The first thing you will notice when you visit the Arboretum
are the peacocks. You wont see them (though if you’re lucky you might run into
one of them attacking their reflection in the bumper of someone’s expensive
car), but you will hear them.
Their unique calls to one another fill the air, making you feel as if
you are about to walk into some strange land. And really, it is a strange land. No other place will you
walk along a desert garden path, lined with cacti and strange sculptures, to
find yourself in a bamboo forest; and emerging from this forest you find a palm
tree lined lake, filled with fish, frogs and many more ducks than you can
count.
My mom used to take me this place as a kid. We would spend
hot, lazy Sunday afternoons sitting by the enormous fountain eating our
homemade sandwiches and sipping on ice-cold lemonade we bought from the café.
It has been many years since I’ve been back (life just seems to get in the way
of things sometimes), but this time I went with two of my best friends. Even as
a kid there was always something new to explore, but now, as an adult? Well, it
was amazing…
We spent the day remembering what it was like to be a kid
and have fun. We let our imaginations run wild! We ran through the bamboo
forest imagining we were on an epic journey; we climbed to the top of a
waterfall and proclaimed that we had discovered this land in the name of… well…
we didn’t quite know, so in the end we claimed it in the name of ourselves:
This was now Haleigh-Becky-Gary-Land, and woe to those who would say otherwise!
The grounds are not so large that you can’t get through them
in a couple of hours, but it’s also big enough, with enough winding pathways,
that we rarely ran into other people who could destroy the fantasy of a new
world we had created. One important lesson I did learn that day, though, was
that if one is going to sing Disney songs (badly) while in the bathroom – maybe
one should not sing quite so loud, or one should entirely own the fact that
one’s singing abilities will never win one the coveted American Idol role.
Apparently Becky and myself amused several passers by with our rendition of
Mulan’s “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” – But Gary was not amused.
There are two historic homes on the property, along with a
magnificent barn. There is an adobe house built in the mid 1800s, which is
unfortunately in very bad repair. As a historian and a museum studies student,
it was difficult to see – but everyone in the heritage business knows there is
never enough money to go around. The Queen Anne’s Cottage, built later in 1885,
however, seems from the outside to be the picture of conservation. This house
was a party house. Literally. It was built with the express purpose of being
used to host parties – there isn’t a kitchen or bedroom in the place. If you
look in the windows (for you’re not allowed to enter the premises) you will see
rooms decorated as if this were a fully functioning house, but it’s only for
show.
The barn is just as grand as the cottage. It is two stories
and painted white with red trim to match. There are two large rooms to house carriages
and two small wings where the horses’ stables are located.
Even the doghouse is grand…
Sadly, the exhibit panels in the barn are, like the adobe
house, in desperate need of repair. If you wish to learn about the history of
film at the arboretum you can, but only partially – several of the text panels
have peeled away from their supporting board and have curled onto each other.
The Plexiglas cases may have once fitted nicely together, but I suppose with
age and exposure to the elements, it has warped and gaps have appeared. Dust
and dirt has fallen through those cracks and now lines the old velvet lining of
the shelves.
So there are a few things that could use some good ol’ spit
shine (please don’t be literal and spit on the artefacts…) but I’d say the good
far and away outways the bad at this place. Especially at the price you pay. It’s
less than $10 to spend the day enjoying the antics of fat little squirrels and
watching people set up what looks to be a beautiful wedding ceremony in a rose
garden and finding hidden bush sculptures.
Thumbs way way up to the Los Angeles Arboretum!
