this is LA

yesterday, i had one of the most bizarrely wonderful experiences with the city of LA. after sharing lunch in culver city park with my date, we headed over to the museum of jurassic technology on venice blvd. i hesitate to even write about this because it was several hours of indescribable wonder, disbelief, and fascination that i know i will ultimately fail to communicate with due justice. still, such a place deserves a nod, for sure.

opened in 1988, this is a museum dedicated to the rare, the improbable, and the curiously unbelievable. the introductory slide show indicates that the museum was opened with the intention of carrying on the great tradition of the saints' relics held in the great cathedrals and jacket pockets of itinerant street peddlers.

the items on exhibit ranged from an apricot seed with a tableau supposedly carved into it (i never could make out the figures), a series of memorial portraits commemorating the deceased dogs of the Soviet space program, a display of the logic alphabet, interactive media recounting the history of cat's cradle, and a significant portion on two individuals, Madalena Daley, a Romanian opera singer who suffered from short term memory loss, and Professor Sonnabend, a son of a German bridge-builder, whose groundbreaking research on experience, memory, and the act of forgetting was unknowingly influenced by Ms. Daley as they both spent a sleepless night at Iguazu Falls in Argentina. so, so, so bizarre.

when we finally dragged ourselves away, we decided to detox with a cup of tea and some art at Royal T, a tokyo-style cafe and art gallery nearby. only that as we drove up to the place, a gaggle of korean girls decked out in full make-up and traditional han-boks were streaming out the door. taking that in stride, we entered to the scene of approximately eleven young ladies dressed in black polyester french maid costumes with platform heels practicing what seemed to be a hip-hope routine. inside the cafe.

dumbfounded, confused beyond belief, and loving every minute of it, i ordered by yuzu sencha green tea and spent a moment realizing that this is LA.