White Baby Grand Piano

Baby Grand Piano - Beverly Hills, CA 2010.

Have you ever had a landmark on a road trip that marks how close you are to your destination ? Perhaps it is something as big as the Disneyland Matterhorn off in the distance of the Golden State Freeway or the big cats painted in the storm drains of the LA River that marks how close to the LA Zoo you are, or the rows of windmills on the way to Palm Springs. For about 17 years now, on the way to visit family in the big metropolis of the west side, I have traveled down Olympic Blvd. Around the 9600 block of Olympic on the south side, a fantastic white baby grand piano in the window of a second story 1920’s era apartment complex has been the 5 minute mark to reach my destination. So unique is this piano, that the details of the apartment complex have never come into view. A couple of months ago I was making my weekly trip to the west side , when much to my disappointment that piano was gone from the window. At first as I drove by I thought perhaps I somehow was focusing on the wrong apartment complex or perhaps the owners had moved the piano for the holidays. After a couple of months now, the piano is gone. An icon off in distance much like the Griffith Observatory is no longer there to mark my trip. Perhaps the owners moved, passed away and that white baby grand piano has changed hands to a new living room, placed in front of a new large window somewhere for a whole new generation of travelers to enjoy.