Public Art Rocks The Sunset Strip

I love it when Art is just there; you didn't plan to "see art" or visit a gallery or a museum. You just stumble upon it randomly.  This is exactly what happened on my most recent visit to Los Angeles.  I checked into my hotel, located on the famous Sunset Blvd.  In the lobby, and in the driveway are two pieces of public art on display.  They are large fiberglass guitars designed and painted by artists that are peppered all along Sunset Blvd.    The public art exhibit is called "Guitar Town" and features more than 25 ten foot tall fiberglass Gibson Les Paul model guitars. The artworks are placed all along the legendary Sunset Strip and are auctioned off for the benefit of charitable organizations. Here are just a few of the ones I saw on Sunset.

"The English Rocker" by artist Willard Snow.

"China Cat" by Willard Snow Inspired by Jerry Garcia.

Not too far from the Sunset Strip, just over the Hollywood Hills is Universal City Walk, located adjacent to Universal Studios Hollywood.  It was here that I took a photo of this even larger guitar that flanks The Hard Rock Cafe at Universal Studios.  I took a similar photo from just about the same angle here, only at the time the guitar was colored differently.  The giant guitar in front of the Hard Rock Cafe at Universal City Walk was updated to become a replica of Eddie Van Halen's "Frankenstrat" Guitar.  Here is my painting based on this photo/perspective as I saw it prior to the update.