Across the Pond

When it comes to environmentalism we Angelenos are not exactly known to be heavily invested. Quite the opposite. L.A. is synonymous with cars and freeways and too many miles driven - and that's just one aspect. The other day I was leafing through this month's issue of Whole Living magazine  when a reader's suggestion caught my eye: Etienne L. is telling us that he has started to collect "all the dregs" in his family of four's water glasses "to take care of the house plants". Etienne simply empties "the last drips into a pitcher instead of pouring them down the drain". He thereby saves "enough water for (his) indoor plants and potted herb garden". Now that's what I call commitment. Dregs for plants. Etienne is from San Francisco of course (Oakland, to be precise). We in L.A. could never pull that one off - but it's not like we don't try to be green. At least some of us. Take an enterprise called Arroyo Food Co-op i...

San Diego stuns me. The light is clear, everything looks clean, and people are so laid back and friendly that a stay there often has me wondering whether I might be dreaming. If California's three major cities, San Diego, San Francisco, and L.A., were siblings San Diego would be the one to enjoy golf and to succeed in prep school. That's not a bad thing. It's just that, on a day to day basis, I prefer L.A.'s more pluralistic feel. That said, I do love to go to San Diego for a weekend or so. We have wonderful friends there and we also like to visit the La Jolla Playhouse which ranks as one of the top live theatres in the west and functions as a feeder for Broadway. Thoroughly Modern Millie, Jersey Boys, Memphis... These shows started out at the Playhouse, went on to New York, and won Tony awards. Last Sunday we had tickets to Little Miss Sunshine, a musical based on the 2006 road movie. Will this one make it east too? I'd be surprised. The production was cut...