You See LA: Winter 2020

5 Things to See and Do This Winter Handpicked by Design Media Arts Professor Casey Reas

January 17, 2020

Casey Reas joined the UCLA Department of Design Media Arts in 2003. He is a Los Angeles-based artist and educator whose work ranges from works on paper to urban-scale installations, solo projects in studio to collaborations with architects and musicians. Renowned for his development of Processing, an open-source, flexible software sketchbook and language for learning how to code within the context of the visual arts, Reas has defined a unique area of visual experience that builds upon concrete art, conceptual art, experimental animation, and drawing. His software, prints, and installations have been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions at museums and galleries internationally and are included in private and public collections, including the Centre Pompidou and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Los Angeles can be hot and dusty, but winter is crisp, clear, and often wet. It’s the best time of year to hike and explore the mountains that surround us. In the UCLA Arts Conditional Studio, we’ve started to go on hikes to get out away from our computers and to encourage ideas to flow more organically. For me, the best way to explore new ideas is to get out of the studio and away of the sprawl. This list of winter activities spans Los Angeles County, and it includes my family’s and students’ favorite hikes and bikes.

Switzer Falls (Angeles National Forest)

Driving into the Angeles National Forest is dramatic as the road climbs quickly. This is a wonderful and popular hike. I recommend arriving around 8 a.m. to beat the crowds. It can be cold in the winter, but it warms up. There are plenty of spots to stop, talk, and picnic. The hike includes a few water crossings that can be a little challenging and one sun-exposed climb, but most of the hike is shaded. There’s a side path that leads to shallow swimming holes of cold water that are a relief in the summer.

Mount Wilson (Angeles National Forest)

The Mount Wilson Observatory is a little up the road from the Switzer Falls trailhead. This is a historically important observatory dating back to the early twentieth century. It has the most amazing views of the entire Los Angeles Basin. On a clear winter day, you can see downtown in the distance and beyond to the ocean. Because of this clear line of sight, much of the local television and radio media is transmitted from there. I captured these signals in my Del Rey studio for my Signal to Noise series of works. There are multiple short hikes down from the mountain, and there’s a selection of hikes from the base of the mountain range all the way to the top.

Ballona Creek (Culver City to Marina Del Rey)

One side of the Ballona Creek bike path starts near the newly renovated Margo Leavin Graduate Art Studios in Culver City and other other ends at the ocean in Marina Del Rey and the amazing UCLA Marina Aquatic Center. At the ocean terminus, it connects to The Strand bike path that winds along the ocean for twenty-two miles from Pacific Palisades to Redondo Beach. The Ballona Creek and wetlands was important for the Tongva/Gabrielino people, who moved to the area three to five thousand years ago. (UCLA is on Tongva/Gabrielino land.) In the 1940s, the Army Corps of Engineers cemented the bottom of the creek to control flooding and therefore changed it dramatically. West of Centinela, where the concrete bottom stops, it remains a tidal zone where birds gather and feed.

Santa Ynez Waterfall (Topanga State Park)

I’ve walked this trail more than any other in my sixteen years in Los Angeles. My kids (12 and 8) have walked it their entire lives. It’s quick to get to from UCLA, and it’s an easy walk for all ages, but beware the many water crossings in the spring of a wet year. The “waterfall” is not more than a trickle, but the trail is surrounded by oak trees and is cool all year. This is a great trail for casual conversations with plenty of places to rest among the native California plants, newts, and sometimes snakes. Also, beware the poison oak at the edges of the trail.

Eagle Rock (Topanga State Park)

This hike is challenging at times, but it has it all with winding paths through the trees, open grassland, and an extraordinary view of the Santa Monica Bay from the massive “eagle rock” at the end of the trail. This is a favorite hike for the Design Media Arts M.F.A. students. A longer version of this hike starts at the Santa Ynez Canyon Trailhead, but people usually start at Trippet Ranch near the central entrance to Topanga State Park.

There’s more detailed information about all of these hikes online including AllTrails and other local hikes sites:

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