I have just returned from Surreal360: A Salvador Dalí Experience, which is now open in Miami. Opening night guests embarked a journey into the mind of Salvador Dalí, the Spanish surrealist artist world-renowned for his technical skill and precise draftsmanship. In addition to over 170 original artworks by Dalí, there is an immersion aspect similar to popular Van Gogh exhibits.

With the aid of technology, we enjoyed augmented reality experiences. By swiping our phones in front of selected work, animation brought his art to life while teaching the true story behind his works as we listened to a narration about Dalí’s artistic world. It is super cool, and a much better experience that envelops the world of Dalí.

I give this experience a thumbs-up to adult audiences. This multi-sensory experience will submerge you in the world of Dalí’s works in playful, imaginative ways that delight and inspire. In addition to original artworks by Salvador Dalí, Surreal360: A Salvador Dalí Experience includes a surreal painting room, where virtual reality headsets enable a potent and playful ride into impossible artistic realms, a multi-sensory sculptural experience, submerging visitors in the lights and sounds of Dalí’s surrealist world, and an augmented reality experience that brings the art to life and tells the true story behind the works of Dalí and his artistic world.

Revered as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, Salvador Dalí is known for his striking and dreamlike surrealist imagery, influenced by his admiration for Renaissance art. Dalí experimented with a wide range of artistic activities from the late 1930s until his death in 1989, including painting, sculpting, designing fabrics, perfume bottles, jewelry, photography and also performance arts, having collaborated with other contemporary powerhouses including Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock.

As I explored the immersive exhibit, the now-deceased artist’s old quote about his own immersion into his art style was particularly applicable.

“I am not a Surrealist; I am Surrealism. Surrealism is not a party or a label; it is a state of mind, unique, to each his own, that can be affected by no party line, taboo, or morality,” Salvador Dalí said. “It is the total freedom to be and the right to absolute dreaming.”

For more information about the Miami exhibit, visit https://surreal360.ticketplate.com/checkout/surreal-360-a-salvador-dali-experience-2202141005

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The Gateway Arch towers over the mighty Mississippi. Built in 1963, it is today the symbol of St. Louis. Blues music fills the night, and St. Louisans sit at sidewalk cafes in the historic Soulard neighborhood in front of tables of toasted ravioli, paper-thin square-cut pizza, and frosted mugs of Bud, the beer here that is still king.

Four hours west down the road, a fountain glistens in the Kansas City twilight. The city has 200 of them, more than any city outside of Rome. From the Blue Room, a club in the iconic 18th & Vine Historic Jazz District, a jazz quartet is warming up for their evening set, while the fragrance of hickory smoked barbecue is still in the air.

Greetings from the heart of the Heartland. Throw a dart at the dead center of a map of the Continental US and you will hit a highway in Missouri called I-70. This highway links two world-class cities, St. Louis and Kansas City, each situated on opposite ends of Missouri.

I am happy to report that many of the stereotypes that I had of the Midwest are true: the people are warm and hospitably; fiercely proud about their cities, but not pretentious about it. The food is good and the portions are huge. But this is only where the accolades begin. Linked by the 250-miles of pavement, the cities have much in common, but still are very different from one another, each offering their own unique charms.

• ST. LOUIS: THE MOST WESTERN CITY OF THE EAST
• POPULATION: 293,310
• MONIKERS: “Gateway to the West” | “Mound City”
• ICONIC SYMBOL: At 630 ft., The Gateway Arch is the nation’s tallest man-made monument, twice the size of the Statue of Liberty. Take the tram ride to the top for stunning views of downtown St. Louis and the muddy Mississippi.
• FAMOUS ST. LOUISANS: Chuck Berry, T. S. Eliot, William Burroughs, Miles Davis, Tennessee Williams, Yogi Berra.

BACK STORY: Located on the western banks of the Mississippi River, St. Louis’ first inhabitants were the Mississippians, Indian mound builders. As many as 40,000 people lived in what was then the largest city north of Mexico. By 1300 AD, the civilization mysteriously disappeared, and the French arrived in 1698, establishing a mission and a thriving trading port. The US flag was raised in 1803 when Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon I, making it part of his plan for a Continental United States. The 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair gave the city international recognition. It is known today for manufacturing, medicine, biotechnology, and other sciences.

