More L.A. Times

Jill's Journal: How many movies has this Farmers Market tower appeared in? The Los Angeles Farmers Market, an institution since 1934, is not your average farmers market found in big cities and small towns all over the country with weekend vendors selling wares off their tailgates. Oh, no. This is different. Far different.

The Los Angeles version is open seven days a week and has a massive amount of vendors in permanent structures. There’s meats and produce, of course, as well as vintage goods, shoe repair, a barber shop, and so many ethnic foods your mouth waters. Looking for Brazilian, Korean, or Armenian fare? Without getting on a plane, this is the best place to find it.

“Meet me at Third and Fairfax,” the location of the Farmers Market, is said to be the most enduring expression in L.A.

One thing we’ve learned about L.A. is that no matter what you do (like a simple weekend lunch at the Farmers Market, for instance), it turns into an almost-all-day affair. There’s at least two reasons for this. First, other major cities are so much more compact and it’s easy to pack several things into one day because everything is relatively close. Not so in L.A. This is such a massive, sprawling city that few of the major things to see and do are anywhere close to each other. It’s got to be the most spread-out city in the U.S. Drive time (with traffic) to and from anywhere increases each event by at least an hour each way. And second, the amount of people here is just unbelievable. There’s traffic -- always slowed down, sometimes stop-and-go -- no matter what time of the day you might be out: early, late, and especially in between. And whether you need to make a left-hand turn or find a parking space or simply check out of the grocery store, there’s a line. Usually a long one. Everyone here is in a hurry, but nothing is ever quick.

One of the world famous streets in L.A. (and one of the most fun to drive and gawk) is Sunset Boulevard. This 24-mile long street starts in downtown Los Angeles and passes through or right next to Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, and Pacific Palisades on its way to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean. It was on Sunset that Hugh Grant famously picked up prostitute Divine Brown several years back.

The most exciting section of this iconic street is the Sunset Strip, one of L.A.’s most famous neighborhoods which stretches between Doheny Drive and Crescent Heights Boulevard. This has been the home of rock and roll decadence and hard partying for decades. Among the legendary clubs here (like The Roxy, where John Belushi partied before overdosing, and the Whisky a Go Go, where The Doors were the house band) is The Viper Room, which was started by Johnny Depp and is the spot where River Phoenix died of an overdose on the sidewalk.

Yet another famed Sunset landmark is the Rainbow Bar & Grill. Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio met here on a blind date. And since then, every musician from John Lennon to Elvis Presley to Alice Cooper to Billy Idol to the members of Motley Crue and Led Zeppelin has been a regular.

The girls and I noticed this pink Corvette when it turned in front of us, while Rob recognized the occupant. Does anyone remember Angelyne? The model and actress is probably most famous for appearing scantily-clad on billboards all over L.A. and Hollywood over the last 30 years. One of her slogans is, “Barbie wishes she were me.” She’ll appear in two movies coming out this year. One of them (a Tom Cruise movie) appropriately features her in a billboard.

The pink Corvette stood out only because of its color, as we’ve seen an obscene amount of Lamborghinis and Ferraris and other over-the-top cars. Rob is endlessly entertained by this.

Maybe it's because they spend so much time in their cars and maybe it's because a nice car seems to equal status here, but people seem to place an extra-high importance on their vehicles in L.A. Here’s the parking lot of a grocery store we frequent: at least half of the cars in the lot are always Mercedes with a number of BMWs thrown in and a heck of a lot of Porsches and Audis for good measure. I’m more entertained by the people found inside the store who are attached to the cars outside: the amount of make-up and plastic surgery and expensive clothing (not to mention shoes) and little dogs in purses is truly extraordinary. L.A. is definitely the home of the beautiful people, but a lot of them have the attitudes to match their high-maintenance outward appearance. I don’t mean that as a criticism; it’s more of an observance.

We’ve passed through Beverly Hills so many times on our way to other places that I had a chance to get a better snapshot of the sign. I never get tired of seeing it. In spite of the traffic and the smog, the Los Angeles area has so much to love about it (not the least of which are year-round gorgeous weather and sunshine).

UCLA: how much fun would it be to go to school here? Oh, the opportunities at a place like this. I often wonder where our girls will go to college someday…one could certainly do a lot worse than UCLA.

Beverly Hills, CA

Jill's Journal: There’s not too many cities more fun to spend a day in than Beverly Hills. If you’ve never been to the famed 90210 zip code, well, then whatever you’ve heard about Beverly Hills is probably all true. The homes are mansions, the people are glamorous, the cars cost more than some houses, and the shopping is beyond upscale.

