Saturday Night Date

On Saturday Larry and I drove over to the George Billis Gallery on South La Cienega Boulevard for the opening of Danny Heller's "City Modernism" show.  Danny's paintings are realistic, yet painterly.  He usually goes for mid-20th-Century subject matter.  This series of pieces depicts office interiors, office buildings and a few downtown L.A. sites.  Of course, it was magnificent.  To view more of Danny's paintings, get over to the Gallery or click here. 

Artist Danny Heller and Photographer Larry Underhill. "Downtown At Dusk" by Danny Heller

"Dorothy Chandler Pavillion" by Danny Heller

"Spiral Staircase" by Danny Heller.  I do believe this is the lobby of the DWP Buildling, DTLA

We always run into people we know at Danny's show....many associated with the  Modern Committee of the L.A. Conservancy.  We saw artist, Mary-Austin Klein who has a show up now at the Payne Gallery in Sun Valley.  Both Danny and Mary-Austin have a love for the California desert.  Maybe one of these days they'll have a joint art show!

We also viewed the intriguing work of D'Lisa Creager.  Her copper wire sculptures and hangings are fascinating.  Naturally, I quizzed her about the methods she uses to "weave" the copper wire.  Essentially, she uses a large wooden dowel and her fingers to do the work.  These are looped, which is really knitting!  Imagine how sore D'Lisa's fingers must be after a few rows!  Oy!  D'Lisa also has an Etsy site.  Cool.

Larry with Copper Wire Sculpture by D'Lisa Creager

Artist D'Lisa Creager

After all that art gallery activity, we were in the mood for a quiet martini in a red leather booth.  We headed over to Taylor's Steakhouse on 8th Street for dinner.  

It looks like Taylor's has updated the restaurant a bit.  There are new signs in the parking lot (improvement); a new front on the building (wooden Korean-looking posts instead of Rocky Mountain stone and Mondrian-Like installation); a few Victorian-era-like stained glass dividers inside the restaurant.  All in all, Taylor's looks the same, just spiffed and updated...nothing too drastic, thank you.
We split the Molly Salad which is a hunk of iceberg lettuce topped with diced tomoatos, sweet onions and creamy bleu cheese dressing.  Larry had a steak and I had the London Broil, both with baked potatoes.  Dinner was divine and we had leftovers for the next day.

Molly Salad

London Broil

I love Los Angeles.