Ask anyone who isn't familiar with Los Angeles if it is a hilly place, and you might get something of a blank stare.
"Well, it isn't San Francisco," is one likely answer, and that's true enough. "Well, there are the Hollywood Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains," which is also true. But the person being quizzed rarely thinks there is any higher elevation going on outside of our city's famous ranges.
In short? To many we're a city of epic flats and the occasional canyon-laden range.
That's not totally true, of course, and one of the prominent examples sits just off Hollywood Boulevard: Barnsdall Art Park. It's the perfect little low-rise spot to take in a great swath of Los Feliz and Hollywood, and the perfect place for a famous architect to build a famous house.
This all makes the park's popular Friday night wine tastings during the summer a special thing indeed. The sipping is good -- local shop Silverlake Wines pours a quartet of handmade vinos -- and the Hollyhock House-adjacent hobnobbing is pleasant, too.
But the views are the icing here, especially given that this all goes down around sunset. There aren't many in-the-city elevated spots from which to sip and say profound things (that second bit is optional, but we totally would).
The wine tasting cost? Twenty five bucks. Does it sell out? Usually, so don't wait to decide to go just an hour ahead of time. End date for 2013? Friday, Aug. 30.
You? Your role is to enjoy the libations and the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house and the views from one of our city's only true stand-alone-y hills.
