I have lived in SoCal most of my life and finally made it to the Getty Villa in Malibu yesterday. All I knew about it was that first the villa was beautiful and 2nd, that it had alot of ancient Greek and Roman antiquities. Much to my surprise, it was modeled after the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum and some of the rooms and gardens are modeled after villas in Pompeii. And until 2012, it has the original Apollo from Pompeii on loan from the Naples Archeological Museum. Having just visited Pompeii for the first time last year, I was thrilled to be reminded of my visit and makes me long for the time I can return and visit Herculaneum also! Definitely recommend it to anyone who lives around here or plan to visit SoCal.
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
Claudette: Yes! the Getty Villa is one of my favorite places in the LA area. It was a treasure even before the renovation (9 years in the making!), and now...! And free. One of my favorites is the Cypriot and Cycladic objects that are four and five thousand years old. And the convenient restaurant, and unique setting. Makes museum-going a real pleasure.
Posted by
Los Angeles, CA, USA
1003 posts
I actually went back in April to prepare for my then-upcoming trip to Italy. It was great and I'm glad I finally went. In the Naples Archaeological museum, there is a whole room of pottery that was restored by the Getty so it was a great crossover! I found it interesting to learn that when the museums in Italy send an artifact over to the Getty for restoration one of the things the Getty does is provide an earthquake-"proof" base. Then the exchange is that the Getty gets to display the item for a while. Sadly the outlet of Grom up the road was incredibly disappointing.
Posted by
OP
Huntington Beach CA
1116 posts
Kent- I know, it was such a treasure that I didn't even know existed in my backyard. The cafe had good food & prices were reasonable. It's eclipsed the Getty Museum in my fondness! Debra- That's exactly what they were doing, refurbishing the Apollo statue! What is the outlet of Grom??
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
So sad to hear that the Grom store in CA was disappointing. Their gelato was consistently the best we had in Italy, enough so that we would go out of our way to find them.