That's soooo L.A.

My recent trip to sunny California was ostensibly to sit for hours in a tent stuffed with people getting advanced degrees from USC (one of whom was my very own daughter, lovingly referred to here as J1),

enduring the tedium of commencement speakers and endless lists of names, all for the joy of hearing my kid's name called, and celebrating with her afterward! (Bonus points if you can pick her out of this happy crowd.)

But the graduation itself was sandwiched by touristy stuff on either side, getting the tour with a guide as eclectic as there is at the helm.

LA has fine art (at the Huntington), from famous fops,

to drama queens,

to chicks that would stop conversation when they enter the room.

LA has street art,

street art (of another sort) with flowers,

just plain flowers (USC Rose Garden)

flower-less park-like green spaces (Forest Lawn cemetery),

with outdoor sculptures,

historic eating places,

also with outdoor sculpture (of another sort entirely),

tall iconic art deco buildings (City Hall - where J1 interns and where Law & Order, LA is filmed),

from the top of which you can see other tall buildings,

and from the base of which you can see the building you were just in.

It has ethnic neighborhoods (Little Tokyo),

with ethnic restaurants and food stores.

Speaking of restaurants, we had marvelous food selections, from grill-it-yourself Korean BBQ to Local's gourmet sustainable organics.

The last day there, I wanted to have lunch at a taco truck, since J1 talked about frequenting them. Now I was thinking street vendor, like a falafel cart in Manhattan. Nope. Wilshire Blvd is strictly gourmet. NPR recently ran a story about the gourmet food truck business in L.A. They weren't kidding. There was even a vegan truck. Figures, right?

Me, I went for the Korean Bool Gogi Cheesesteak. Kind of Korean-Philly fusion cooking, I figure. mmmmm...

Last stop was the La Brea Tar Pits (and accompanying museum). Smelly. Oily. Kinda like they took the Gulf Coast oil spill and set it on top of a methane gas fissure. Bubble, bubble, stinky trouble.

The problem with building a museum on an active geological feature like this is that it's, um.. active. The think they have it contained, but... it's inching. closer. all. the. time. :)

But since it is L.A., let me conclude our tour with something no less iconic than La Brea, but decidedly more classy and attractive: Santa Monica.








Right on the ocean, it is Southern California personified. Graceful walks through the park above the beach...

A very cool pedestrian mall (with a dinosaur sculpture covered in jasmine, that looks rather like an armadillo chia pet, spitting.)

Even the street performers have class here. This girl, Chelsea Williams, was terrific. Bought her two CDs because she sounds like a blend of Neko Case and Ingrid Michaelson.

Then of course there's the beach. And such a beach! Deeep, dead flat, clean, and the sand so smooth it looks groomed. Add Palisades Park (yes, THE..) on one end, and you have classic Cali.

And overlooking it all, beatifically, you have Santa Monica her very own self. The patron saint of beach volleyball.

Or something.