The Golden (Se)villa by the sea

I fell in love with the place at first sight! I'm in exquisite company there - Thomas Mann is said to have done so, too, and he is quoted at any possible occasion. And I have found my favourite spot in the Villa Aurora on the second day already. I love to sit outside on the wide stone balustrade on the top of the stairs leading down into the garden. I look at the pretty Andalusian style facade to my left and right side, and straight I have the perfect view: flowers, palm and eucalyptus trees frame the awesome panorama with the sea and beach looking down the hill of the close-to-the-coast part of Pacific Palisades. The beach I see is not any beach, it is Santa Monica Beach becoming Venice Beach on the far end. I learned yesterday that Venice is actually the cooler and better beach and not at all snobby as might be suggested by the name. The main street (the strip) is my kind of area: colorful and very individual looking little shops and bars as opposed to huge stores and chain markets. 10 years ago Venice was a run down area marked by junkies and poverty. Whereas Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades are populated with the movie stars and rich. In "our" supermarket (down our street you hit Sunset Boulevard and there it is, the VONS on the corner) you can conduct sociological studies. Every second girl is a Paris Hilton look-alike. I haven't yet met any Venice Beach surfer dude, but we have plenty of time...;-)

We, that is Lena and me. Lena is my fellow intern and she was a big surprise and still is every day! Lena seems to be my soulmate. She is also from Hamburg, actually lives in my part of the city as well, she studies at the Musikhoschule (the same subject I studied: performing arts management) where I was going very often lately to sing with Christoph, she works for the Laeiszhalle/HamburgMusik with the same colleagues that I have worked with for 3 years during my university years. She shares my food taste, wears a similar style of clothes (we have a set of pants and shirt exactly the same!), she is outgoing, very very pretty and fun to have around. And why on earth did I have to go to Los Angeles to meet such a great person? I am just so happy that we get to go back the same time and will be able to stay friends actively!

Today it's hotter than yesterday. In general the climate and weather is amazing! I am sure that is one reason why some German Emigrés chose to stay here rather than go back. Like Billy Wilder for example. The Villa used to be a meeting place for the intellectuals and artists that were persecuted by the Nazis. Lion and Marta Feuchtwanger, whose place this is, established a German 'Salon' like the ones in the early 20th century, where writers, filmmakers, painters and philosophers gathered to discuss politics and art. Marta Feuchtwanger died only in 1987. So every bit of furniture and the large collection of Lions books have been left exactly were they always have been. The Villa Aurora foundation bought the house in 1995 and established a scholarship program. That way the will of the Feuchtwangers could be carried out to keep this place alive as an inspiring place for young artists to live and work.

This means for Lena and me who help in the office, running the place, that we live in a museum on the one hand and in a lively artists' community on the other hand. It is an honor and one of the most exciting and artistically interesting things I have ever done. It is quite a feeling, sitting on the carpet in the living room watching Jan's fantastic and overly creative short animation film on the big screen at night, sipping a glass of wine together with the other artists, maybe sitting in the same spot where Hanns Eisler discussed with Kurt Weill or where Bertholt Brecht argued with Heinrich Mann or Aldous Huxley, Arnold Schönberg, and Thomas Mann were deep in conversation on one evening in the past.