LA Nixon, Mission, Getty Apr 28-30

Well, LA has a lot to offer. We are staying at an RV park north of LA, in Marlene's words "in Simi Valley, surrounded by foothills, with the scent of eucalyptus in the air". Small remote RV park, hardly anyone here; perfect for us. First stop, Nixon Library in Yorba Linda. Very nice; like so many presidential libraries; great exhibits, videos. Below is the actual house Nixon grew up in, a "kit" house from Sear Roebuck. Nixon was a Quaker, perseverence personified. Young congressman, young senator, surprise VP for Eisenhower; did himself proud with his "Checkers" speech. When he lost to Kennedy in 1960 by 113,000 votes, ran for Gov in 1962; lost and said to the press "You won't have Nixon to kick around any more". Won the Presidency in '68 and '72; notable accomplishments: Paris Peace Accords 1973 temporarily ending Vietnam conflict and returning our POWs, (although we didn't leave permanently until 1975) and re-establishing US-China relationships (he was welcomed as a great man in China thereafter). The library does deal with Watergate and his resignation to some degree, including an exhibit discussing the missing 18 minutes on his tape recordings.

Everything unfolded in '74 with Watergate. After resignation, he continued to have impact, especailly in foreign counsel to Presidents. Excellent exhibit.

Next day we went to see another CA mission, Mission San Fernando, where, by the way, Bob Hope is buried in a memorial garden for his family. Garden pictured below. The film on the mission, which was done many years ago, was narrated by Bob's good buddy, his "road show partner", Bing Crosby.

Finally we get to the Getty. J Paul Getty loved antiquities (defined as being from 300 AD or earlier), collected them all over the world. Decided to build a replica of an Italian villa in Malibu and stock it with some of his treasures. Completed in '74. Unfortunately, due to Getty's fear of flying in his later years, he never laid eyes on the place, and died in '76. Fortunately for the museum, he left an inordinate amount of Getty stock to the place; knocked the socks off of the staff here; they have since worked hard to spend all the money stipulated by Getty's will to buy additional works of art. Since the villa has been overwhelmed by artifacts, the new Getty museum was built (it's big); from what I understand it is overflowing too. At the villa had some great tours, saw some great artifacts from as early as 3000 BC.

Marlene in front of the pool in one of the courtyards, every design of each floor, courtyard, ceiling and garden had significance.

The villa behind the pool.