31st Wedding Anniversary

March 3, 1992, Los Angeles

Larry and I were married on Mardi Gras / Fat Tuesday, 1992. Fat Tuesday falls on different dates every year, so we celebrate BOTH days, Mardi Gras and March 3rd.  This year we decided to celebrate by taking a day-trip to Riverside, CA to see The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture, aka The Cheech!

2-storey Lobby at The Cheech

It wasn't raining, the sun was out and it only took us one hour from L.A. to get to Riverside.  We found a parking place right near The Mission Inn, next door to The Cheech.  We were very impressed by the Museum. It's housed in a re-purposed library building from the 1960s. We were familiar with many of the Los Angeles artists represented.  We even know a few!  Here are some examples of Cheech's collection:

by Jacinto Guevara

3 small paintings by Margaret Garcia

by Alfredo de Batuc

by Frank Romero

by Patssi Valdez

by "Gronk" This is the cover of the Los Lobos album, "La Pistola y el Corazon"

Oh yeah! Cheech collected ALL of the famous paintings by L.A. Chicano artists!  It was great seeing all of these works in one place. I can't wait to see more!

After viewing the current show at The Cheech, we walked to The Mission Inn, a very historic building in downtown Riverside. It opened in 1876 and kept expanding to a world-renowned hotel. We had lunch in the little Italian Bistro.

The historic Mission Inn, Riverside

After lunch we visited The Riverside Art Museum. It is housed in a former YMCA building (1929) designed by architect Julia Morgan (Hearst Castle, L.A. Examiner Building, etc.). The building is lovely, but the Museum is small.

Riverside Art Museum

We drove back to Los Angeles in about an hour and rested up before dinner.  We topped off our anniversary celebration with a delicious bowl of seafood gumbo at our local Creole restaurant, Stevie's!  We hadn't been there since the BeforeTimes.  It was good to be back enjoying their hospitality and yummy food!  

Gumbo @Stevie's

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, Sweetie!