Best Cars and Cars and Cars

So after conquering the national parks I was in LA for a while.  One thing I did while I was there was visit the Nethercutt Collection in Sylmar.  It's this museum of beautiful old (and new.  but mostly old) cars that collected by this Nethercutt fellow who founded a make up company I wasn't familiar with (Merle Norman Cosmetics?)

The Nethercutt Collection is free, but if you RSVP ahead of time you can take a tour of the more-special collection and see more fine automobiles along with all of Mr. Nethercutt's self-playing musical machines.

Filing into the special collection with all the LA car fans.

Self-playing violins!

Grandma found a 56 Porsche just like she and Grandpa had. Exact same color and everything.

Up to the second floor to Nethercutt's grandest showroom.

Modeled after the car showrooms of yesteryear.

A real-deal authentic original Duesenberg.

Grillz.

Sketchy business.

I was down with how they used to buckle on their rear-view mirrors.

Up on the mezzanine, a view of the employee cafeteria.

A collection of car-related curios.

And hood ornaments like crazy. More hood ornaments than I could believe.

I'm sparing you a whole post of hood ornaments but, check it out, the Bentley B flying in both directions.

Then finally up to the topfloor where the most musical instruments were, including this astounding Wurlitzer that played us a rousing concert on its own.

Carpet pattern.

Dining room off the music room for entertaining every Friday night (back in the glory days).

Just chillin'.

A portion of pipes unveiled for the concert.

Post-Nethercutt, there was only one way one could possibly celebrate: At Twohey's.

Best You Might See More of These

I haven't been posting much.  That's because I've been doing things worth posting.  And now I'm going to slowly start posting them.

Remember how I was in San Francisco for my cousin's wedding?  After that I drove down to LA through Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks with my Grandma, my Aunt Louise and my sister Emily.  I can't remember where I saved most of my photos, but here's the ones I could find for now.

Let's just start it off with the most impressive photo, Half-Dome and other things at the end of the day from Glacier Point 

Now more day-timey photos.  Our first day there we did the valley part of the park.  It's my valley photos that are missing, for the time being.

On the morning of our second day we drove over to a famous meadow, where I began using the panorama thing on the iPhone.

And I saw a fire hydrant that looked just like a bottle of Sriracha.

And we wrapped up by visiting the big trees of Yosemite before heading for the big trees of Sequoia.

Enroute to Sequoia we checked out the Fresno temple.

And then saw the famous tall trees of Sequoia.  This is a dark panorama photo of General Sherman, that's the only way I could get him to fit.

Heading out of the park we saw a bear.  Right there!  Don't you see him?  I tried to get his attention but couldn't.

For dinner: Grandma and Louise wanted In n Out.  Who was I to say "No"?

And three hours or so later, we were finally at Grandma's house.  I don't drive much in New York so I really jump at the chance to drive 16 hrs in a day if I can.

Best Oh Dang It

Yesterday was Bloomsday.  It snuck right up me and right past me.  In fact, I knew it was coming and that's why I'd been reading this great James Joyce biography that I got for my birthday.

What a nice touch that June 16th fell on Father's Day this year, what with Ulysses being (among a lot of other things) a tale of a son in search of a father and a father in search of a son.

Anyway, so far the above mentioned and illustrated biography has been very good.  I read the "definitive" Joyce biography by Richard Ellman a number of years ago.  It was extensive and detailed but very academic.  This one has a lot more personality and also reflects a bunch of stuff discovered about Joyce since that old bio came out in 1959.  But it also makes  me wish I had brought all my other Joyce books on my trip to mark up with all my new Joyce learning.  In fact, I sit in the SLC library with a Ulysses and a Finnegans Wake I pulled from the shelves for a little crossreferencing at this very moment.