Across the Pond

Coast Live Oaks in L.A. Trees. I have a thing for trees. The chestnuts in Central Europe and the fir trees of the Alps are among my favorites as are the oaks in California. No matter which kind, there is something about trees that makes me feel grounded, something that connects me to a before and to an after; trees signify dignity, endurance, patience; they stand for adaptability and integrity at the same time, for a balance between the two. In the urban sprawl of L.A. trees sometimes have a hard time. The native oak trees are no exception which is why the County of L.A. chose to cover all oak species by the oak tree ordinance. With it oaks are recognized as "significant historical, aesthetic, and ecological resources" and as a unique but threatened plant heritage. The ordinance states that "a person shall not cut, destroy, remove, relocate, inflict damage, or encroach into the protected zone of any tree of the oak tree genus without first obtaining a permit"...

Snackified drinks and drinkified snacks: that is the future of food and it will be good for us, says PepsiCo, the largest producer of food and beverages in the United States. PepsiCo is training for the perfect split: give people what they want and are used to, snacks and drinks that taste of sugar, fat, and salt, but sneak in what they don't get enough of, namely protein and especially fiber. In a recent article in the New Yorker titled Snacks for a Fat Planet  Indra Nooyi, the CEO of PepsiCo, talks of "this new convergence area coming up" which according to her is going to be "a glorious area." She promises that our children - apparently refuseniks of the first order when it comes to eating healthy food - will drink carrots though they wouldn't eat them; they will suck minestrone and "oatmeal with a little bit of fruit" out of single serve pouches; they will be happy and healthy. Hm. I am doubtful. First, I hope that the "new convergence...

L. A. is a city of contradictions. Anything goes, every opinion and every fashion. There is room for SUVs which seem more like trucks than cars and for little hybrids with environmentalists behind the wheel; for beach barbies, hippies, and old style ladies; for Frank Gery's Disney Concert Hall and for Richard Meier's Getty Center.   Disney Conc ert Hall (Photo: Carol M. Highsmith) Getty Center (Photo: Forrestn) Diversity in all its forms is what I love about L.A. as a whole. And yet - on a smaller scale I do look for integrity, a trait I sorely missed during our recent visit to the California Science Center. The museum features an educational and appealing exhibit on ecosystems  which includes a section on garbage in L.A.* The exhibitors point out how avoiding the production of trash in the first place is the best thing we can do to begin to tackle the environmental problem. So far so good, but the Science Center also features a McDonald's outlet where, a...

California Science Center, main entrance One of the things that make life in L.A. full of surprises is that we often stumble upon scenes and vistas which seem familiar from movies, TV shows, commercials. I had one such aha-moment after a recent visit to the California Science Center. One of its older buildings doubles as the (fictitious) Jeffersonian Institute which is located in Washington, D.C., in the TV series Bones. Here it is, albeit in the background and blurry: Rose garden and Jeffersonian Institute

April is home tour month (May too). In the past few weeks invitations to events of the kind have been piling up on my desk. This being L.A. I feel I should add we're talking neighborhoods here. This is about family homes, some larger, some smaller. It is not about stars' mansions. One of the first neighborhoods in L.A. to put on the big showing was Bungalow Heaven in Pasadena  which is getting ready for its 22nd annual home tour on Sunday. Bungalow Heaven was Pasadena's first Landmark District. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The 900 or so houses in the 16 block area were built at the beginning of the 20th century in the style of the American Arts and Crafts movement. They are treasures. Their owners know this and treat them accordingly. On Sunday, eight houses will be open to the public; 900 visitors are expected - many of which come every year and from as far away as Arizona. Proceeds from the tour go towards grants for home restorat...

How long does it take for a newcomer to feel at home in L.A.? A year? A decade? A lifetime? Answers to this question were floated at a panel discussion on angeleno identity this week in Pasadena (Angelino, Angeleno, Angeleño: Who Are We?) I liked moderator  Leslie Berestein Rojas' take on the subject: you become an Angeleno when you have "that Zen moment on the freeway", when you see the traffic, sit back, and relax thinking all is well. I remember my first visit to L.A., in 1998, the sense of bewilderment, distrust. This place lacked a center; it pulled in too many directions: Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, L.A. downtown. Each part of Los Angeles that I got to experience as a tourist had its own character, its own identity. As a whole the city was so different from what I was used to from Europe that I felt uncomfortable. When we moved here in 1999 I made a conscious effort to take Los Angeles for what it is, a hodgepodge city, patchwork, a place with more...

Finally. California's new governor, Jerry Brown, was expected to proclaim today that the drought which has officially plagued the Golden State since 2009 is over. This winter brought precipitation by the tub full: record breaking rain fall in December, plenty more rain in March, 50 feet of snow in parts of the High Sierra. Bottom line we got about 50 percent more precipitation than in an average year. Looking out a restaurant window in Mammoth on March 18 This is great news of course - though we in L.A. should never see ourselves as off the hook. Southern California is a desert. The water that we use here always comes from somewhere else, be it the Colorado River or the High Sierra, and if the drought had an up-side it was that many of us became aware of this. Angelenos aren't - and probably never will be - saints when it comes to environmentalism but as I have said before, we try and there is one L.A. characteristic that works in our favor whenever change is needed: we...