Long and Linky. That's Los Angeles for ya.

Okay, so leaving Los Angeles was really hard. However, staying there was really expensive. I felt like I was back home for a second when I got to my car and found a $70 parking ticket on it. Woo! That’s money well spent. When I saw that, I just turned on my heel and kept up my shopping spree in Beverly Hills. Yeah, so $70 turned into $300. Well played, LA. Well played.
Los Angeles was a lot of fun. I can’t remember what I have already told you, so if I am repeating myself, please forgive me. I am currently in Yuma, Arizona at a Mazda dealership getting a wickedly overdue oil change in the Gray Steed. The mechanics are all at lunch so, as usual, my timing is impeccable.

I am headed to see my friend Clussy in Austin and I cannot wait. I told her I would be there on Sunday and I really hope that’s true. I do have 1100 miles to cover in that time and there is the whole matter of finding out whether or not there is a basement in the Alamo. (I guess I missed that part in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure – please don’t ruin it for me).

I think the last time we spoke, I told you about seeing the taping for “’Til Death”. On Saturday, Cary and I went to Runyan Canyon and hiked about.

I was, of course, wearing the flip flops. The view there is remarkable and as we stood on the peak, the sun set and we could see all the lights of the city. The smog was lovely, too. Then Cary and I went and had dinner at Chateau Marmont. The food there is good! I had pickled vegetables, which is unusual but really yummy. Our waitress was utterly adorable and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing her in the films before too long.

I planned to leave LA on Sunday and after having the most delicious scone ever at the Newsroom Café, I drove into the biggest traffic nightmare of my last 5 days. I was meeting my friend Michael in Marina Del Ray. I finally found a space to park in and Mike and I met for the first time since he and I went to a play together in DC in 1997. (A play in which his friend was starring and had nudity of which he did not warn me. Sitting that close to the stage made for a rather shocking experience. I am apparently still not over it). Seeing Mike was soooo much fun and it is wild to me that so much time can pass and some friendships just have something that holds strong. His wife is a writer on the new Jay Mohr show and after finagling tickets to see it, I opted to stay in LA for a couple of more days. We parted, he to get a manicure (such a girl) and I headed to Manhattan Beach where I got to chase waves with my new friend Ellen’s 2 little girls.
I checked back into my hotel which is in Korea-town, not Chinatown as I had originally thought. I met Cary at the Saddle Ranch, where we befriended two lovelies. Saddle Ranch is hysterical. There is a bull on which you may ride. One girl, wearing a dress, had to hold on to her talent because it was threatening to bust free. (See what I did there? Bust? Haha). The controller of the bull did all he could to titillate (Again! I am on fire) the men in the crowd. After a few beverages and plenty of cajoling from my table, I was somehow convinced to ride the bull. I am smart enough to address the bull controller so that I was not a skanky cowgirl. See? Saucy! Thanks, Casey.

On Monday, I went to Beverly Hillsand bought a couple of magazines to read. Psychology Today, Vanity Fair and In Touch. (I like to see the celeb's kids. I know it’s weird, and I hate how exploited they are, but aw, they are so cute!!). I sat down and had veggie juice and Gazpacho at Urth Coffee. (I am so very Hollywood! Are you curious which magazine I read?*). Afterwards I went to a nail salon and had my wretchedly hideous feet attended to. The woman who was dealing with my feet had an interesting story. When she first came to the States from Mexico, she could speak barely any English. She had to go to immigration a lot, which was next to a medical school. She thought that she’d be a good nurse, but the lack of English was a huge barrier. She busted her tail and became a nurse. (Her actually story was a lot more detailed and interesting. I swear). In any case, she was an interesting woman who seemed to never let anything get in her way and I was really impressed an inspired by her. And my scandalous feet were preeeeettttttyyyyy again.

After my pedicure is when I looked at my car and figured that the ticket is already there, so I might as well go find some cute LA type stuff. I bought a cute top and I highly recommend a store called Crème on Charleville Blvd in Beverly Hills. The items range from cheap ($9 for silver earrings - which I did buy) to pricey ($295 for a hand bedazzled IPhone case - which I did not buy). The owner is adorable and helpful and super sweet. I would shop at her store every day.

Afterwards I met with Cary to go to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. We saw the X-Files movie there. Traffic was bad (can you believe it? In LA? I hear you saying that’s implausible). We missed the first 10 minutes. That was a dumb movie. It was not even an X-File. And at the end, if you stay through the credits, Scully and Mulder are in a row boat with the camera directly about them, and they look up at us and wave goodbye. What the..? That movie was dumb. I hear that it was written quickly before the Writer’s Strike so they could get it filmed quickly, and that’s why it sucks, but why waste time making a beyond sub-par film just to make it? I mean, I know I got through college writing papers that way, but this is professional. PROFESSIONAL!!! I did find Julie Andrews' star on Hollywood Blvd, though. That soothed the burn a little.

We left Grauman’s to drown our sorrow and confusion in cholesterol at In-N-Out Burger on Sunset. I have been told that this is the greatest burger ever and while, yes, it was good, I would not say great. The fries were not that interesting. I am no expert on fast food, and so I guess in the realm of the fast food burger world, it was pretty good. I left Cary at the burger joint and headed to the Cat and the Fiddle to meet Mike for some beers. We had a blast laughing about our high school days (he was two years under me).

On Tuesday, I finally took it upon myself to experience Korea Town. I needed new face cream, so I found a beauty supply store in which I was introduced to a Korean cosmetic line and now am somehow the proud owner of. I have never heard of this line, but the girls inside swore by it and so I am going to trust them. I have gone from Shiseido (Japanese), Clarins (French) to Ossion (Korean) in a year. They gave me a ton of free goodies and so I loved them even more. They tried to give me a suitcase as a special bonus, but where am I going to put that? So I said no thanks and got a bunch of free samples instead. Woo.

I called Cary and we met at the Studio where “Gary Unmarried” is being filmed. We went to an art studio in Studio City whose curator is Angela Cartwright, of “Lost in Space” and more importantly (at least to me) “The Sound of Music”. We were welcomed by Mardjie who allowed us to view all the work while telling of its’ history and that of the artist’s. The work is B&W photography which they print there from the negative. I cannot wait to finally repaint my place and get to pick out some works. I really loved Angela Cartwright’s mission photos and there were some great old Hollywood prints of Groucho Marx as an old man, and the like.

We got to the studio to watch the taping of the new CBS show. A woman, whose child was an actress, was there in line with us. She kept pulling out her kids headshot and she somehow managed to get herself into the VIP line. (And then into the front row! Well done). She seemed like she wanted to somehow pass off the headshot to someone on the set, but I think she was shuffled out before she had the opportunity. She should have just dropped it onto the floor. Maybe someone would have found it and thought "Jinkies! This is the girl we have searched for and now she will be a huge star and she and her mother will not have to fly all the way back to South Dakota and start another boring year of being a second grader and a mother to a second grader". Props for being aggressive.

The show was great. The cast were consummate professionals, capable of taking any scene back to whichever line the director asked for. They were also a ton of fun and filled with energy. Paula Marshall is sooo pretty in person. Skinny as a rail. Geez. Of course, the script was the best part.
After we left, we went to the Brass Monkey where people of all shapes and sizes could brutalize sing their favorite karaoke songs. Jonah Hill was there and sang Waterfalls with his buddies. I managed to stay off the stage.

On Tuesday morning, I met Cary for the last brunch at the Newsroom Cafe again. I had oatmeal for yum's sake!

Afterwards I drove up to the Hollywood sign and then my time in LA was over.


* I read Vanity Fair