Happy Birthday Surprise weekend to me! The Broad, Hollywood Bowl Grease Sing-Along - Day 2 Part 2 - 2025/06/27

Time to continue the fun day that Theresa has planned for my surprise birthday weekend! We've got my family here from Colorado and Washington and we're exploring Los Angeles together! 

What's there to do in downtown Los Angeles? How about the Contemporary Art museum called The Broad? The outside looks like a cheese grater. How does it feel? 

Just a little dirty. Hmm. 

These grass bollards are a nice change from the regular concrete pillars that block the buildings. And I suppose they will help for cleaning off hands. 

Reservations for 6! 

Welcome to The Broad! 

First things first, we're seeing a special exhibit here from Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Theresa and I have seen some of her art in Washington DC and thought it was pretty special. 

Only 4 allowed in the room, so Patrick and Megan will go into the room first. 

Titled "The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away".

I love these infinity rooms! 

Staring off into the void! 

Now let's go upstairs and see more contemporary art. 

Love these metallic tulips. 

And pop art. 

There's one more Yayoi Kusama art piece, but no reservations for this one. 

"Longing for Eternity"

It's a mirrored box with holes for your face. 

And inside are more mirrors and LEDs. Pretty cool!

It's a giant balloon dog like the kids make when they do balloon twisting. Cute. 

It's Megan's birthday today. You need a birthday hat. 

That fits. 

This shiny bunny looks like a balloon. I really really wanted to touch it. 

I can't quite tell what's going on here. You think you see something, but try to follow it and it gets weird. 

Now this is interesting. This table is ginormous! 

Titled "Under the Table" 

This was one of my favorites here. 

I was really wondering what is on top of the table?

Joe

Theresa's favorite piece here, titled Red Block, made of recycled aluminum and copper. 

Whatever installation is displaying it is free to drape it however they want. 

Looking at it closer at what makes it up. That took a lot of time to put together. 

It's time for The Broad to close, and time for us to move on to our next event of the night. But first, Megan needs coffee. 

Through downtown Los Angeles we'll drive to find...

Trader Joe's! We need some snacks! And charcuterie board fixins. 

Patrick drove us to the Hollywood Hills, into the stacked parking lots. 

Because Theresa has booked us a night at The Hollywood Bowl! We've had lots of good memories here over the years!

Tonight, it's a special showing of the movie Grease! And it's a sing-along! 

We've got plenty of snacks. 

Tickets are good. 

Up we go to our seats! But not before renting seat cushions for the hard benches. 

Love it! 

And there's the Hollywood sign! 

Now we feast! Lots of meats, cheeses, crackers, hummus, and desserts. 

So good! Every family got something different and we all shared. 

When it was time to start, Grease actress Didi Conn, who played Frenchie came out onto the stage to welcome us! 

Didi - Who here has never seen Grease before? 

(I slowly raised my hand. I had the soundtrack on CD, but I've never watched the movie.)

I heard all the super-fans around muttering "Has he been living under a rock?" and "How is that possible?"

Well, no time like the present, watching it with all these dressed up fans. 

 The three Greasers, Barry Pearl (Doody), Michael Tucci (Sonny), and Kelly Ward (Putzie), all came out to the stage and shared memories of their time filming. 

But let me tell you, the crowd went wild when John Travolta himself came on stage! 

It was a fun movie, maybe not quite my style, but I see why people like it. Either way, it was a fun night of hanging out with family and singing along loudly to the songs we knew. 

I'd mentioned before the performance, I loved smelling the hot dogs with grilled onions that the vendors are always selling after the show. Megan and Patrick hustled ahead and bought one ($8), and it definitely lived up to my expectations from all those years. So good. 

And that would have been it for the night, except for a little excitement we had on the way back to the hotel. Fortunately, a half mile down the road, we saw a fire truck making its way to help out. Yikes!