Last night while wandering the empty Scripps campus, we ran across a fountain that we had never before seen. Are there more that we don’t know about?
College Fountains: Scripps Addendum
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Monthly Archives: June 2017
June 2017 Photo Round-Up
For some reason, I don’t feel as though summer 
is really here until July. June must fill itself up with things I put off from the school year. Then there are June events to fill up the calendar.
Some of the events included the Annual Vista Track Meet, a talk by Luis Fuerte (the cameraman of the PBS show California’s Gold), a Levitt on the Lawn concert at Scripps College (the Dustbowl Revival), and my sister’s graduation from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena.
A volunteer squash plant sprouted in my yard, and we had a bumper year for apricots which we had to rescue from the squirrels. Plums were good this year, too. A dead city tree was removed, and early June was a great time to hike the Wilderness Park Trail before it got too hot.
The wading pool at Memorial Park was open once again after years of drought. The bottom of the pool has new sea creatures painted on it.
A day trip to Pasadena led to the discovery of a few Little Free Libraries.
The Vintage Flip people are working on two buildings along 4th St. between Harvard and Yale.
Pomona College was busy with weddings and National Cello Institute.
College Fountains: Scripps
With the weather heating up and not giving us June Gloom for a while, it’s time to think about staying cool and maybe dipping feet into fountains.
Most of Scripps Colleges fountains don’t have water in them right now.
This one in the Margaret Fowler Garden does have water flowing.
The most iconic fountain at Scripps is in Seal Court where you will also find the popular Motley Coffee Shop (closed for the summer) and the Scripps Challah for Hunger (also closed until the fall).
You might not want to actually put your feet in here, but with all the surrounding greenery, it’s a cool place to escape the heat as well as the hustle and bustle of the outside world.
Historic photos of the fountain can be seen here.
Views from LA City Hall
After our LA Art Tour, and a little lunch at the Wurstküche (recommended!), we weren’t quite ready to leave DTLA. I’m not sure how it is that we have lived in So Cal for over 30 years and have never been inside the iconic LA City Hall. Our day had come. The only trick to getting through security was that H had to remove his small Swiss Army Knife from his keychain and “hide” it somewhere outside (next to another, larger Swiss Army Knife).
A list of instructions in about 10 languages explained that  to get to the observation deck, one must take the elevator to the 22nd floor, then find the next set of elevators to get to the 26th floor, and from there, walk up a flight of steps. A kind security guard suggested we stop first at the third floor to look at the rotunda. Very nice.
One can walk all the way around the viewing platform for some great views of the city and the mountains.
Grand Park and Disney Concert Hall are not hard to spot.
The big art piece, that looks like a spaceship, in the lower part of the photo is the Triforum.
Building reflections and patterns
And, a bell.
And, yes, we remembered to pick up the hidden Swiss Army Knife on the way out.
Entrance to City Hall is free. Parking is not.
LA Street Art Tour
As far as I can tell, Claremont may have lots of art, but no graffiti street art. Maybe because that’s when someone even covers a tree trunk with yarn it gets removed. However, the Art District in Downtown LA (DTLA) has so much that it is well worth a tour to see it with LA Art Tours. There’s parking at the tour starting point, but we chose to take the Gold Line from downtown Azusa and walk from the Little Tokyo stop.
Our guide was Galo, and I think this is probably his wikipedia page. He has a special fondness for fonts.
Everywhere you look you can find LA in the shape of the Dodgers logo.
I didn’t even think to look at the utility poles, which is why it’s good to take a tour so the guide can point out things.
There are so many large murals.
You can be thankful I did not post all of my photos….
Sanctuary Coffee
There’s a new coffee shop in town, so that means it needed to be checked out, of course. The Courier had a nice write-up about Sanctuary Coffee on Foothill across from Stater Bros. This non-profit venture donates all of its earnings to charity, including Inland Valley Hope Partners.
I had never been in the building before, when it was a clothing consignment shop, so I have no before photos, but the space inside is so welcoming, that you will probably enjoy these after photos.
Nice places to sit – inside and out.
Art on the walls.
The coffee was pretty good, too!
College Fountains: Harvey Mudd
When our girls were young, we used to take a Fountain Tour of the colleges. We would ride our bikes through the five undergrad campuses and try to ride by every single fountain.
Harvey Mudd College has three fountains, all of which have water running right now. The main and biggest fountain is the Venus Fountain in Hixon Court. The Venus in the middle is from Italy and was made by Giovanni Bologna in the Renaissance. Years ago it was referred to as the ratio fountain because there was a ratio of four men per woman on campus. Times have changed, and it is much closer to 50:50.
For archival photos of the installation of this fountain, click here.
This fountain is more of a contemplative water piece and is tucked away on northwest end of campus. There are benches for quiet reflection.
The third fountain is in front of the Linde Activities Center (the LAC).
Renwick House Relocated
In the dark of night between Sunday and Monday, the Renwick House moved across College Ave. to make way for the new Pomona College art museum. There are photos of the move on Facebook, as well as this video from the Claremont Courier. David Allen wrote about it in his weekly column of the Daily Bulletin. Here are my before and after photos taken in the daylight.
View from Bonita Ave. looking south.
Here today. Gone tomorrow.
Ready for the house, and looking at the new west-facing Renwick House.
The sign on the door is a little understatement. It say’s We’ve Moved. I don’t think the letter carrier will be using that mail slot too soon.
Here is a past post with another before photo of the house. Here is the post about the removal of the cottages next door to the Renwick House.
First Saturday Art Walk
Dear Readers,
It’s summer and Claremont life slows down, as it should. Claremontography is headed into summer mode – posts on Mondays and Thursdays until the fall.
Two of my favorite Claremont artists opened shows on Saturday, and even if you missed the opening reception, you can still see their work throughout June.
Paul Kittlaus has a show at the Ginger Elliott Exhibition Center in Memorial Park. If you like red, you will enjoy that vibrant color in his Color Improvisation.
On Bonita at Bunny Gunner, Steve Comba shows some of his works which don’t look very much like his usual work, but also fabulous.
Vintage Flip on Indian Hill on TV
The house on Indian Hill and 12th St. sold without an open house, so I was unable to see inside. However, the second season of Vintage Flip on HGTV will allow us to see the transformation. I believe the show for this house will be next week, so set your DVRs because it will be on late at night. Or, if you don’t have cable, you can buy the episode on Amazon or iTunes when it becomes available.
Here are some “in process” photos.
Here is a recent photo of the finished front of the house.
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