'These Are the Good Years'
best decisions from seven weeks on the road: Paris, Venice, LA
I’d intended for this to be a Paris report, but I’ve done so much traveling since mid-March (after months of sticking close to home), I thought I’d wrap it all together in one big bonanza, but in reverse order.
Los Angeles
My week in LA was perfect, notwithstanding the murderous economy seats in Jet Blue (which made for an interminable red-eye flight home and a weird case of jet lag that resulted in so much sleep last weekend I felt like I’d inadvertently taken the Valley of the Dolls “sleep cure”). (Also, why you are getting this on a Wed…my Sunday draft was illegible.) Even so, I returned to NYC on an emotional high and a sense of deep satisfaction that comes from seeing people you love in person and firing on all cylinders.
Always sit at the bar: I was in LA for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and on a panel with Lyz Lenz, Meghan Daum, moderated by Gina Frangello. The panel was crowded and electric (thank you to everyone who came!). After, Lyz and I went to the Biltmore for drinks. The Biltmore is like if the Overlook Hotel was in LA. I don’t know how else to describe it. The walls are covered in black and white photos from early Oscars (they were held here) and I kept stopping to look for Jack Nicholson’s face. Lyz and I made the very excellent decision to park ourselves at the end of the bar, and over gin and tonics (me) proceeded to collect writers as they were coming and going. This made for a delightful evening and a nice steady flow of gossip (much of it provided by me and Lyz, and possibly only interesting to us)(book gossip is mostly about who is selling what, for how much, and how slow or fast the market is right now). Seeing people in person is always better.
Cuban pastries from Porto’s: I stayed the weekend in Burbank with my exceptional agent Lucy. Burbank is so charming! For breakfast Sunday morning we got traditional Cuban pastries from Porto’s and walked around with her perfect six-month-old marveling at the trees and wishing to be the sort of people who could identify flora and fauna on sight.
Slow day, brilliant company: I spent a long luxurious afternoon with my friend Lesley, who is currently working on a big book about Joan Didion and Truman Capote and the Manson murders (and also penned this month’s T&C cover story on Hannah Einbinder). We had lunch (at the bar, naturally) at Little Dom’s where we talked about the importance of serious writing in this moment.
Mini Desert Writing Retreat: Ann and I drove to Joshua Tree for two days. The last time Ann and I went to the desert was in January 2022, and from that trip emerged the first chapter of ENJOY. The proposal for WILDER. And what became the proposal for Ann’s next book on modern adulthood. The drive from LA to Joshua Tree was the first drive I ever did in America outside New York, way back in 2002, and it was when and where I fell in love with this country. It’s more built up now, obviously, but those windmills never cease to mesmerize. We had dinner at Tiny Pony, and the next night at Kitchen in the Desert (be forewarned: their jerk chicken packs a punch!) with Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs, who is including a shot of me and Ann in her upcoming music video (!!).
Children and Trees: I saw so many children! Ranging from age almost twelve to six months. What gets lost in the kids/no kids conversation is the deep joy of seeing friends enjoy parenting. There are many paths to fulfillment and enjoyment, obviously, and I’m always grateful for my ability to access this one. I also went hiking in Griffith with Anna Holmes (rip my glutes), especially nice as everything is still green.
Back booth martinis: Jenn (whose paperback with its incredible new cover comes out next week!!) reserved us a 5:30PM back booth at Musso & Franks, which, after two martinis a piece and wedge salads and shrimp cocktail and oysters and fries, we eventually got booted from at 8:30PM. We moved to the bar for Fernet (me), and more fries. Afterward, we wandered down Hollywood Blvd being trailed by one of those weird service robotics carts (this one was named Benjamin) and marveled at the how the most iconic stars seemed to always be placed next to pawn shops and abandoned lots. At some point in the evening Jenn said, “these are the good years.” Not because things are particularly good on ye olde planet Earth at the moment, but because we are at the age when the people we love are here and mostly healthy and in their prime.
Hotel with a diner. I stayed one night at The Adler in Hollywood, which I believe used to be a Best Western, and is attached to a diner, which I believe used to be the 101 Diner. It was fine and I got a good deal (be forewarned, it has a brutal cancellation policy). The diner is excellent for breakfast meetings, which I had with my editor Amy, and over which we cooked up some new things that I hope to tell you about soon. Later, I had a BLT and chocolate milkshake for lunch (see above re martinis).
Next up: Venice and Paris!