I had the pleasure of getting inside the Southwest Museum in Highland Park! This is the first museum to ever open in Los Angeles, it has been closed for years. The building needed to be retrofitted, there was no money. So the Autry museum acquired it, and they don’t have the money to do all the repairs, so they have concentrated on trying to save many of the incredible Indian artifacts, textiles, pottery and other amazing items that Charles Lummis collected.
Since the Autry is good at putting on exhibits that are artworks for sale, they approved of the exhibit For the Love of the Aroyo. Before I get to some of the artwork, I need to share the locations.
I am most often on the freeway, (the further bridge) zooming by the Colorado Ave. Bridge. A few months ago I got off and was able to view the bridges from beneath.
Ahh, the Art Deco elements work so well on a bridge!
The Aroyo Seco is a dry river bed, which means in the rainy season, it isn’t dry. The water now runs through a dedicated channel, houses and streets were build as well as our first Freeway. Many of the paintings represented that.
My photo is from the south side of the bridge, this painting is from the north.
A view towards the Green Castle apartments. I love the photo realism of this painter. I also recognize that he edited out what he didn’t want to see.
The Southwest Museum of Indian Art is the original name of the museum. the cases hold wonderful examples of pottery from many different Southwestern tribes. 
An owl! Yay! Once I saw this bird I just went on snapping pictures of their birds.
This isn’t an art lesson or even a history lesson. I don’t know who made these or when. Some are very old, some are newer. I find that often I want to leave with an impression, not with an education of dates and names.
It isn’t surprising that birds are prominent in art, they surround us everywhere. 
Like when we went down to La Fuente restaurant on Figueroa Ave and saw Chicken Boy up on the roof.
Leah