California Road Trips - 50 Life-Changing Adventures - 21

5

Architecture
Gems
Cruise to a dozen landmark buildings designed by
some of the world's most influential architects.
Start in tony Brentwood at the Getty Center, its pearl-beige walls as
compelling as the art collection they enclose. Park your car and take
high on a hill with expansive city-skyline and ocean views. Designed
by Richard Meier as a tribute to culture and landscape, the Getty was

LOS
ANGELES

THE
GAMBLE
HOUSE
MISSION INN
HOTEL & SPA

constructed with 16,000 tons of Italian travertine. You'll need half
a day to take in the light-filled indoor galleries, outdoor sculpture
gardens, and dozens of fountains and water features.
Hop back in your car and weave along Sunset Boulevard to the

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP

a five-minute tram ride to this glorious six-building compound set

WALT
DISNEY
CONCERT
HALL
SUNNYLANDS

Hollywood Hills, where mansions overlook the glittering city below.
Take a peek at the cliff-perched Stahl House, a shining example of
uber-modern minimalism by architect Pierre Koenig. Built in 1959,
the rectangular residence has three sides made of glass, which
capitalize on its cityscape view. With a tour ticket (reserve in
advance), you can view the streamlined interior, a popular location

TEMECULA

for film and fashion shoots.
Finish out a glamorous L.A. day with dinner and a poolside cabana
room at the landmark Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Set above the
Hollywood Walk of Fame, this 1927 Spanish Colonial Revival refuge
has housed a long list of privacy-seeking celebrities, including Marilyn
Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, and Clark Gable. There's plenty to do: Bowl
a few frames in the handcrafted bowling lanes, float on your back in
a million-dollar piece of art (the pool bottom was painted by David
Hockney), and sip cocktails in the Library Bar.
The next morning, steer toward the Hollyhock House, tucked

THE SALK INSTITUTE

between Little Armenia and Thai Town. This National Historic
Landmark was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for oil heiress Aline
Barnsdall in 1919. The Mayan Revival-style home constructed solely of

SAN DIEGO

geometric cast-concrete "textile blocks" is adorned with Barnsdall's
favorite flower, the hollyhock. (Book ahead to join a docent-led tour.)
Continue your architectural odyssey in downtown L.A. at the

swoon over exquisitely crafted cabinetry, paneling, and furniture

by architect Frank Gehry's love for sailing. Walk the stairways and

designed by architect brothers Charles and Henry Greene.

catwalks that lead up to and around its multiple exterior walls,
PHOTOGRAPH: WIN-INITIATIVE

style. On a docent-led tour of this three-story wooden mansion, you'll

Walt Disney Concert Hall, a shiny, stainless-steel edifice inspired

On day three, your design pilgrimage moves east toward the desert.

which curve like billowing sails. Don't miss the rooftop garden and

Follow Highway 60 to Riverside for a stop at the Mission Inn Hotel &

fountain. Across the street is The Broad Contemporary Art Museum,

Spa, the country's largest and grandest Mission Revival-style building.

a Renzo Piano masterpiece decked out in honeycombed travertine

Back behind the wheel, cruise past a sculpture-like colony of 3,000

panels. The "holes" let in natural light while protecting the interior

electricity-generating windmills as you make your way to the white-

galleries from direct sun.

walled mansions of Palm Springs' Movie Colony neighborhood. Nab

Wrap up your day with a 10-mile drive to Pasadena to tour the

tickets to tour the Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway, a 5,000-square-foot

Gamble House, one of the finest examples of early 20th-century

residence where The King and Priscilla enjoyed postnuptial bliss in

Craftsman architecture and a forerunner of the California bungalow

1967. Constructed in four concentric circles without a single square

21
California Road Trips - 50 Life-Changing Adventures

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