Los Angeles (Episode 3) (2 cents)

I am not really in Los Angeles; I am about 150 miles east in the desert, in Indian Wells. The strip of desert communities starts at Palm Springs, about twenty miles north of here, and runs to Indio, about ten miles south. The setting, with mountains on all sides, is beautiful. The urbanization is fairly glitzy, with an overabundance of golf courses, resort hotels, and restaurants, and a shortage of bookstores.

For those of you wondering whether two nights ago, I had dinner at Cicada or the Water Grill (you may remember I left you hanging), it was Cicada, an upscale restaurant recently opened on the cusp of fancy and dilapidated downtown L.A., in what was an old men's clothing shop. The cavernous insides have been restored very nicely, still showing the art deco work of the original, with gold leaf ceilings, herring bone wood patterns, and so forth. The food was very good.

The next morning, I drove to the desert, leaving about ten and getting here about two, with an intermediate stop in Riverside, where I walked around the church and Mission Inn (historic, historic, historic) and was surprised to see in this very populated area that the downtown area, with its colonial Spanish feel, is much as it was fifty years ago, with most of the buildings now populated by antique stores and the like. A surprisingly interesting area to walk around in, although I did not have enough time to do it justice. The local historical society has done a good job of putting up bronze placques commemorating this or that, including one on the old Fox Theater (now unused), which it says was actually the first place Gone With the Wind was shown to the public, and that it was, in those days, used often as a preview house.

The weather here has been on the cool side. I ate at another fancy restaurant last night, called something like Wally the Desert Turtle. I had Lake Superior whitefish, of all things, which tasted like it just came from the lake. Excellent.

I also went to a 'party' or 'reception' or 'function' yesterday evening at the house of a developer from Minnesota. It is in Rancho Mirage, and everyone but me thought it was the cat's meow. I hated it. It is desert stone, you enter into an open courtyard, with the house in front of you, a guest cabin to your left, and a swimming pool in an intricate design without any room to swim in in front of the guest house. You then enter a room which appears to be the kitchen, bar, living room (with a million inch flat screen tv) and dining room all in one. The walls are glass to the courtyard, and the stone is carried through to the walls and floor. The back wall is also glass and it opens up completely (like a pocket door) to open the house to the patio/deck, which also has living room furniture on it, since it doesn't rain here. That overlooks an artificial lake with other fancy houses. There is a master bedroom suite off the living room, with several bathrooms (each large enough to be a bedroom) a large walk in closet, a medium size bedroom and a sitting area. There are two other bedrooms.

There is also a lot of fire. There were three fire places, plus what looked to be a gas barbecue grill which is only for design (it is round and low, and there were chairs around it) and, weirdest of all, an elevated pool (like a twenty foot fish tank), which 3 gas jets in it, so you light the gas jets and the flames jump out of the water). I thought I was on Survivor.

Speaking of libraries, Rancho Mirage has opened a new one this month and, like so many I see, it is a spectacular building. Again, why can't Washington do it?

That's it for now. Stay tuned.