http://norman.walsh.name/2003/12/03/partingshots 6 125 2003-12-03 $Date$ Norman Walsh 2003 Norman Walsh I like L.A. Some parting shots and parting thoughts. I like L.A. I wasn’t predisposed to; its reputation of smog, traffic jams, and contempt for anyone less famous than God God did not fill me with enthusiasm. But there’s a lot to do and it was enjoyable and interesting in its own way. There are sure a lot of things we didn’t do, and I look forward to going back to do some more. That said, the sky is brown. I couldn’t live there. And yes, the traffic is painful. But for what it’s worth, I found everyone friendly and helpful. I didn’t really encounter that many people, though, so maybe I got lucky.

They don’t let you take pictures, they don’t even let you carry a camera, so I don’t have any shots to show from the studio tour, but it was interesting. I have a new appreciation for the complexity of effort required to film something. It was really funny to see TV sets as these little rooms with four walls and no ceiling constructed inside enormous sound stages. You know all that rich, mahogony panelling on sets like courtrooms? Paint on plywood. And all the panoramic city views you see through the windows of a big shot’s office? Thirty-five foot high digital prints or paintings on canvas a few short feet on the other side of that window.

There are two missions in L.A. We visited San Gabriel Mission. Todo: visit them all, preferably in order and on the same trip.

There are few things that compare to the sun setting over the ocean.

The tar pits caught a lot of dire wolves.

No snow? Christmas on the beach? That must really be odd. I’m not saying I couldn’t get used to it, mind you.

If it hasn’t already done so, I think the city of Los Angeles should establish the Bird of Paradise as the city flower. They grow everywhere and they are exquisite.

Four stars to Patina. Don’t let its new address in The Walt Disney Concert Hall throw you, it’s a beautiful space with cuisine to match: rich, inviting, elegant without being stuffy. They’ve got a couple of seafood-themed tasting menus that looked delightful, but I had a bit more of the terrestrial carnivore in me the night we went; the venison was marvelous. So was the Merry Edwards Pinot Noir 2001. Leave room for the cheese board. Really. The ostensibly illegal unpasturized camembert was the finest I’ve tasted since the last time I was in France. And the blues. And the chevre. You get the idea.