THE VIBE: St. Louis is renowned for its historic neighborhoods of red brick and expansive parks. Like most eastern cities, it is a pedestrian town with a great transit system. Soulard is a former French neighborhood, lined with bars and pubs, while the chic Central West End offers sidewalk cafes, boutiques and antique stores. Forest Park, home of the World’s Fair, features 1,300 acres of lakes, walking paths and an array of free cultural institutions. The Hill is the Italian neighborhood, while the The Loop is the hot spot for concerts. For the adventurous, swing over to East Louis, and you’ll seed why its moniker is East Boogie.

CULTURAL ATTRACTIONS: Experience the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Missouri Botanical Gardens and the Saint Louis Zoological Park. See a stage show at the famous Fox Theater, tour the Anheuser-Busch Brewery and visit the Museum at the Gateways Arch for an indepth look at St. Louis’s role in United States history.

EATS: Thanks to the Hill, there’s toasted ravioli and St. Louis-style pizza, super-thin crusted, made with Provel process cheese often via Elmo’s Pizza. Other delights include Gooey Butter Cake and shoulder-cut St. Louis Pork Steak. With a large German population, beer has always been essential and Budweiser dominates the market, but micro-brews like Alpha Brewing Company and Side Project Brewing are gaining well-deserved attention.

BLUES: Due to its location the on banks of the Mississippi, St. Louis blues music is a tantalizing hybrid of Mississippi Delta and Chicago blues. The city boasts more working blues musicians than any other city in the world.

• KANSAS CITY: THE MOST EASTERN CITY OF THE WEST
• POPULATION: 508,394.
• MONIKERS: “The Fountain City” | “Paris on the Plains”
• ICONIC SYMBOL: With respect to the 200 fountains, the National World War I Museum gets my vote. It is the only national museum in the US dedicated to The Great War, and an experience that will touch your soul.
• NOTABLE KANSAS CITIANS: Charlie Parker, Robert Altman, Joan Crawford, Walter Cronkite, Wallace Beery, Walt Disney.

BACK STORY: Originally a homestead settlement, Kansas City is located at the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers. It became an important site for America’s westward expansion, with the Santa Fe, California and Oregon Trails all originating in the area. The location of a number of Civil War battles, Kansas City was incorporated in its present form in 1850. It gained national attention when the stockyards were established in 1871, the second largest in the country. This is where Kansas Citian’s love affair with beef began, and it became acclaimed for its barbecue. Today Kansas City is headquarters to nine Fortune 500 companies and numerous agriculture companies.

THE VIBE: Kansas City is distinguished for its spacious boulevards, numerous parks and over 200 fountains. This is a western-style town and a car is required to get around. Designed in 1922, The Country Club Plaza is 14-square-block outdoor shopping and entertainment district with Spanish-Moorish architecture. The 18th & Vine Historic Jazz District is a swinging hot spot and the place to learn about Kansas City jazz. The Crossroads Arts District is a growing arts community, while the downtown River Market features the Midwest’s largest farmer’s market.

CULTURAL ATTRACTIONS: Visit the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the architectural wonder, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. The American Jazz Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum both share the same building, and the Arabia Steamboat Museum is located in the River Market.

EATS: Barbecue is synonymous with Kansas City and today over 100 establishments feature hickory or pecan smoked ribs, brisket and burnt-end ribs. Each restaurant seems to offer its own secret sauce. Other delicacies include Kansas City Strip Steak and Chicken Spiedini. For beer you can do little better than the micro-brews, Casual Animal Brewing Company and Torn Label Brewing.

JAZZ: Kansas City became celebrated for its jazz clubs when political boss Tom Pendergrast ignored prohibition and allowed alcohol to flow into the 12th District. Displaced musicians poured in just as fast, inventing swing jazz and new late-night sensation called the jam session.

For further information, visit Explore St. Louis and Visit KC.

