September 20, 2017
The Getty Center
J. Paul Getty was one of the richest men in the world in the 60’s and 70’s(he died in 1976), making his fortune in oil. He had a ranch house along the Pacific coast at the border of Malibu and Pacific Palisades that over looked the Pacific Ocean. He had amassed quite a large art collection so he opened a gallery adjacent to his home in 1954. This gallery began to run out of space so he commissioned a new museum modeled after the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. This new museum opened in 1974(Getty never visited it since his primary residence was in England). It was a pretty big draw when I was in high school, but I never visited. After Getty’s death, his will created the J. Paul Getty Trust with an initial endowment of $600 from his estate. The Villa, though it had just opened was already running out of space; so they planned and eventually built a new museum complex in the west LA community of Brentwood(it took about 20 years due to NIMBY).
The Getty Center is perched on a ridge above the 405 freeway just as it exits the Sepulveda pass. You can’t drive up there, you have to park in the parking lot(or take public transportation) at the same level as the freeway and take a really cool people mover up to the Center. The Center contains the museum, a research facility, gardens and some killer views of Los Angeles. These pictures are the result of two visits to the Center and focus on the views and the gardens. My primary motivation was to get a panorama of UCLA with downtown Los Angeles in the background. My first visit I took my infrared camera as well a my regular camera, and the second visit I just took my regular camera. I needed to make the second visit since downtown Los Angeles was pretty much obscured by haze and I really wanted to get a clear shot of both UCLA and downtown. The weather cooperated much better on my second visit. Again, as with my visit to the Villa, I used public transportation(commuter rail, subway, light rail and bus) for both my visits.
Read MoreJ. Paul Getty was one of the richest men in the world in the 60’s and 70’s(he died in 1976), making his fortune in oil. He had a ranch house along the Pacific coast at the border of Malibu and Pacific Palisades that over looked the Pacific Ocean. He had amassed quite a large art collection so he opened a gallery adjacent to his home in 1954. This gallery began to run out of space so he commissioned a new museum modeled after the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. This new museum opened in 1974(Getty never visited it since his primary residence was in England). It was a pretty big draw when I was in high school, but I never visited. After Getty’s death, his will created the J. Paul Getty Trust with an initial endowment of $600 from his estate. The Villa, though it had just opened was already running out of space; so they planned and eventually built a new museum complex in the west LA community of Brentwood(it took about 20 years due to NIMBY).
The Getty Center is perched on a ridge above the 405 freeway just as it exits the Sepulveda pass. You can’t drive up there, you have to park in the parking lot(or take public transportation) at the same level as the freeway and take a really cool people mover up to the Center. The Center contains the museum, a research facility, gardens and some killer views of Los Angeles. These pictures are the result of two visits to the Center and focus on the views and the gardens. My primary motivation was to get a panorama of UCLA with downtown Los Angeles in the background. My first visit I took my infrared camera as well a my regular camera, and the second visit I just took my regular camera. I needed to make the second visit since downtown Los Angeles was pretty much obscured by haze and I really wanted to get a clear shot of both UCLA and downtown. The weather cooperated much better on my second visit. Again, as with my visit to the Villa, I used public transportation(commuter rail, subway, light rail and bus) for both my visits.
Waterfall and pool in the garden.
This is pretty much the focal point of the garden, you can see the maze like hedge within the pool and the bougainvillea climbing up iron supports to look like trees.
