Bearing in mind that I did not live in the heart of the illustrious City of Angels (I instead lived in a suburb near the coast) I am constantly stunned by the discoveries I have made and continue to make each time I visit this place. This is no dull place; there’s always something to be seen even if you insist you’ve seen it all.
Last Monday I headed to Topanga Canyon, where two of my very best friends from San Francisco, Chelsea and Kerry, have been living for the last year. There is something so great about friends from other places moving to your old stomping grounds – they explore and are open to this place you “know” in a totally different way. I also spent an evening with my dear friend Jessie from high school who lives in an amazing spot on the coast in the Pacific Palisades. And thanks to the adventurous spirits of these very cool friends of mine, the discoveries continued…
Chelsea and Kerry took me to the Will Rogers State Park, the former vacation cottage turned ranch residence of the 1930′s actor. It is now a lovely, green state park that hosts the only polo field in Los Angeles county as well as a 31-room ranch house, a stable, corrals, a riding ring, a roping arena and a two-hole golf course. Not to mention the handful of trailheads that will lead you to beautiful vistas of the area, the city and the coast. We spent a lovely afternoon there, basking in the sunshine in the stunningly quiet, nearly empty park, thinking about Mr. Will Rogers. We used a few of his many philosophies included in the park’s literature to inspire us that day. I’ll indulge you with our favorite, “Every man has wanted to be a cowboy. Why play Wall Street and die young when you play cowboy and never die?…” The next day I headed to Jessie’s to join her and some of her lovely lady friends for a trip to Hollywood Bowl to celebrate her birthday. Equipped with wine, salads, baguettes and smiles, we boarded a bus in Westwood that carried us to the very large venue (boasting a capacity of 18,000). It was my first time there. I was astonished. I loved it. We enjoyed the Latin sounds of Eddie Palmieri, Poncho Sanchez and Sergio Mendes along with our little picnic in the warm Southern Caifornia climate… Wouldn’t you love that too? To wrap it all up, I found Chelsea and Kerry again in the morning and they took me to The Self-Realization Fellowship, one of their favorite places in the neighborhood. It is a peaceful site for meditiation and the home of Mahatma Gandhi’s World Peace Memorial, among many other things. Another lovely afternoon. And just to tie a bow on it all, we ended the afternoon at the beach and I took a refreshing dip – something I can never resist these days after realizing what a luxury it is to have warm water and sunshine so close to home (one comes to this realization after moving from the ideal Southern California coast to the much colder, unswimmable Northern California coast…).
So next time you are in this area, I would highly recommend any and all of these little adventures and be sure to always take advantage of kind friends who are willing to be your tour guides, whether they grew up there or just arrived. Just don’t forget to say thank you… so here’s a very huge thank you to chelsea, kerry and jessie. I just love you hooligans.
As for the next adventure, I am embarking on a coastal journey to the Santa Cruz mountains tomorrow morning to spend three weeks teaching film and shooting documentary footage at Summer Drama Camp. And I just can’t wait. Unfortunately, I will not have internet access during that time but do not fret! I have invited everyone’s favorite guest writer of this blog to indulge you in his Oregonian adventures for the next few weeks while I am away. I trust he will keep you interested and intrigued stunned but I will look forward to more adventure writing when I return!
Be well my lovely readers. Enjoy this month of July.
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