California, Here We Come
2023 Annual Meeting • May 17–21 • Los Angeles, CA
The sun. The stars. The seafood. And in the spotlight … the special collections. The Manuscript Society’s 2023 annual meeting takes us to the West Coast for five days in Southern California. Our tour goes from Hollywood to the Huntington, museums to mausoleum, with stops at three universities and plans for one magical evening. Let us set the scene as currently envisioned.
Opening Night and Event Highlights
Outside USC’s Doheny Memorial Library. Photo by Robert Hopper.
Our meeting opens on Wednesday with a welcome reception at our home base, Kimpton Hotel Palomar Los Angeles Beverly Hills. Come for the hors d’oeuvres and libations; stay for the fun auction. Bring your checkbook—and your eye for a prize you can add to your collection while you support the Manuscript Society.
Thursday morning we’re off to the University of Southern California’s Doheny Memorial Library. Special collections curators will take us on guided tours in small groups so we can see the highlights up close. Next is the University of California, Los Angeles. We’ll lunch al fresco near the UCLA campus and, thus fortified, take in Young Research Library’s Special Collections along with its Center for Primary Research and Training. On Thursday evening, we have the big reveal: a special show and dinner at the Magic Castle, clubhouse of the Academy of Magical Arts. Business attire is encouraged; people-watching may be a show by itself.
Friday starts with our annual business meeting over breakfast at our host hotel. Once we’ve taken care of business, we’ll board the bus for the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn–Glendale. This is where bygone stars came to rest, and the luminaries on the grounds are too many to mention. But the stars of our tour are the art installations, headlined by The Last Supper, a stained-glass recreation of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece. Another exhibit awaits at the Caltech faculty club, the Athenaeum, this one on Nobel Prize laureates. After lunch at the club (separate checks), we’ll head for the Huntington Library. Longtime Manuscript Society trustee L. Dennis Shapiro gave the Huntington a collection focused on American presidential administrations. We’ll see selections then break into small groups to explore more.
Saturday takes us to the Getty Center, with so much to see and do. Enjoy lunch on your own at the Getty’s Cafe, then regroup for our guided tour of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. We’ll have time to roam before we return to our hotel for our closing dinner and discussion. Panelists will talk about provenance, replevin, archives, auctions—subjects of close focus for our society.
Oceanside Daytrip Sunday offers an add-on daytrip to the Los Angeles Harbor area. Plans call for a visit to the Terminal Island Japanese Memorial, lunch at a special seafood restaurant, and a guided tour of the newly renovated Los Angeles Maritime Museum in the old Port of Los Angeles ferry terminal. The day caps off with a visit to historic Point Fermin lighthouse and a stop at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wayfarers Chapel. Then it’s a quick nosh at Terranea resort, site of the former Marineland oceanarium, and back to the hotel for our final farewells.
Host Hotel Kimpton Hotel Palomar Los Angeles Beverly Hills is on Wilshire Boulevard, close to the UCLA campus and central to cultural sites and dining. Book early to get in on our block of rooms at a special rate of $269 a night plus tax.