Announcing UCLA Art Walk – A Self-Guided Tour

I’m very excited to announce the publication of the first Curating Los Angeles walking tour. Titled UCLA Art Walk, this self-guided tour takes you on a leisurely walk through the northeast section of UCLA and focuses on the area’s impressive collection of public art, distinctive architecture and fascinating history.

Touring Historic Robinson Gardens in Beverly Hills

Robinson Gardens, a six and a half acre estate situated on a knoll behind the Beverly Hills Hotel, has been on my “Must See” list for many years. I just never seemed to get there – until two weeks ago. I’m pleased to report it was well worth the wait. My wife and 12-year-old son […]

Urban Beekeeping: Discover the Buzz about Bees!

My two boys recently learned about beekeeping at school. Now they’re trying to convince me and my wife to take the plunge and start producing honey in our backyard. While the idea is intriguing, we don’t know the first thing about tending hives and harvesting honey. So I was very excited to learn that the Los […]

Ron Finley: A Guerilla Gardener in South Central LA

I regularly keep tabs on the latest TED talks, since I find many of them both engaging and thought provoking. One of the best I’ve seen in a long time is by Ron Finley, an artist and designer raised in South Central LA. In his talk, Finley describes how he was inspired to address some of […]

Celebrate Spring at the Descanso Gardens Cherry Blossom Festival

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Spring begins this Sunday and what better way to celebrate the change in seasons than to get outside and participate in the Descanso Gardens’ new, Japanese-themed Cherry Blossom Festival. With all the tragic news coming out of Japan on a daily basis related to the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant disaster, this event is a lovely way to focus on Japanese culture and learn about traditions that have given strength to the Japanese people for hundreds of years. Visiting a beautiful garden may also allow participants to sooth anxieties that many of us are feeling as all our thoughts are with the victims of this ongoing disaster.

Botanical Gardens at UCLA

If you love gardens as I do, then the Mildred Mathias Botanical Garden (“the garden”) is a special one to visit. Tucked away in the southeast corner of the UCLA campus, it is seven acres of frost-free terrain that supports approximately 5000 species of plants from all over the world.