A couple of years ago, I was visiting family in Pennsylvania and the subject of the weather here in Los Angeles came up. My five year-old nephew was shocked to find out that it doesn't snow here.
His first question was: "Do you have Christmas?"
"Of course we do", I said, "It just looks a little different."
His first question was: "Do you have Christmas?"
"Of course we do", I said, "It just looks a little different."
Despite the lack of snow, there are no shortage of giant, inflatable lawn Santas, icicle lights, blinky stars and mechanical reindeer all over my neighborhood. Its also absolutely true that the norm around here is a little more offbeat. Here are the 2011 highlights:
This year, as with many years past, my favorite Christmas tree is at the entrance to the parking lot at the Edgemar Center for the Arts in Santa Monica. The tree is made entirely from shopping carts and is super fab, especially at night when it is all lit up. Every time I drive, ride or walk by this tree it makes me happy. Turns out that it is the scaled-down version of an installation created by artist Anthony Schmitt a few years ago. You can see some photos of the big tree here http://shoppingcarttree.com/.
Runner up goes to the giant orange wreath that
hangs on the Venice Canals home of architect Whitney Sander and designer
Catherine Holiss. From a distance (say, across the canal) it is a great size and lovely modern color and it looks really soft. Not until I was close did I notice that the wreath is made entirely of plastic construction site fencing. It is perfect on the glass
and steel house and such an unexpected material. I love it when people manage to surprise me!
There is nothing groundbreaking about the little tree in the
row boat, but I absolutely had to include it. To me, it embodies the spirit of living in Venice as well as the sense of
humor that most of us have to have to live here. I hope it makes you smile, too.
Happy Christmas.
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