Notes from my recent trip to LA…
Had a terrific dinner with Jon Macks at a steakhouse he suggested called The Lodge, where he had promised me two things: Jimmy Caan and Peppercorn Bacon. We didn’t see Jimmy (and if we did, he’d have been Mr. Caan to me, or at best, James), and I wasn’t sure what to expect for the other. On my way there, I wondered if Peppercorn Bacon was some porn star I hadn’t heard of, or did Kevin Bacon have another kid and give it one of those weird Hollywood names (yes, I’m talking about you, Apple Paltrow). It turned out to be neither. When you sit down at the bar at The Lodge to have a drink, you can munch on a bowlful of honey-roasted almonds, or on one of the long, cooked slices of peppercorn bacon sitting in a tall glass. Having never had a bacon finger-food snack, I chose the latter, and it was both delicious and salty. That is, of course, the idea behind both munchables — to make you even more thirsty. Mission accomplished. Over dinner, Jon told us about several new projects he’s working on, none of which I think I’m allowed to mention yet, but suffice it to say that he had to run out on us after a couple of hours to go do some work at Billy Crystal’s house.Mark Evanier took us to the Second City Theater to see Totally Looped, in which several improv comics and voice talents add the dialogue and sound effects for film clips they haven’t seen before. The evening is organized and directed by Vince Waldron, who has written several books on classic sitcoms including “The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book.” Among the voices the night we were there was Laraine Newman, who is often joined by Dan Castellenata and others. Pretty clever stuff, worth your time if you’re in LA on one of the nights they’re doing the show.The hotel we stayed in was the first I’ve seen with a clip on the drapes. You may have noticed how hotel drapes always close in the middle, but never all the way, so when the sun comes up, it has just enough of an opening to shine right into the room — usually on your eyes as you try to sleep. I’ve solved the problem in more than one hotel room by overlapping the two sides of the drape and then holding them in place with a chair or floor lamp. This place had a clip we could use to accomplish that purpose, a nice simple solution. They could avoid this problem altogether by just making it one long drape that pulls all the way across, but that seems to be against the basic rules of hotel room design.The traffic in LA is now officially the worst in the US. One night, I was going to have dinner at the house of an old college roommate. It was about a 30 mile ride, so I planned on it taking an hour. Thanks to the incredible backups that are so commonplace on The Five and The One Oh One, the drive actually took two hours. And that’s wasn’t the only time or road on which we ran into traffic congestion — it was pretty much omnipresent. I can’t imagine having to deal with that on a regular basis as a commuter, and it must be a thousand times worse for any business that makes deliveries or has to be on the road all day long (which might just be how long it takes make one trip!).Speaking of getting around, if you rent a car from Hertz, I seriously suggest getting their Neverlost GPS system. Very easy to use, and only about $8/day. Beats having to figure out the maps in a town you’re not familiar with, and quite good at getting you directly to an address or intersection. Downside is its inability to come up with alternates when you run into a massive traffic jam on the one route it gives you.Poker players in LA are among the rudest I’ve experienced anywhere. Several of them crossed the line into downright abuse, particularly of the dealers, when it was totally uncalled for. Perhaps it’s a cultural thing, because most of the dealers are Asian and most of the abusers are not (although the players are majority Asian at most tables), but regardless, it was wholly inappropriate. Whatever the problem was, these were locals and regulars — not tourists — who berated both the staff and the other players. One player kept playing bad hands and then yelling at the dealer when he’d lose, as if the dealer had the power to control the cards and was doing it on purpose. I’ve seen this behavior at a couple of the local poker rooms in St. Louis and other cities I’ve played in, but this was by far the worst and most shameful.