Thursday, May 21, 2009

The Gallery at the End of Lake Avenue

It's Altadena week here on the old blog. For such a teeny corner of the LA sprawl, I found a lot to do in one Friday night.

McGinty's Gallery at the End of the World is a revelation. I'm tempted to use words like "funky," "whimsical," "charming" or "laid-back," but oh, blah blah blah blah. McGinty's is all of these things and none of these things. It is completely itself: welcoming, lush, open and cozy at the same time. And that's just the space.
Even the gallery greeter is an absolute individual.

Some of the art you'll love, some you might even hate. That's the nature of art. The art will change depending on who's showing what when. I hope they update the website soon so we can see what's coming up, but just go. The gallery's full of great stuff right now.

I get the impression that owner Ben McGinty is a busy guy. But although he was running the show during the Altadena Arts Coalition Open House, he took time to welcome everyone who wandered through with their mouths hanging open just as I did. I believe the people in the top photo are writing on the furniture. (Tip: art is everywhere. Be sure to look up.)

Fotoboy Ibarionex says Ben is the "self-proclaimed mayor of Altadena." Altadena is in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles county and doesn't have an official city government of its own. But if Altadena did have a government and Ben ran for mayor, he'd probably have a shot at the job.

43 comments:

Laurie Allee said...

Cool!

Shell Sherree said...

Sounds like a good name for a children's book! And the gallery greeter knows how to choose prime pawsition.

Irredento Urbanita said...

Each part of the earth is the beggining point and the end of it. You made me think.

Valery

Barcelona Daily Photo
Trujillo Daily Photo

Anonymous said...

Nice job Petrea! Love that top photo.

Petrea Burchard said...

Hmm. I might change the title. I meant it to mean that the Gallery is very individual. In the morning, after sleeping, "The End of the World is Itself" sounds ominous!

Cafe Pasadena said...

It looks like float building is a year round job.
Groovy!

Anonymous said...

I'd go just to be in that space.

Petrea Burchard said...

It does look like a float, Cafe. It's a big glass bowl where donations are accepted.

Me too, PA. I've been wondering if they have WiFi or if I could just go and take a book.

Jean Spitzer said...

This is so neat. I've had this on my list of places to check out. Now, I've had a sneak peek.

Iva Messy said...

Congratulations on being blog of note!!!! :)

Anonymous said...

cccccccccccccccccc

Keith said...

I'll 2nd the congratulations on your being the new Blog of Note! Very cool!

Petrea Burchard said...

I didn't know until Iva told me. Thank you! I had to go run and announce it on Twitter. I'm excited! Thanks, Iva, thanks Keith. Thanks, uh, Anonymous.

Laurie Allee said...

You Blog of Note, you! Don't forget all of us when you're sipping Crystal with Perez Hilton...

:-)

Anonymous said...

Petrea a dit...

I love the old signs. This one is especially beautiful, perhaps because of the blue, and the rusty edges (and the history lesson!).

Anonyme, I feel the same way. Except about cooking.

A toot of my horn. Pasadena Daily Photo (PDP Junior) is a Blog of Note today. Just another of the Daily Photo blogs inspired by Eric and Paris Daily Photo. Merci, Eric!

Hello Petrea,

I followed you from Paris Daily Photo. I usually do not sign my name {aka Anonyme} let's just say for personal reasons I do want to found. Lol.

I wanted say Congratulations on being named "Blog of Note".

Zoé

Margaret said...

Stop making me want to me! Go back to the dentist's building in Pasadena.

Herrad said...

Hi,

Great post and photos.
Congratulations on being a Blog of Note.
Love,
Herrad

Lisa Wilson said...

Congrats on making Blogs of Note!! It's always exciting when someone from CDP is chosen!

J.J. in L.A. said...

Congratulations!!!

Anonymous said...

I'm so ignorant. I know this is good, but what is it?

Flower said...

Hey Pretea, love your blog. You have a new follower!

Lowell said...

I think I'd like to spend a few hours looking around (and up) in that whimsical plus gallery!

Petrea Burchard said...

Well, this is pretty fun. Thanks for your comments and welcome to the new followers. Anonyme/Z, you get to be anonymous if you want to.

Margaret, what can I do? Laurie keeps making me want to live in South Pas.

Hi to everyone--how do we explain this to the Altadenahiker? Google/Blogger asks for nominations. Susan C and Paula Johnson nominated several local blogs. There was voting. Susan C was noted last week for Cancer Banter. Actually, I don't know how to answer your question but I'm happy to have the new followers. I'm feeling some pressure now to live up to it all. I need new outfits.

Shell Sherree said...

Hey Petrea ~ Way to go! Woohooooooo! And so well deserved.

Sara Rose said...

Beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Bonjour Petrea,

Pardon, my english is no so good...I do not want to be found.

Merci, Zoé

habib said...

beautiful .........

Shan said...

How do you find all of these interesting places?! I want to hold your camera bag and follow you in person! :)

Oberon said...

...join globalove think tank.

Ms M said...

Congrats on Blog of Note! Another "feather in your cap." :)
Love the "space" of this gallery in the first photo. And the greeter in the second is charming.

yazidane said...

yes i reakky agree with you...really cool...

Petrea Burchard said...

Thanks everyone.

Zoe, votre anglais et très bien, c'èst vraiment plus bon que ma français.

Shan, it's easy when you live in a place like Pasadena. I'll never run out of photo ops.

The Sage of Altadena said...

Another fabulous photo selection.

The Gallery was one of those places I wanted to go to and never got a chance. I was so fortunate to have Ben McGinty give me a personal tour of the space the day before the open house, and it's just so unique and attractive -- improvised-looking, open, and friendly, indoors and outdoors married in one spot (I don't think I'd put my piano outside, tho', but it seems to work there!) I could explore it for weeks! Hobbits live there, I'm sure.

And congrats on your new honor!

Tash said...

The dog is great! and I like the painting of the women behind the dog. Another super post, P.

Isaac Yassar said...

What a very interesting building architecture. The 'taste' is very unique, hard to describe.

Anonymous said...

benim blogada geliiiin!

Unknown said...

Congratulations, Petrea, on being a Google Blog of Note!

Love your photo essays on Beautiful Altadena, and these shots of Ben's Gallery at the End of the World convey completely what a unique place it is!

Petrea Burchard said...

Thanks, guys. Altadena is such a special place, and the people and businesses there are special, too. I'm glad the Open House was such a success.

Ethioma said...

Wonderful blog! The gallery greeter is adorable :)

Petrea Burchard said...

Thanks, Ethioma. Truly that dog's a sweetie.

Locksmith said...

very cool blog! :)

Anonymous said...

Miss Petrea, I posted my second Entry (ZDB)

& make sure you let me know when your next posting is.

Thanks for the support & advice!

Petrea Burchard said...

Valiant/ZDB, in case you check in here, I can't get your comments box to work. I'll try again later but I've had a busy week. Or send me an email so I can email you.