The Getty Center Garden Terrace Cafe, Los Angeles

Sometimes a photo says it all.  Or one look in real life.  The image above captures my favorite impression of the Getty. A friend and I visited the Getty Center for the first time just a few weeks ago.  After arriving at the top of the hill via their tram, we were drawn, not to the main lobby at the top of the stairs, but to the back wall of the entry complex. We wanted to see the famed view of Los Angeles.  

We looked down and saw the Garden Terrace Cafe instead.  I was entranced.  I have to go there. It's amazing. Like a temple, with those tall columns of stone.  We did walk through some of the museum exhibits first. True to form, as we wandered past masterpieces by Van Gogh and Monet, all I could think of was – I want to go to that cool terrace! 

After a tour of the museum just long enough to prove I take fine art seriously, it was off to the Garden Terrace Café. There is just a small snack bar counter  inside – it’s the seating area outside that makes it so amazing. All the buildings at the Getty Center are clad in Italian travertine, which adds to the temple-like feeling under the columns.  The Getty website explains the look, feel and origins of the travertine:

 “The stone—1.2 million square feet of it—is one of the most remarkable elements of the complex. This beige-colored, cleft-cut, textured, fossilized travertine catches the bright Southern California light, reflecting sharply during morning hours, and emitting a honeyed warmth in the afternoon.

Meier chose stone for this project because it is often associated with public architecture and expresses qualities the Getty Center celebrates: permanence, solidity, simplicity, warmth, and craftsmanship.

The 16,000 tons of travertine are from Bagni di Tivoli, Italy, 15 miles east of Rome. Many of the stones revealed fossilized leaves, feathers, and branches when they were split along their natural grain. Meier and his staff worked for a year with the quarries to invent a process using a guillotine to produce the unique finish.”

The Getty has another, more traditional cafeteria – and a fine dining restaurant. Their  Garden Terrace Café is only open during the summer.  When we arrived, the terrace was just starting to get busy. We sipped coffee and split a caprese sandwich while admiring the view of Los Angeles - the air was pretty clear that day.

Photo:   ©jasoninhollywood       

These huge rebar and bougainvillea "trees" are just below the Garden Terrace Cafe. 

As usual, it’s the  unique surroundings, not just the coffee and snacks, that most intrigue me about museum cafes.   The magnificent Garden Terrace Café at the Getty – the temple of museum cafes – is now right up there with the Bode on my “wow” list.