BHAM BUZZ

My L.A.
Story
Los Angeles is an enchanting place, an uber-cosmopolitan home-away-from-home where you might see just about anything, and often do.

by Rosalind Fournier
Early in my parents’ marriage, they lived briefly in Los Angeles while my father was stationed there with the military. I am fairly certain it was the first and last time my mother ever went anywhere near California, and she made it clear this was no accident.

A vague look of disgust always crossed her face whenever the place was mentioned: “Nobody,” she would always say, “is from Los Angeles.”

It wasn’t until later that I understood what she meant by this, or why she even cared, but I did manage to prove her wrong when I met and subsequently married a bona-fide native Californian—born and bred in L.A., specifically Santa Monica. His parents, aunts and uncles are from Los Angeles too. And that is why, among the many ways that marriage has helped to set the course of my life, it has also substantially impacted future travel itineraries—and from the very first trip to visit my husband’s hometown, I discovered that unlike my mother, I find it an enchanting place, an uber-cosmopolitan home-awayfrom- home where you might see just about anything, and often do.

Star Power
For instance—to begin with the obvious—celebrities: John Lithgow hauling a watermelon through a farmer’s market in Santa Monica. Ralph Nader waiting for a ride outside of a hotel. George Foreman—with three of his namesake sons—in an airport lounge waiting to catch a flight to Houston. (You know how they say some people look smaller in person? He doesn’t.) It’s true that a friend who lives in San Diego once scoffed at my attempts to impress him with celebrity sightings, saying, “Celebrities in L.A. are a dime a dozen.” Fair enough. I know to play it cool—don’t ogle, ask for photographs or play paparazzi with your camera phone—but nevertheless, these casual encounters never cease to give me a cheap thrill.

For that matter, I’ve never visited a city better for people watching in general, even the non-celebrity kind.

Case in point: Neiman-Marcus on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. This is where Beverly Hills stereotypes come to life before your very eyes: women plunking down $600 for a pair of Dolce&Gabbana strappy sandals, alongside others carting those tiny, Paris-Hilton-type dogs, fresh from the groomer. Right there in the store.

Beverly Hills also boasts some of L.A.’s trendiest dining, and not just hoity-toity places like Spago and Koi. One of our personal favorites is the venerable delicatessen Nate ‘n Al, known for its matzo ball soup “like grandma used to make.” Nate ‘n Al is also where we spotted Larry King at a nearby table, enjoying a late breakfast with some ancient-looking friends and donning those giant glasses I had been sure were just part of his television persona.

 

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January Birmingham, Alabama

  

 
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