange County..), Balboa Island, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach, and San Juan Capistrano come to mind. Hmmm......

I'll pick a Dana Point beach for us to land in, and give links to other places.




First we'll zip up to Newport Harbor -

The whole Newport Harbor area is interesting. I mentioned Balboa Island (see the island pointed to by the white sail on this map) because an aunt and uncle of mine used to live there and it was fun to visit.



They lived on the south Bay Front, so just sitting on their porch looking out was a good time..

Link with photos and a bit of history on Balboa Island + map



Corona del Mar LINK with photos - we used to go to the beach here, back in my twenties...
The town has (or had, I haven't been there in a while) very nice cottage-y houses, quite charming.



Laguna Beach LINK, with photos. Another beach city where my friends and I used to stay, back in our twenties. I always liked it.




After our tour through Balboa Island, Corona del Mar, and Laguna Beach, we'll go south to Capistrano and look around, check out the mission -




That photo is from this LINK about San Juan Capistrano


LINK to additional website about San Juan Capistrano

then we'll have a bit of dinner at this restaurant across the street from the mission -




More about the restaurant - Le Fondue LINK HERE

That's all, Folks!

Our next guide will be Calamity Jane while we visit San Diego.


Pass the chocolates and Champagne...

Stoat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh oh I died and gone to heaven!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wow husker, I haven't seen you in a long time. How's your health?

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THank you osso, I'll be back shortly and put on my tour guide hat.
In the meantime - enjoy this, made from a chocolatier in my town!

San Diego used to be a sleepy little Navy town with a pretty water front
and a filthy downtown area, called Gaslamp quarter, that primarily catered to marines and other military. Tattoo parlors, pornographic book stores, nude bars, and an unofficial redlight district defined the inner city landscape for many, many years.

Due to its ideal climate conditions and nice harbor, more and more tourists
discovered San Diego's beauty, and in the mid 80s the Gaslamp quarter transformed into a pulsating metropolitan happening place where new
nouvelle cuisine restaurants opened its doors, hip shopping stores competed with each other, and people liked to promenade around at night.

Here are some pictures of the historic Gaslamp Quarter

Adjacent to the Gaslamp is our convention center, boasting 1.7 million interior gross sq. ft. It will feature 615,701 sq. ft. of exhibit space; 204,114 sq. ft. of meeting space including two 40,000-sq.-ft. ballrooms; and 284,494 sq. ft. of pre-function, lobby and registration areas. Over half a million square feet of contiguous exhibit space is divisible into seven halls of varying size, with streamlined columns in selected halls for column-free space.

The building's architectural centerpiece, the 90,000-sq.-ft. Sails Pavilion, is now glass-enclosed and has been significantly enhanced with an industry standard trade show floor, state-of the-art lighting and a new cooling and heating system for maximum comfort all year-round. The Sails Pavilion remains the largest column-free special events area in North America, perfect for accommodating a variety of events ranging from trade show and food and beverage functions, to new product introductions and gala events.

Along with being one of the nation's most architecturally striking facilities, the San Diego Convention Center is the recipient of three Planners Choice Awards and four Prime Site Awards.

Another beautiful attraction is Balboa Park, the nation's largest urban cultural park. Home to 15 major museums,
renowned performing arts venues, beautiful gardens
and the San Diego Zoo, the Park has an ever-changing
calendar of museum exhibitions, plays, musicals,
concerts, and classes.

Next to Balboa Park you'll find this

It is world-famous indeed, the only zoo where Panda bears successfully
reproduced. In the meantime we'll have the third Panda baby

Wow, all good to see.

I lived there for part of a year in the sixties, but didn't see much of downtown, and had a boyfriend there in the seventies, and still didn't see much of downtown, more Point Loma, Ocean Beach. Last checked out the Zoo, and loved it, in the mid eighties. Enjoying all the photos...

Balboa Park is really a special place.

It truly is, osso. Every weekend there is something new and exciting
to see at the park. We go there quite often.

Now let's drive over to Old Town - of course we'll use our fire red trolley

San Diego's "Old Town" district is a bit of a tourist trap, nonetheless it
has a beautiful side to it too.

Nice. What's that building with the bougainvillea and flower pots?

Osso, that's a very old Mexican restaurant, Casa de Bandini. It was built in 1829
and became quickly the center of Old Town.
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So, we should have a little rest now, and head over to the La Valencia
for some R&R

Ahhhhh, lovely. I've been there a couple of times, back when.

Gorgeous!