California - Claire and Charlie's, Canters, Cozy's, and The Getty Center

The More or Less Weekly Camel is coming to you from California where I have been visiting Claire, my best friend since high school, and her husband Charlie in their new home in Sherman Oaks. For those of you who do not know about Claire, she has been my best friend starting in high school and since our epic December 1996 to January 1997 misadventure by train across Canada (two engine failures, mud slides and avalanches, fires, and an ice storm) and down the West Coast, we get together every year and often more than once a year. She has always been a friend with whom I can get exceptionally silly, have fun, and reflect upon life and the state of the world. I am lucky.


Claire and Charlie's Backyard




Canter's Deli
Mom lived for about a decade in the Los Angeles area in the 1960s and has been urging me to go to Canter's deli in Hollywood, to experience classic deli. It seems unlikely that it has changed since mom ate their. Claire and I both loved it; I had a classic reuben and she had a pastrami reuben minus the sauerkraut. There was a stack of crumpled up greasy napkins next to my plate at the end and we both agreed that we ate about one weeks worth of meat. Canter's is awesome! Good call, Mom.



Cozy's Bar and Grill
Charlie and Claire live just off of Ventura Boulevard and Cozy's, on Ventura, is their neighborhood bar. Cozy's is a blues bar and Thursday night was open mike night. We caught some talented R n' B acts.

Crystal and Claire on "the cat walk" in front of Cozy, the neighborhood bar


The Getty Center

Claire took me to the Los Angeles Getty Center. (The old Getty is in Malibu.) This silver LEED-certified (green built) facility is amazing! For starters, the only manditory cost is $10 to park. Most of what we did was walk the grounds, a celebration of the elements - rock, water, steel, and wood - with lush gardens on a hillside that provides panoramic views of Los Angeles. The lighting was amazing. I think I need to visit about five more times to fully explore. The exploring that we did do left us tired and satisfied.