Party Pictures

So, the Getty Museum hosted the gala kick-off for "Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A.: Painting and Sculpture from 1950 to 1970" last night, Oct. 3, 2011. Must have been over 1,000 people crowded onto the Getty plaza. Felt like it, anyway. Everyone was told to be there by 7:30 pm for the "reveal," which turned out to be a pretty spectacular laser light show on the cultural history of Los Angeles from the 1940s to the '80s, with old photos and art, accompanied by period music, projected onto the sides of the Getty Museum!

The laser light show was done by Ben Bourgeois, a major event planner. The slideshow was narrated by a "big voice" just like the one that guides you through Disneyland. Metropolitan Museum director Thomas Campbell was there, looking a little stunned. Another attraction was the themed food stands from each era: deviled eggs from the '40s, hamburgers from the '50s. I went straight for the '80s, a prosperous decade, where they served smoked salmon with caviar and Wolfgang Puck's pecan tarts.

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