And we didn't have to get on a dang plane!

A wild, worrisome and wonderful weekend in Los Angeles (our second visit this month) ended for us driving through the last stages of youthful protestors versus National Guard showdown. As we detoured through and around the action, as directed by police, the tension accelerated for two very frightened, exhausted, and old people.

The wildness occurred earlier in our hotel room in West Hollywood Sunday morning as we watched mesmerized by the Spanish wonder Carlos Alcaraz in his stunning and fierce come-from-behind victory over Jannik Sinner in the thrilling finals of the French tennis open.

Wonderful happened over and over again as we met his four intelligent, beautiful, and active granddaughter—Allison, Anna, Abby, and Alexa—coming from the East Coast, London, and Dallas to celebrate their parents thirtieth wedding anniversary.

We found wonderful at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, an iconic, newer, Don't-Miss attraction in LA for movie lovers throughout the world, where we immersed ourselves in the cinematic  “Barbie to Anna Karenina: The Cinematic Worlds of Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer” exhibition. Leaving, we vowed to revisit all the films of these two legends in movie-making created cinematically starting with Barbie!

Wonderful continued with a visit to The Grove, Los Angeles’ trendy shopping center full of deliciousness and memorable people watching.

A roof top bar at a small hotel one evening for unparalleled views of glitter-town USA, (brussel sprouts with bacon and a bit of bourbon).

A Shabbat dinner with friends and newly-surfaced family connections.

An adorable one-year-old who dominated every gathering with his cuteness,

A pizza and a movie in the hotel room, (pizza better than the movie...)

A bountiful brunch in the sunshine at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica just steps from the Pacific Ocean, (reminiscent of Las Ramblas in Barcelona!)

...and most everywhere that feeling of magic of southern California  which permeated every moment of our short visit.

Wild, astonishing and also a little worrisome, we found on the streets and sidewalks of the second most populous city in our country—the ubiquitous self-driving Waymo automobiles—robotaxi services—operating here and in San Francisco and Phoenix. Brave souls download the Waymo One app and can treat themselves to a fully autonomous ride from Santa Monica Pier to downtown Los Angeles.

We did not do this.

Over and over, we saw little, cartoonish vehicles—increasingly common robot delivery vehicles in LA—puttering down the sidewalks and across the streets delivering I don’t know what. Perhaps documents. Maybe pizzas. Little box-shaped vehicles with wheels, operating autonomously using GPS, sensors, and cameras to navigate and avoid obstacles.

Worrisome and bothersome at times, we did not do this either.

Mega-Worrisome when we encountered ardent young people, including one of the granddaughters—a twenty-seven-year-old doctoral candidate from Baltimore—demonstrating against immigration raids in their homeland.

Worrisome as National Guard directed by our president confronted, corralled, and bullied their efforts. The use of federal assets to crack down on the LA ICE protests seemed to us incendiary to provoking violence.

We did witness the end of this scene as we left LA heading for home. Only the next morning would we learn from The Los Angeles Times:

As police struggled with another day of unrest in downtown L.A., several

Waymo autonomous taxis were set on fire, sending thick plumes of black smoke billowing high into the air.

The dramatic images were captured during an afternoon of clashes between large groups who were protesting immigration raids by the Trump administration and L.A. police who were trying to maintain order.

Sad that the skirmishes between authority and those desperately wanting to make their case was our last vision as we left the sprawling metropolis.

As we drove south two-and-a-half hours to San Diego with the sun setting to our west and the Full Moon of June - the Strawberry Moon - rising in the east (June 11), we savored the good times.

We ended the exhausting weekend with wonderful homemade omelets made from leftovers in the frig which we ate in front of the television as we watched the wonderful Tony Awards broadcast.

Made even more wonderful as female leads from both shows we saw recently in New York won top honors—Nicole Scherzinger, Best Actress in a Musical, for her incredible performance in Sunset Boulevard and Natalie Venetia Belcon for her sizzling hot performance as featured actress in the fabulous Buena Vista Social Club!

Both women so dang wildly and wonderfully talented appearing in magnificent Broadway plays!

So much show biz!

Also, an occasional glimpse of San Diego's own Adam Lambert (definitely wild!) on the telecast in the front seat audience and as a presenter!

We saw him in New York in Cabaret and he's soon starring in Jesus Christ Super Star three nights at The Hollywood Bowl with none other than Tony Award emcee, Cynthia Enviro!

As much as I'd like to, will not be returning to LA for that performance, but like the June 7 broadcast on television of Good Night and Good Luck, George Clooney's current role on Broadway which I recorded, I'll wait for the TV version!

Two and a half days in what seemed like a visit to a foreign land at times. At others, a weekend in Los Angeles full of glitter, glamor, gatherings and all sorts of good stuff!

And no jet lag!

So much excitement.

Huge outpourings of love.

Heartbreak at the civil unrest.

Conflicting memories.