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I’ve been going to Griffith Park in Los Angeles my whole life. From its world famous Zoo and Observatory, to hiking trails, parks and picnic areas, and the legendary Greek Theater, the place is a wonderland of outdoor activities. The family and I recently visited Griffith Park to experience a couple more of its attractions: the historic Merry-Go-Round and the miniature train ride. 

Our getaway began when we exited the 5 Freeway near Glendale and entered the 4,200-acre park. Once inside we meandered through winding, hilly roads looking for our destination. A couple miles in, we found our parking lot and followed the sounds of old waltz music to the captivating carousel, spinning beneath a large blue and white roof reminiscent of an old circus tent.

Built in 1926 by the Spillman Engineering Company and brought to Griffith Park in 1937, the merry-go-round boasts 68 horses. Each horse is finely carved with jewel-encrusted bridles, detailed draped blankets and decorated with sunflowers and lion heads. A Stinson 165 Military Band Organ, reputed to be the largest band organ accompanying a carousel on the West Coast, plays over 1500 selections of marches and waltz music.

The roughly 4-minute merry-go-round ride is a fun and memorable ride back in time to the days before modern theme parks and roller coasters. Rumor has it that the carousel gave Walt Disney inspiration to create Disneyland, after frequenting it with his kids in the early 1950s. 

To ride, we bought a couple of $2 tickets at the old ticket booth and then stepped onto the historic platform to search for a horse to saddle-up. We quickly found one – a beautiful brown, wooden stallion, with intricate carvings and blue, yellow and red jewels inlaid. Like all 68 of the spinning horses, ours bobbed up and down while the carousel spun around and blasted carnival music. 

Besides the horses, the merry-go-round also offers bench seats for people who want to sit and watch their kids ride. But for smaller kids it is better for parents to stand next to them and help them hold on because the ride does spin fast and things could get scary. 

After riding wooden horses we drove to the Griffith Park & Southern Railroad, a miniature train that has served the public in Griffith Park since 1948. Youngsters of all ages enjoy the experience of riding the Freedom Train or the Colonel Griffith. The railroad was also featured in the classic Steve Martin movie, “The Jerk,” where Martin briefly worked as the train conductor. 

The Griffith Park Southern Railroad meanders more than a mile, taking riders past pony rides, a lush green meadow, an old Western town, and a Native American village. The choo choo also goes under several bridges, including a 60-ft-long wood and steel box girder bridge through thick vegetation, through an 80-foot-long tunnel, and past several attractions, and at times offers views of the 5 Freeway and other sections of Griffith Park. On our ride we even saw a large coyote walking through the brush. 

The miniature railroad trains are 1/4th and 1/3rd scale models of actual locomotives and the passenger cars carry nearly 500,000 passengers each year. Weather permitting, it operates 364 days a year, closing on Christmas Day only. The Griffith Park & Southern track is about one mile long. 

During the Christmas season, the track is lined with snow-covered decorations featuring Santa Claus and his village, Christmas trees, elves, reindeer and more. The ride starts and begins next to the Griffith Park Pony rides, which I plan to experience on my next visit. After riding the train, we bought snow cones at a concession stand next to the railroad. 

After riding the rails, we explored some more of Griffith Park. With over 4,210 acres of both natural chaparral-covered terrain and landscaped parkland and picnic areas, Griffith Park is one of the largest municipal parks with urban wilderness areas in the United States. Situated in the eastern Santa Monica Mountain range, the Park’s elevations range from 384 to 1,625 feet above sea level. 

With an arid climate, the park’s plant communities vary from coastal sage scrub, oak and walnut woodlands to riparian vegetation with trees in the Park’s deep canyons. The California native plants represented in Griffith Park include California species of oak, walnut, lilac, mountain mahogany, sages, toyon, and sumac. There are also small quantities of threatened species of manzanita and berberis.

The Griffith Park & Southern Railroad is located at 4400 Crystal Springs Drive (Near Los Feliz & Riverside) Los Angeles, CA 90027. For more information on current hours and prices, call 323 664-6903. The Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round is located at 4730 Crystal Springs Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90027. For more information on the Merry-Go-Round, the railroad and Griffith Park in general, visit: www.laparks.org/griffithpark/

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PART 2:

Why do you like directing?

