Readers React: Revisiting the joys of going solo at Disneyland

Alone in Disneyland, but not lonely

I enjoyed Todd Martens piece about going single to Disneyland [“A solo rider does Disneyland, July 5]. As a person who often goes alone getting lines like “You’re alone, what’s your story?” from a line attendant or “Single rider, really? I’m sorry” from the woman in line next to me, I understand your perspective.

Hopefully going single won’t be looked at as negative or needing pity in the future as much as it seems to be now. The great thing about getting older is that I care less about how other people view or judge me. Thanks for getting the story out there.

Jon Peters

Goleta

I have found that if you wait to do things with people your experiences will be shortlisted considerably. As more people realize the shortness of life and the stigma of singledom is reduced, we can just let go and enjoy things in any given moment. Singles are gaining in numbers every day, and Disney should begin to appeal more to that demographic.

Maybe a singles day. Or a singles club for doing things as a group (which makes you no longer a single, I guess).

Peter Eisley

Sherman Oaks

Bias against Grateful Dead

Greg Kot’s review of the Grateful Dead’s historic 50th-anniversary concert in Chicago was a disservice to readers [“Grateful Dead Can R.I.P.,” July 6]. All one has to do to see this is to look at one of the first and most telling observations in his piece, that “this couldn’t be the Grateful Dead anymore, no matter what the ticket stub says. Instead, this was — at best — a Grateful Dead tribute show.”

Going in with such a strong predisposition to dislike these shows should have immediately disqualified him from writing a review.

If Kot had come to the shows without a bias, he would have seen and felt what all of us who were lucky enough to be there felt, that these were among the most special, love-filled, emotionally connective and musically transcendent shows any of us had ever witnessed. It’s just too bad he couldn’t have been there to enjoy it!

Steve Leon

Playa del Rey

Reader ‘raging’ against review

Randall Roberts’ review of Neil Young’s “The Monsanto Years” is headlined “Aged Sage Raging Against the World” [July 1]. After reluctantly conceding that Neil’s music has “noble intentions,” he uses snide, disparaging, condescending language to deprecate Neil and completely ignore the urgency of the content.

Paul Robeson said, “Artists are the radical voice of civilization.” Neil Young is an artist.

Haskell Wexler

Santa Monica

Film critic’s baffling choices

Thanks for warning me off of Richard Schickel’s new book [“Lifelong Critic Picks Top Flicks,” July 5]. It’s hard to fathom how he could think that movies like “Schindler’s List,” “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” were “neither politically relevant nor socially significant.”

David Salahi

Laguna Niguel

Filling in blanks of exhibition

The story “Pictures That Pop” [July 5], featuring Richard Duardo’s art at the McNay Museum in San Antonio, left me puzzled. How could a Texas museum be so fortunate to have Duardo’s many pieces while Southern California museums have so few? Fortunately I learned from the San Antonio Express News that the McNay had received the entire exhibition, plus 30 more Duardo works, from collectors Ricardo and Harriett Romo.

Ricardo Romo had been Duardo’s teacher at Franklin High School in Highland Park. Your article failed to mention that the Romos, longtime collectors of Latino art, made the exhibition possible. Museums generally purchase very few art pieces. They depend on the generosity of art collectors who donate works. The story of how Duardo’s art got to Texas is a good one that, sadly, most readers will never know.

Bonnie Quinton

Oxnard

There was soul, sparks and more

The review of Smokey Robinson’s performance with the L.A. Philharmonic would make you not want to even attend [“There’s Soul but No Sparks,” July 4]. I attended this show and the L.A. Philharmonic was very entertaining and then came Smokey. Yes, he has aged, but his voice was crisp and great for an old guy. He was funny, maybe a bit corny, but that is what one would expect with a seasoned entertainer.

My husband and I never knew how many songs he had composed for others and he performed those great. The final fireworks with music was a great way to celebrate our nation’s birthday!

Peggy Campbell

Ontario