You See LA: March 2023
Five Things To See And Do In Los Angeles, Handpicked By Miguel Gutierrez
Miguel Gutierrez is a choreographer, music artist, writer, visual artist, educator, podcaster, community advocate/agitator, and Feldenkrais Method practitioner who has spent the last 25 years living on Lenape/Canarsie land in the area referred to as Brooklyn, NY. His work creates irreverent and empathetic spaces outside traditional discourse. Gutierrez received his B.A. with honors in Theater and Performance Studies from Brown University in 2021 after a 27-year hiatus from college, his M.F.A. in Studio Art from the Low Residency program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is an associate professor in the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance.
Target
I love Target. In my first few weeks in LA last fall when I was especially freaked out after having moved here from the east coast, I went to Target multiple times a week. It was my Xanax. Probably because of its comforting familiarity in the cosmos of retail. But also because each Target has its own personality, despite the whole mega-corporation aspect of its repetitive and ubiquitous presence. There are variations depending on store layout and different items in stock. I like to get to know the character of each Target and find out which stores have my favorite versions of whatever I’m obsessed with. I have suitcases from Target. I have kitchenware from Target. I’ve bought many light generating mechanisms there: two lava lamps, two salt lamps, multiple desk lamps, and LED colored strip lights that I tape to the side of my desk so I can turn any day in the office into a night out. My interior design tastes are equivalent to that of an 18 year old’s freshman dorm room. They also have very attractive mint green braided extension cords. I love playing with the bluetooth speakers at Target. One time I started playing Beyoncé’s Renaissance loudly on one of the speakers from my phone and I walked away. There weren’t any workers nearby (because, Target) and some grumpy guy came over and turned it down. I hid behind a pillar and turned up the volume again from a distance. He was outraged. It was delicious. I love Target.
I don’t know if MoCA is a great museum or not —I’m still new here. But I know that it’s free and that is great. All museums should be free. God knows the people on the museum boards can afford it. In any case, MoCA has three great shows up right now; but I’m going to talk about two because they’re legendary artists—choreographer and visual artist Simone Forti and painter and sculptor Henry Taylor. I’m fairly well versed in Forti’s choreographic work. She came up through Anna Halprin’s workshops and then the Judson Church Movement, but it’s her visual art work here that really grabbed me. Beautifully spare drawings and paintings, holographic art (!), archival materials from her shows, and a haunting photograph of a studio window. Then you just walk across the lobby to the incredible survey of Henry Taylor’s work. Mostly large scale portraits and scenes from Black life as well as some assemblage sculptures. I love how Taylor’s paintings compress space while also offering photographic perspectives that heighten the intimacy with his subjects. I also appreciate how he brought his community into his work, including unhoused people who lived near him, which holds its own poignancy and urgency at this moment of so much state violence against L.A.’s unhoused population.
My boyfriend will kill me for writing about this place, because he would like to keep it under wraps as long as possible. But I’m like, “Um, it’s in the middle of downtown L.A., so it’s not exactly the Bat Cave.” They sell cupcakes here. They make them in the back, too (I think.) It’s a little mysterious, actually, where they’re made, but just go with it. The cupcakes are so sinfully good. I may just go ahead and say that they’re some of the very best cupcakes I’ve ever had. And I’m from New York and we hate everything. They’re definitely better than Magnolia in New York, which got famous after it was featured on Sex and the City. I spit on those cupcakes! They’re like sinking your teeth into a bar of butter. But Big Man Bakes cupcakes are amazing. And unlike Magnolia, there’s not an annoying line of misguided tourists waiting to get in.
This is a great community art organization in Leimert Park that was started in 2014 by iconic L.A. artist Mark Bradford with collector Eileen Harris Norton and activist Allan DiCastro. I’m mostly familiar with their exhibition space but they also have a public programs space and a space dedicated to youth programs. All their art programs are free, thank you funders! They hosted a fantastic show last year on choreographer Blondell Cummings’ work. It. Was. Stunning. Depending on when you go visit, there might be a real block party vibe going on. And, if you pay attention, you’ll see that around the corner from the gallery, you see the “We Got Y’all” facade from the TV show Insecure! IYKYK
Mountains
There are mountains here. What the hell. I find them beautiful and absurd. Snow-capped mountains that you see from any old sweaty hike you take in wherever canyon, while you clock celebrities and contemplate the terrible dietary choices you’ve made. “You” is “me,” by the way. Anyway, mountains. LA is in a geological basin, Tovaangar as it’s named by the Tongva peoples, who are indigenous to this place. The mountains really drive the point home. YOU’RE IN THIS LANDSCAPE. I’ve seen so many terrible landscape paintings in my life—since watching Bob Ross on television when I was a kid—that it’s hard not to second guess myself when I see the real live thing glued against the horizon like a backdrop in a grammar school play. “How is that real?” I ask myself. “What is beauty?” “Who is god?” “What is geological time?” All this, and then Florence Pugh walks by. (True story). Mountains!
Other things (but they told me it could only be five)
- Leo’s Taco Truck on Sunset and Western: I know, I know. How dare a recent transplant recommend a taco truck, because you all probably already know a better one. But this one is great and the people watching is fun.
- Cafe Tropical in Silverlake: Croquetas, cafe con leche, and croissant sandwiches, oh my!
- The Last Bookstore in DTLA: Iconic. I saw JJ Abrams there and wanted answers about Lost
- Celebrities: I’d say blink and you’ll miss them, but turns out you can close your eyes for a while and they’re still there.
- Burbank Airport: Shhhhh! Don’t tell anyone, but it’s the best.
- Anawalt True Value Lumber in North Hollywood: They have very, very pretty wood. Discuss.
- The New Jalisco Bar in DTLA: Queer Chicanx bar. Probably don’t go if it’s not your community, but if you do go, tip well and don’t gawk.
- The Murder Museum: Visual art by people you probably don’t want to spend an evening with.
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