California: Los Angeles, Part 2

 9 May 2022

The Reagan Library

We’re well on our way to visiting most of the Presidential Libraries. I was surprised that at this library, I never saw any mention of Reagan’s first wife, Jane Wyman, or their three children (although Michael did show up on the funeral service footage, speaking at his dad’s funeral). I went to Wikipedia and found that there were a number of things that apparently did not deserve mention (such as his work as a mole for the FBI in the House Committee on Unamerican Activities days) at the Presidential Library. But, Reagan was a Hollywood-trained President (which is not a criticism), and his Library had that “well-produced” appeal to the masses, much like the man himself.

Catching up on my blogging duties here, I’ll lead off with a portrait of Ronald Reagan  done in jelly beans, his favorite treat. He always kept a jar of them on his desk. I think Reagan was a personable and likeable guy; his list of accomplishments after 8 years in office wasn’t nearly as impressive as the rest of the Presidents whose libraries we’ve visited, but he was overwhelmingly re-elected because, I would say, the economy was doing well and he really WAS the Great Communicator. 

I just took oddball photos here and there of things that were of interest—to ME!

I found it interesting that he kept a file of inspiring, interesting or humorous stories.

It must be mandatory to have a replica of the Oval Office in every Presidential Library. This is what it looked like in Reagan’s era.

Probably the MOST interesting thing at the Reagan Library was the retired Air Force One that Reagan used when he traveled extensively throughout the world. Except Africa. He didn’t go there. Or most of South America. Or India. But he really did rack up enormous amounts of frequent flier miles! Here is the cockpit of the plane.

This is the President’s desk on Air Force One. He said that he loved working on the plane and he got tons of work done there. Note the jelly beans in the jar.

Air Force One

Dan boarding Air Force One

Reagan’s bulletproof car. Note the GIPPER California license plate.

Marine One

The interior of Marine One

The View from the Reagan Library

The Reagan Library entrance.

Griffith Park Observatory

After Reagan, we drove to Griffith Park, one of the largest city parks in the United States. The Greek Theater and a golf course and hiking trails are at Griffith Park, in a really nice part of LA. Griffith Park gets it’s name from Welsh immigrant Griffith J. Griffith, who donated 3,000 acres that he’d been using as an ostrich farm to the City of Los Angeles. The park today is 4300 acres.  We were there to see the view and the Obervatory/Planetarium (open only on weekends).

I was re-living the “Oprah presents Adele” concert in my head as we were walking up to the Observatory!

The view of downtown from the Observatory

The astronomers obelisk

I was fascinated with the patterns on these doors while watching the Adele concert on TV.

I call this one “Nuthin’ but blue skies”. 

We even had a far-off view of the HOLLYWOOD sign

Granville on San Fernando Blvd in Burbank

We were able to work around Kayla’s crazy schedule to meet her, Mylo, and her gf Sara for dinner at Granville. Dinner went too fast. It was really fun to hear about life in the film industry. Kayla is a steady cam operator; Sara is in production.

Mylo

Kayla and Sara

Tomorrow (which, let’s face it, was TODAY since I’m behind!), we head to The Getty, which is the Art Museum that sits on top of a mountain. Not to be confused with what is now called the Getty Villa in Malibu, which I visited many decades ago and was wowed by. Stay tuned.