When I hear the word Garden, my mind naturally imagines a sprawling place of green and red, and…read moreother hues with bees. But this place is not that. This place is a relatively small garden. But even though this place is smaller and less floral in its land, than others, it has several things going for it. First, it is a top the Walt Disney Concert Hall. It is a break from city honk and woe, offered my curated nature. It is also a point of rest, and at the same time a point of wonder and reflection, all while being a point where one can enjoy the views of DTLA. Thus, it is a peak to enjoy vistas, a place to sit and ponder (a la Waldon's pond), and a place to just be, freely. I just realized that my dad has a small garden next to his crib, that is a strip of fertilizer with roses, bushes and other minor blooms that is tended with care and has quiet beauty. Why do I imagine vastness when I hear garden when I know that space does not make a place of green lush, beautiful or a place that allows wonder to thrive? I guess I don't think small which helped make this place just a grand place to be cause I made the experience matter!
I have tried to come here before but the place is closed when there are shows. I was walking to the Music Center, and had time to spare before the show, so me and my partner in step, decided to visit the Blue Ribbon Garden, We went up some stairs that had a name- Sempra Energy Grand Staircase. I was fortunate to understand that even in places like this, staircases had name. I do not think escalators at malls have names, but then again these were probably not made possible by the donation of others.
The central piece of the garden is this fountain that resembles a blue flower. I did not take a picture of the whole fountain, silly I know. I did take a picture and caught a corner piece of the fountain. It is like this huge mosaic made from post-card, at least in my mind's eye. Please do not imagine standard post-cards, in shades of blue and white, from Florida, California, Arizona and Paris quilted together to make a marble like surface. The mosaic fountain is more created with small patches of rock, in irregular shapes, that hold pictures of destinations like areas with water or steps or inside homes or areas with trees. The beauty of this blue rose is not only from a far but also when you zoom into the art.
As I walked the garden, I was able to see the beauty of DTLA. The modern buildings that look like blocks stacked together. Birds flying across skies. I lost myself by viewing two birds flying across buildings. Were they friends? Were they lovers? Were they strangers who naturally flew together because birds are just programmed to flock in pairs or bands? I of course wondered how it would feel to fly amidst buildings and atop streets without worries, you know, a la care-free. My favorite picture was one I took where I saw the moon on blue sky. The moon did not glow. It was beautiful because it was the moon in its familiar setting but in a way that I had never seen it before. And if I had, I never stopped and appreciated the moment. Thus this garden did not make me stop and smell the roses, it made me stop and appreciate a new face of the moon. What will you experience in a new way if you stroll and stop to see within this garden?
Another wonderful thing about this garden is that it had an Aerial Pathway made possible by Bettina and Otis Chandler. Crossing the pathway and going up some stairs allowed me to see the beauty of the Concert hall up close. Like I saw the structure support that held the broader beauty of the Concert Hall together, or at least helped. In another picture, I was able to see within the Concert Hall, due to a triangle like space that was created by the larger features of the concert hall. I got lost in the details here. But isn't that the beauty of viewing a world wonder up close? I did not just saw the beauty of the hall as I drove past it. I saw the wonder of its crevices when I experienced up close.
As Conrad walked past a wall, I imagined that the tiles of the wall, were more like fun house mirrors. I am not sure if you would agree but the pictures of him walking by the reflective tiles make Conrad look more abstract than he actually is. I also took pictures of trees standing in pride, and others standing in front of the cityscape.
This place is a wonder, and offers so much, if you are willing to sit, and see, or stroll and see, or see and imagine.