The Museum of Broken Relationships

Over a year ago, I was listening to NPR and heard a story about the Museum of Broken Relationships. The first Museum of Broken Relationships opened in Croatia and the second location opened in Los Angeles, on Hollywood Blvd, just a block from the Hollywood and Highland mall.

Last week, I found myself in Hollywood with a few hours to kill, so I headed over to check it out.

I visited on a Thursday afternoon in late October and the museum was busy. It was so busy, that it was almost difficult to navigate the exhibits. The Museum of Broken Relationships is a popular place! I paid my eighteen dollar admission fee and spent nearly two hours exploring. If it had been less crowded, I think I would have finished in an hour or so. It's not a big space.

The museum is comprised of artifacts sent in by anonymous donors from around the world, the donated objects are displayed with a story regarding the significance of the object. As one might expect, many of the objects involve broken romantic relationships, things like wedding dresses and love letters. However, many of the exhibits are not about romantic love, they include damaged parental relationships and friendships that have crumbled. There is even a nicotine patch symbolizing a broken relationship with addiction. Names are not included on any of the objects, apart from what you might see written on a letter or other note.

The exception is a piece from The Bachelorette, the dried final rose that Nick Viall presented to Kaitlyn Bristowe, when she rejected his proposal. Non-fans of the show, might not understand the rose, as it is simply labeled Nick, without reference to The Bachelorette. I'm a fan of the series, so I got a kick of of this. When Viall was The Bachelor in his own season, he planned a date at the Museum of Broken Relationships and showed off his displayed rose.

Some of the stories are still full of emotion: anger, sadness, regret...but many symbolize a catharsis, as the storyteller has now let the physical baggage of their relationship go, set free their story into the universe. As a writer, I can appreciate the importance of sharing a difficult and emotional story. I found a huge sense of relief when I participated in sharing a true story about my aunt and uncle for The Ricochet: A Storyteller Show, last month.

The Museum of Broken Relationships is an incredible journey into the human experience and well-worth a visit. I found the whole concept fascinating. I loved seeing the objects and getting a little snippet into a life-altering moment of a strangers life. I would not recommend it as a place for people to take young children, as some of the exhibits include adult content and the museum is heavy on reading. The stories are vital to understanding the artifacts, but know that a large chunk of your visit will be spent reading the stories. The Museum of Broken Relationships will certainly put you in an introspective, falling down the rabbit of memories, type of mood. You may even be inspired to make your own donation to the collection. Everyone has their own stories to tell.

Eddie Izzard's Force Majeure at the Hollywood Bowl

Dan's second visit to the iconic Hollywood Bowl, came the night after his first visit. On Saturday, we saw comedian Eddie Izzard's Force Majeure.

Rather than take the shuttle from the Los Angeles Zoo, we decided to try a different approach to bowl parking. We parked at the Hollywood and Highland mall and walked to the bowl. It takes about fifteen minutes to walk and is uphill going, downhill on the way back. It's nice to be able to leave the crush of people exiting the bowl, with people trying to figure out buses and navigate their cars out of the stacked parking. The bonus of parking at the mall was getting a little extra exercise.

On the cons, the traffic in Hollywood was a nightmare. It was sluggish both ways and it would have been quicker to use the zoo lot. Parking is fifteen dollars for the Hollywood and Highland lot, which is three more than the zoo shuttle. This is a good option if you plan on eating in Hollywood, but aside from that, the zoo lot was more convenient.

This time, we did not have a terrace box. It was hard to go back to the bench seats after being spoiled in the boxes. Our benches were the same level as the boxes, so same distance from the stage, but way off to the side. Luckily, this didn't pose much of a problem with Izzard's show and we had a clear view of the monitors. It wouldn't have been great seating for a concert.

Dan took this panorama before the show. The bowl ended up being completely sold-out.

Since we were in the benches, we didn't hassle bringing a picnic. We ate dinner at home and then bought popcorn, lemonade and beer to snack on during the show. This made our experience so much easier and less expensive. I love the idea of picnics at the bowl, but the reality is always such a pain.

One of the best bargains at the Hollywood Bowl is cushion rentals. Those benches are hard and for just a dollar, you can rent padding. After the show, you don't even have to bother returning them, you just leave them on the bench. It's a must for the bench seats and just easier than bringing your own from home.

Here are a few shots of our view, including a blurry one of Izzard.

We had sky-high expectations for Izzard's show. We were pumped.