Beverly Hills is part of the “Platinum Triangle,” which also includes the extremely wealthy L.A. neighborhoods of Bel Air and Holmby Hills. There are probably more celebrities, media moguls, record executives, heirs and heiresses, and otherwise excessively loaded people in this area than in any other part of the world. Here’s a fun fact: the operating budget for the City of Beverly Hills (with a mere 34,000 residents) is more than $300 million, comparable to the gross national product of the British Virgin Islands.

Suddenly our beat-up little minivan feels grossly inadequate!

Here’s a typical residential street in Beverly Hills. They’re all immaculate with lots of meticulously-groomed greenery.

This is the gate to what has to be the most famous house in the area: Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion.

This driveway is a bit more on the infamous side…Heidi Fleiss ran her high-priced brothel from here.

Far ritzier is the exclusive Beverly Hills Hotel. The “Pink Palace” has been named one of the best places in the world for spotting celebrities, any time of the day and any day of the week. The hotel fiercely guards its guests’ privacy, whether they’re there for lunch or overnight. And yet, if you can think of a celebrity or a president or a member of a royal family, chances are they’ve been photographed here. It’s been at the height of luxury since it was built in 1912 and remains that way now. It’s currently owned by the sultan of Brunei and its most-sighted celebrity is believed to be Jennifer Aniston. Elizabeth Taylor honeymooned here with six of her eight husbands. Howard Hughes paid $350,000 a year for the privilege of living here in the 1950s. It was featured on the cover of The Eagles’ “Hotel California.” The “cheap” rooms start at $445 a night, or you can go for the presidential suite’s 24-karat gold bathroom fixtures for $8,150 a night. And the presidential bungalows? If you have to ask how much they are, you can’t afford it.

Here’s another famed Beverly Hills hotel…the (Regent) Beverly Wilshire. This is where Richard Gere and Julia Roberts rendezvoused in “Pretty Woman.” Olympian Esther Williams also taught a teenaged Elizabeth Taylor how to swim in the pool. And people like Elvis Presley, John Lennon, and Warren Beatty have lived here long-term.

One can’t visit Beverly Hills without taking a turn on Rodeo Drive.

Every major clothing and jewelry designer in the world seems to have a shop here. It’s the place to see and be seen.

An offshoot of Rodeo is this European-style pedestrian street where the “Two Rodeo” shops beckon.

Back on Rodeo, a Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport is parked in front of Bijan, the exclusive men’s wear store that is said to be the most expensive store in the world. You need an appointment just to get in the door. Bijan’s clothing is so luxurious that not only have a half dozen U.S. presidents and other countries’ heads of states worn it, but so have fashion-conscious sports stars like Michael Jordan, celebrities too numerous to count, and even other designers like Giorgio Armani and Oscar de la Renta! When other designers wear your clothes, I think that means you’ve officially arrived. As for the car, it’s worth $1.7 million and goes from 0 to 253mph in under 60 seconds.

One more shot of that car. It makes the BMW parked in front of it look rather pedestrian, doesn’t it?

Behind the big Beverly Hills sign, one can see the Beverly Hills Civic Center. The City Hall, library, police station, and more are there. Yes, that's the same police station featured by Eddie Murphy in “Beverly Hills Cop.”

The girls honestly didn’t care one bit about Beverly Hills. Their favorite part of the city? Undoubtedly this big tree in Beverly Gardens Park. They spent a very happy half-hour climbing all over it.

Here’s the very cool Paley Center for Media. Anyone can walk in, borrow a cubicle, and watch or listen to over 150,000 old t.v. or radio shows. Chris Rock sat here for hours in 2005 studying old Oscar broadcasts before he hosted the Academy Awards.

This place is truly amazing. The Greystone Mansion, built in 1928 by an oil tycoon, was the most expensive house ever built in California at its time. At over 400 acres, it was also the largest estate in Beverly Hills. The house alone featured over 46,000 square feet of living space.

These days, the City of Beverly Hills owns it and has turned its grounds into a city park. The mansion itself is one of the most-used sets in movies and television. If you’ve ever watched a movie or t.v. or a music video or a commercial, it’s virtually guaranteed you’ve seen Greystone somewhere even though you don’t know it. Spiderman (1, 2, and 3), The Bodyguard, Indecent Proposal, The Social Network, X-Men…and the list goes on and on and on.

Finally, a decent view of downtown L.A.!

I have to share this: my friend Leo wrote today regarding the smog in recent pictures. He far prefers to call it L.A.’s “beautiful golden mist.” His version is way better than mine, isn’t it? :)

Our Beverly Hills excursion ended with a very fun visit from Rob’s lifelong friend Pat. The two met as toddlers in Tahoe and have been close friends almost ever since. Nearly forty years of friendship; that’s something to write home about.