LA Daze, Silver Lake Knights.

This trip was for the wedding in Long Beach, but when I am out in this part of the world for the first time since I left it, I had to make plans to visit my old neighbor ( I say old as in we are no longer neighbors) and dear friend, Marian. (He IS turning 80 next month! I cannot believe it. Such vitality he has!) I managed to get my flight to New York out of Burbank so it all worked out.

Being a one year vet of public transport, I was excited to ride the rails in Los Angeles. Teresa dropped me off in some part of Southern California where they drop bodies and I took the green line to the blue line to the red line only to surface mole-like at Vermont and Sunset in bright sunshine. Marian picked me up. It was an instant lovefest to see each other after a year. He has been a dear friend for over 13 years and has been there for all my "stuff." He even drove me to the hospital when my appendix burst and gangrene set in and I was left of die on a gurney. I didn't, so he visited me every day. You don't forget that stuff.



Of course, I always have a vision, and why catch up in the living room when you can walk and talk "60 Minutes"-style at the new Americana in Glendale? (This was painful as I was a stone's throw from Adam and Martine's and really had no time to see them. I really need a proper SoCal visit sometime soon. ) I editorially digress... So I had seen all these businesses levelled to build this multi-purpose Euro wonderland of residential above retail "lifestyle" living, but I left before it took shape. "Lifestyle" always sounds like whatever it refers to was created in a test tube. Scary. And it applied here. Dancing water fountains like its older brother, The Grove, and upscale shops that no one can afford any longer. A virtual Stepfordian walkabout.

We left and ate in a coffee shop back in the real world.

My meal for Teresa. It was the carne asada breakfast special at Foxy's.

I decided backdrop #2 would be The Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I wanted to see the new modern wing. It was really lovely. LACMA is the Frankenstein of major museums architecturally. None of its ad-ons really fit with the others, but maybe that is indicative of Los Angeles itself. (Now that I only longer live there, I have to say that in a good, loving way or I sound like an a-hole.) I loved the collection and the street lamps and I had a major star-sighting. That burly guy from ER and Men In Trees, Abraham Benrubi. I broke my cardinal rule of talking to people on screens. Mistake. "Gee, I really miss your show on the air." How lame is that? And he gave me the appropriate courtesy smile and snort that made me want to crawl in alongside Damian Hirst's "Seep in Formaldehyde" nearby. I have to admit this for journalistic full-disclosure, but I think I always had an odd crush on him.

LACMA Lamps

We got back to the house only to see my old neighbor Mary and her son Nico (who I am supposed to see in New York one of days since he part time lives there for his work) sitting outside chatting. It was magical, like Snoopy-and-Woodstock-reuniting-at-the-puppy-farm magical and then Sean, who now manages the apartments I used to live in, drove up and it was a total lovefest for us all. Sean showed me my old place. It was completely done up so well. All the ratty cabinets were out and new floors put in. It was amazing. I am sure the rent is too!

Mary, Nico, Pat, Marian unmistakeably in LA!

Such a night on the hill that I spent my life in LA living on and dreaming...