The scramble is on

In any other city, discovering a spot on a tuxedo at 11 PM the night before the big event would be a crisis, but this is Los Angeles, which has a culture unlike anywhere else.

It took some doing, but between Internet searches and the help of my hotel's concierge, I found an all-night dry cleaner with a good reputation (there's another in town that seems to have fewer loyal customers, or at least has a lot more angry ones posting info on line.)

Although I was the only customer arriving at Milt & Edie's cleaners in Burbank a little while ago, the woman behind the counter laughed when I asked if I was the only one bringing in a tuxedo tonight. "I've got three more" that had just come in, she said with a smile and the reassurance that mine will be ready around the time I plan to wake up Sunday morning. Gotta love LA!

My scramble also included finding a store with a vest and tie that I like enough to wear for my red carpet stroll... No luck at Macy's, but a Men's Wearhouse store in Studio City had a good selection, and the two men working there seemed well prepared for the stream of people needing formal wear this weekend. Wonder if there's anything going on besides the Oscars?

Random musings about LA

I can't complain about the weather... It's warm, sunny and crystal clear as I look out my hotel window and out to the Pacific Ocean... But I find myself puzzling over the incongruity of such beautiful natural surroundings and the, er, artificial augmentation that I am seeing all around me. I guess I prefer natural and organic, and not just my food.

Speaking of which, I had a nice lunch of jerk chicken with beans and rice at Cha Cha Chicken, at the corner of Pico and Ocean in Santa Monica. Around $10 gets a healthy portion of chicken in a spicy sweet jerk sauce that tastes reasonably authentic. I'll go there again.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]