Tim:  When I’m directing I can’t think about anything else.  I find it a relief to be completely occupied with one thing because then I can’t think about myself.  It’s fun.  It’s the most stimulating, challenging, exciting thing.  I’m so blessed that I get the opportunity to direct from time to time. 

How did working at the Disney studio influence your filmmaking? 

Tim:  I got a chance to work in the animation department as a young person, which had a big effect on me.  What you learn from that is how to tell stories without words.  It’s always better to tell a story without words if you possibly can.  It’s like writing without adjectives.  You have to really distill the story to its essence, always striving to create a scene where nobody sells anything. 

Getting back to the film for a moment.  It’s kind of a cliffhanger.  Are we going to get “ William” 2?

Tim:  Spoiler alert.  I have no comment.  (Laughs)That said, now that I’ve finished this film, I really want to make another one.  I’ve been re-infected.  (Laughs)

You chose to be an independent filmmaker.  Why no studios?

Tim:  I’m not saying I would never work with a studio, it just has never worked out that way.  Also, I’ve always pursued other businesses and so I never made a full-time profession out of moving making. Maybe I should have or maybe I never could have.  I don’t really know.  It’s just how it’s worked out.  It takes a couple of years to make a movie so you have to make sure it’s something you really feel strongly about.  The last seven or eight years I focused a huge amount of my time working on arts and arts education programs. It been very rewarding and I’ve met some wonderful people along the way.

The name Disney.  What’s the upside and what’s the downside?

Tim:  It’s such a global brand name.  It’s one of the most recognizable names on earth.  It would be like being name Tim Coca Cola.  I got to be exposed to amazing things and got to meet really interesting people and I’m grateful for all of that.  I guess the negative is not being anonymous.  I can’t use my credit card without someone asking me about what’s it like being a Disney.  That’s a little intrusive at times.  I respect that people are interested. Most of the feedback I get is positive.  People share their memories about movies they saw or trips to Disneyland. I do my best to honor that for them.  I would never say “quit bugging me. I don’t care about your happy memories.”  That would be rude.  My dad said to me one time that you have a name you can be proud of rather than to be ashamed of.

What was like growing up as a young Disney?

Tim:  Like any kid, you just live in the world that you were born into. It was normal to me.  The Disney family were mid-western people.  My grandfather Roy and his brother Walt were essentially covered wagon people.  Roy died when I was very young, but I have very early childhood but hazy memories of him.   My grandparents were big figures in our lives.  They were straightforward, direct, honest, loving, kind, decent, people.  I still run into people these many years later who knew them or interacted with them and speak so highly of my grandparents. That’s a beautiful legacy. 

How is the Disney brand different from the days when it was family-owned and run?

Tim:  Disney now is an enormous corporation.  Walt could never have imagined what it would become.  It is no longer a family company.  I have the name and I think that entitles me to a cranky opinion and nothing else.  In terms of shareholders, it’s widely held and is too big for any individual to have complete control.  I have immense respect for Bob Eiger and the job he’s done running the company.  He’s a good person and he understands the importance of maintaining the brand as a trusted name that stands for something real and trustworthy.

What about your personal life?  Do you have time to date or are you in a relationship?

Tim: I’m a single dad.  I have three kids – 23,18 and 7.  Two of them are boys and I know about boys.  And, I have a little girl.  They split their time between me and their fantastic mom.  My daughter has really changed my life.  Having a kid later in life is really a good thing.  Sometimes I see my contemporaries who are able to travel.  I can’t really do that.  What would I do if I had more time?  Surf the internet?  There isn’t anything I’d rather do with my time than to be with my daughter.  I’m old enough now to savor her more and I’m more patient than I used to be.  In the past, putting kids to bed was like being taken hostage.  My older one wouldn’t let me leave the bed until he was asleep and would feel me if I tried to get up.  Now, as long as it takes for her to fall asleep is all good.  When I was younger, I was in a hurry.  Not now.

It’s been delightful getting to know you.  The best of luck with your film and of course you role as dad.  

Tim: Thank you.

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