Unfortunately, Izzard failed to meet our expectations. This isn't to say that the show was bad, it just wasn't, for the most part. laugh-out-loud funny. He took a long time setting up jokes and the effort didn't meet the pay-off. In his two-hour show, he occasionally circled back to earlier topics that unfortunately, had already been forgotten, making the joke fall flat.

Much of the content was historical and political ( in itself, not a negative) and the result came across more like Izzard was a mildly humorous college professor. Even if my laughter was mostly internal, I did appreciate Izzard's quick wit and brilliant mind. He's very clever.

My British husband thought that Izzard was pandering to an American audience. Izzard continuously broke from the comedy to tell the audience that we were the "Intelligent, Liberal Minded" citizens of Los Angeles. Apparently, all of the "smart people" bought tickets to his show. It wasn't part of a joke either. It was like when people win an academy award and they use their acceptance speech to get on their soap box.

I happen to be liberal, but I did find this to be insulting. I very much dislike this mob mentality that groups "like-minded" individuals based on their politics or religion. It's exclusionary and close-minded. Yes, many liberals are pretty close-minded! It was entirely unnecessary in Izzard's show. He could have made political jokes and proudly told everyone his liberal views and it would have been fine, even funny.. It became offensive when he reigned-in the audience to rally to his cause, making a hive mind scenario. It crossed the line into an uncomfortable territory.

There was one part of the show that I did laugh. I laughed a lot. The kind of laughter where I couldn't catch my breath, my stomach knotted, and where tears were rolling down my cheeks. It was a whole skit on horse dressage. I don't want to spoil it, but I nearly died laughing. Youtube it, trust me. I wish his entire show had been this hysterically funny.

Ultimately, we were both let-down by Force Majeure. Izzard is a funny guy, but he seemed off his game with this one.

LA Active Adventures - Hollywood Secret Stairs

Last spring, before I started this blog, Dan and I went on a very cool excursion and I've been meaning to write about it. It's a great day out for both locals and tourists.

Dan found out about LA Active Adventures when they were selling discounted tours through Living Social. He bought a voucher and we used it for the Hollywood Secret Stairs Tour.

I am a Los Angeles native, but I had never heard of the Hidden Stairs that are sprinkled throughout the residential parts of the Hollywood Hills. If I had not been on this tour, I probably wouldn't have ventured up them. The appear to be on private property, running right between homes and backyards and are often very steep and narrow.

We started our tour by meeting our guide and company owner, Hargobind Singh, in a side street off of Hollywood Blvd. It was a short walk from the Hollywood and Highland mall, where we had parked. We lucked out and had a private tour. Hargo took us in his Van to base of Beachwood Canyon, where we continued the two hour tour on foot.

At the base of Beachwood Canyon

A cute cat sculpture in a flower bed at the base of the canyon.

I can't remember how many staircases we climbed or how many steps we walked, but it was a good work out. We were sweating and out of breath! Hargo confessed that he has had a few people bail on the hike, but Dan and I are not super fit and we handled it just fine. If you are in moderate to good shape, it's worth the effort. The views are spectacular and there are some beautiful homes in the area. Even though it was local, I might as well have been visiting a foreign country as the area looked so different from other parts of the city.

We climbed that!

We climbed this one too..much better view from the top.

Many years ago, there was water fountain running down the center, where they now have planted flowers. Pretty.

We had some great views of the Hollywood sign.

Dan and I..sweaty, gross and happy!

Dan took this, I love the framing.

Hargo was a fun guide. He knew all of the stories and trivia about the neighborhood, including information about the History, architecture, wildlife and plants. This is definitely not a tour of celebrity homes, but he pointed out where Moby lives and a bunch of homes of stars of bygone eras. What I really liked about Hargo as a guide, was he didn't just look out for our enjoyment, but was very respectful of the residents in the neighborhood, many of whom knew him and greeted him. I felt like we were on a hike with a friend, rather than on a tour. It was not intrusive to the neighborhood at all.

The entrance to the lake is right near Moby's home! This is the first time that I have even heard about a big lake in the Hollywood Hills. It's closed off to the public, unfortunately.

A woodpecker in a tree.

Pretty flower.

Beautiful views

I love this sign!

Dan and I very much enjoyed this tour and look forward to going on other adventures with Hargo as our guide. If you are looking for a new adventure in the city, check out his website. He offers a lot of different tours and packages, including wine tours!

LA Active Adventures Official Site