Southern California: In & Out

I made this- my inaugural business trip (AC didn't REALLY count- no one does a business trip by bus-OK, I did but I can be eccentric) with my boss. Nice to find out in 4 intensive days he is a nice guy- 800 plus miles in the car armed only with a non-driver and a malfunctioning GPS can test the strongest of relationships. He really is a nice guy- didn't even yell when for the nine- millionth time I neglected to mention an upcoming exit (on Exit 91 I had a REAL excuse- I snapped my pinky nail ALL the way down while poking the non-functioning GPS just as the exit passed...owie. I was really proud- I didn't even whimper.)

I had never been to Southern California and I always thought I agreed with Gertrude Stein's quote "There's no there, there." Sadly I just found out- she was talking about Oakland. I quite liked Oakland when I visited. This trip took in San Diego, Palm Desert, Glendale, Costa Mesa, Century City/Los Angeles and my own side trip to Laguna Beach. That's a lot of miles. A couple of friends asked if I would be visiting Disneyland- Close, very close.



The penultimate cheeseburger- and at the In and Out this trio is known as the Number One. For me it was actually Number Two- as Number One was the Carl's Famous was my first southern California Burger- the burger stops were driver's choice... unfortunately on my 2-legged trip back home dinner was- yet another cheeseburger. To think it was once my favorite food. The burger at In and Out was far superior to Carl's but I did notice- and this is a SINCERE compliment- the burgers in southernCalifornia all seem to have really good lettuce on them... This does not count the burger I had enroute from Houston to Newark which had no lettuce at all. That particular sandwich...well lets just say I wished I had a clairvoyant to lay hands on it and ask it if in life it mooed. Species indeterminate- I gave it a miss and ate the mini Milky Way.



Fountain at Javier's

We ate dinner at a place called Javier's in Irvine. It was esconsced in a maze that would have made the Shining's Overlook maze look like a Girl Scout badge project. I was determined not to head back to the hotel without finding Javier's as the restaurant most convenient to our hotel was... Carl's Junior. I don't know how many cheeseburgers I CAN eat in a day but I KNEW how many I willing to- and one was IT for the day. We found Javier's and the lobster enchiladas were quite tasty.



Rodeo Drive



Parka, Legwarmers and Sandals at Pinkberry, LA. It was 85 degrees. Boss says he doesn't "get" the leg warmers- I ask- "but the parka you understand?" LA style continues to mystify me.



The exterior of the Prada store (which has NO sign SAYING it is Prada-you just know or you don't) I momentarily get locked in as they close the storefront by raising something that looks like the blast shields from Star Wars and toyed with the idea of playing all night in the ultra-expensive shoe section sighing repeatedly- "No, no Gunther- I couldn't let you buy me ONE more thing..." The security guard awakened me from my reverie- "The door's over THERE Miss." Oh well. Another time Gunther.



Morning in Glendale and an egg white breakfast with birds for company.


We spent a great deal of time in and out of very high end shopping areas. The same stores surface time and again- a Williams Sonoma, Bang and Olufsen, Art of Shaving... It all sort of blurred and even though I saw lots of interesting things- the hills and mountains of the Palm Desert, the Pacific Ocean off Laguna Beachand running through the night surf with my friend K-( thanks for that- I really had fun looking for aliens with you). The red, green, yellow and blue buses in LA- (they looked like M&M's- one reliable source in Costa Mesa said the local nickname for the bus in Southern California is the "Loser Cruiser") The view could be somewhat sterile and commercial- until you see that there was at least one shopping center planner who said- Lets do something a bit...more.

These gorgeous huge bells grace the side of the Westfield Topanga Shopping Center soaring over 3 stories up. I could not help but look at the bottom of them and think....



What Knockers.

A little postscript- I said in the John Wayne entry that there was an interesting...side benefit to my little airline detour through Houston- on the plane I sat next to a beautiful woman named Mannix Delfino- her job- she designs and makes religious vestiments for the church- hand tailored and embroidered religious clothing. She was on her way to Tyler Texas to measure a graduating class of 40 deacons. Her company website is www.chagalldesigns.com. She enlightened me about an aspect of K and my trip to Laguna Beach that I missed- K and I spent a not insubstantial amount of time looking for a parking space ("Who thought so many people would want to eat OUT on a Wednesday night?" asked K. "Well, it's ALMOST Friday..." I offered- OK I dont have the same "school night" attitude most folks do- every day is almost Friday to me) Anyway- there were several metered spots but as I had given my boss all my quarters for the meter on Rodeo Drive I was fresh out- K had none either- so round and round we went until we found a parking lot with a change machine. As K walked up to the change machine a little man in a tweed jacket and a little hat with a feather came out of the public restroom (he had pants on too-I just didnt notice them) "You don't need to put any quarters in after seven" he said in a friendly yet authoritative manner. At the time I thought- People in California are so HELPFUL! Mannix cleared this up a bit for me- She lives in Laguna Beach- "Ohhh she said- you met "The Greeter". The Greeter it seems is a Laguna Beach institution who sits at the entrance to the park that leads to the beach K and I spent a happy couple of hours on after dinner, greeting people and earning his living by dispensing friendly information. See- I HAD to miss my plane- or I would have never known. :)X

:)X