Los Angeles Day One
The first thing to discover is that without a phone that receives email or a vehicle to drive in LA you are toast, unless that is you have friends. Luckily for me I have a great friend in Brenda, who despite not seeing me for ten years was happy to spend her last day in Los Angeles with me.
We visited Erewhon Health Foods store and after a stunning lunch of spinakopita and kale salad we took a moment to linger at the juice bar to catch up on the latest in snake oils..Ant Extract, Caterpillar fungus and Deer Antler extracts..as well as the usual suspects of Maca, Goji and Astragalus. We drank-ate our vanilla cookie dough health shake with all sorts of vitamins and other things in it while listening to the juice-a-gician spin forth his pearls of wisdom, or not, actually there was fresh water pearl extract available too. I wonder if any of the people who make or drink these concoctions in all seriousness realize just what they are doing. The processing of commercial fresh water pearls is a barbaric industry, and I can't see either the culling of Ant extracts or Deer Antler extract as being totally kosher, or Buddhist..everything in the shop was organic and natural, the juice bar was a corner of self-indulgent delusion that transgressed the boundaries of decency...Caterpillar fungus.
Next stop was to a friend of Brenda's in West Hollywood, the architecture in this area is delightful and the houses are on pretty little streets that look preserved.
After that it was of to an exquisite store called Lily, a shop that collects, sells and archives vintage couture. While Brenda, because she is slim and classy, perused the Chanel, Chloe and Dior I discreetly fondled the luscious Pucci originals, the Gautier bandeau's and the early Dolce and Gabbana's. The sales assistant, CJ, was a delight and regaled us with tales, no names, of the actresses who had donned the various frocks for awards nights..there was a divine green silk dress that Demi Moore had worn, she let that name slip .. CJ gave us lots to think about, she knew so much about the tinsel of the town and while we signed up for the web site we left the store without purchases as the price tags where somewhat extraordinary..the cheapest thing I found was $395, and that was a very brief pair of Gautier knickers. Vintage is gold...
Then after a spin about West Hollywood we headed back to the Chateau and its leafy greenery. The softer side of the afternoon was spent by the pool and then we took our table in the restaurant for dinner.The service was the same, so personal and enjoyable, the wise cracking and the compliments could I suppose eventually get tiring but it is hard to see when!
We ate Arincini with Wild Mushrooms and a leaf salad with anchovy and caper dressing, followed by a chevre and walnut cheescake which was almost as good as the one they serve at the Amankila...just not quite. Brenda left for the airport and I took a cab back up to Beachwood Canyon to watch the twinkling lights of the Los Angeles skyline, the half moon and the floating planes, which you can spot ten at a time, and enjoy the pine scented air of a cool Californian evening.
We visited Erewhon Health Foods store and after a stunning lunch of spinakopita and kale salad we took a moment to linger at the juice bar to catch up on the latest in snake oils..Ant Extract, Caterpillar fungus and Deer Antler extracts..as well as the usual suspects of Maca, Goji and Astragalus. We drank-ate our vanilla cookie dough health shake with all sorts of vitamins and other things in it while listening to the juice-a-gician spin forth his pearls of wisdom, or not, actually there was fresh water pearl extract available too. I wonder if any of the people who make or drink these concoctions in all seriousness realize just what they are doing. The processing of commercial fresh water pearls is a barbaric industry, and I can't see either the culling of Ant extracts or Deer Antler extract as being totally kosher, or Buddhist..everything in the shop was organic and natural, the juice bar was a corner of self-indulgent delusion that transgressed the boundaries of decency...Caterpillar fungus.
Next stop was to a friend of Brenda's in West Hollywood, the architecture in this area is delightful and the houses are on pretty little streets that look preserved.
After that it was of to an exquisite store called Lily, a shop that collects, sells and archives vintage couture. While Brenda, because she is slim and classy, perused the Chanel, Chloe and Dior I discreetly fondled the luscious Pucci originals, the Gautier bandeau's and the early Dolce and Gabbana's. The sales assistant, CJ, was a delight and regaled us with tales, no names, of the actresses who had donned the various frocks for awards nights..there was a divine green silk dress that Demi Moore had worn, she let that name slip .. CJ gave us lots to think about, she knew so much about the tinsel of the town and while we signed up for the web site we left the store without purchases as the price tags where somewhat extraordinary..the cheapest thing I found was $395, and that was a very brief pair of Gautier knickers. Vintage is gold...
Then after a spin about West Hollywood we headed back to the Chateau and its leafy greenery. The softer side of the afternoon was spent by the pool and then we took our table in the restaurant for dinner.The service was the same, so personal and enjoyable, the wise cracking and the compliments could I suppose eventually get tiring but it is hard to see when!
We ate Arincini with Wild Mushrooms and a leaf salad with anchovy and caper dressing, followed by a chevre and walnut cheescake which was almost as good as the one they serve at the Amankila...just not quite. Brenda left for the airport and I took a cab back up to Beachwood Canyon to watch the twinkling lights of the Los Angeles skyline, the half moon and the floating planes, which you can spot ten at a time, and enjoy the pine scented air of a cool Californian evening.
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