Lala Land

Oh, lordy, it's good to back in Los Angeles for the week! Every time I visit, I see things I never see on the East Coast. And every time I talk about them on the air, someone invariably drops me a note or e-mail asking me to stop picking on California.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I LOVE California. Even Southern California. Where else, for example, would you see a Humvee turned into a stretch limousine? I saw one this week at a gas station in Malibu. Big, long thing with that blunt-nosed front and tires that look as if they could crush land mines. Now who the heck hires a stretch Humvee? When I told my producer Fritz about it, he told me he's seen a pink Humvee limo. Fabulous.

Then, I had dinner at an Italian restaurant in Montecito, the posh suburb of Santa Barbara. Nearby was an employment agency with a sign in the window promising it could provide estate managers, butlers, and housemen. What a coincidence; I need one of each!

And that's why I like to travel. Especially to southern California.