Bear with me, this is worth it.

​​Back around 1995, I attended one of the funniest evenings I've ever had in the theater.  If it wasn't the funniest, the others competing with it were pretty special.  This wasn't a stage play or musical, to be fair, but basically a group discussion.  But it was in a theater, and it was about the world of entertainment, so it counts.

The evening was called Caesar's Writers, held at the Writers Guild Theatre in Beverly Hills.  It was a reunion of the writers who had worked on the two variety TV shows lead by Sid Caesar -- Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hours.  The series were pretty close to the same:  the casts of Caesar, Carl Reiner and Howard Morris were the same, with Imogene Coca in the former having moved on with her own show and replaced by Nanette Fabray in the latter.  And the writing staffs were very similar, with a few changes here and there.

And oh, what a writing staff it was.  If you put together a list of the staff and showed it to someone without any other information, they'd probably think you had written down your Hall of Fame of comedy writers.  And no, I'm not exaggerating.  Among those who participated that evening were (and bear with me, because the list is long and the credentials longer...) --

Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, and Larry Gelbart (hey, I told you i wasn't exaggerating -- and I'm even leaving out Woody Allen, because he wasn't there that night).

​Anyway, the good news in all this is not just that there's a DVD of Neil Simon's play or that I've described a fun evening -- but that evening was recorded and edited down for a two-hour DVD...and then re-edited down further into a one-hour TV special that PBS ran during Pledge Week.  And I have a copy of that PBS broadcast here which I've embedded below.

​I told you it was worth it to bear with me.

A few final notes:

The video quality is not the greatest, but it's the material that shines through.  Also, it's interrupted a few time with pledge breaks, so you can fast-forward through those.  And it's divided into two videos.  Also, a reminder that the actual evening was almost an hour-and-a-half longer than this.  And it's not that this is The Best Material -- it was all wonderful.  This is just the great material that fit best together for a one-hour special.

A word too about why you won't see as much of Neil Simon as you might like.  First, he is famously quiet..  If you ever saw the movie, My Favorite Year, which is also based on this group and Your Show of Shows, there is character who is always whispering his joke suggestions at the writers table to the person who is sitting next to him.  That character is based on Neil Simon.  (Usually he would be seated next to Carl Reiner and telling his jokes to him.)  The other reason is more specific.  About halfway through the evening, his older brother Danny started feeling unwell and left the stage.  A minute or so later, Neil was clearly concerned, so he left to be with him.  Happily, he ended up being fine, though the two were gone for the rest of the evening.
​

For meaningless perspective's sake, just so that you can have an idea where I was so-thoroughly enjoying myself, as you are looking at the stage, I was about halfway back and off to the left against the wall.  My recollection is that I perhaps briefly can be seen, but as a sort of heads-up -- I'll be the one laughing.
​

   

​Despite all the deserving focus, we take a detour today away from MIchael Cohen and his book to deal with another matter -- though not before making clear that while Cohen is indeed a convicted liar and felon, as Trump and the White House have gone out of their way in releasing statements, his was convicted for lying to Congress about Trump, and convicted for making illegal payment to hush up a witness on behalf of Trump...who is known in the indictment as "Individual 1."

So, yeah, Michael Cohen is a convicted liar and felon, whose illegal actions were taken on behalf of benefiting Trump.

As to the other matter.

Once again, wildfires are raging across much of California.  At the moment, there are fires on 2.2 million acres of the state, some of the most devastating in the history of the states.  So far, over 60,000 people have been evacuated, 10 lives have been lost and countless property damage and wilderness.

And as far as I can tell, not a word has been spoken by Trump or even tweeted by Trump.

Over the weekend, there was a crushing heat wave in Los Angeles.  Where I live, temperatures hit 98 degrees.  That's hot, but not only a dry heat, it's not the issue.

Where a friend lives, temperatures hit 105 degrees.  But that's not the issue either.

Near downtown Los Angeles, a bit north, the blistering temperature reached 115 degrees.  Yes, 115 degrees.  And no, that's also not the issue.

Woodland Hills is in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County.  The Valley is hotter than the rest of Los Angeles.  (For that reason and others, a guy I knew once commented that he didn't like to go to the Valley because he didn't think God's fingers stretched that far.)  God's fingers didn't stretch that far over the weekend, because the temperature there hit 121 degrees.

That was not a typo.  It was 121 degrees.  That's an all-time record in the history of Los Angeles Country since such things have been measured.

Make no mistake, this wasn't in Death Valley, 3-1/2 miles away from here.  Nor was it even the Mojave Desert to the east.  This was in Woodland Hills, in Los Angeles County.  About eight miles or so from the ocean.  Around 10 from Malibu.  Maybe 15 miles from Santa Monica.  Maybe 20 miles northwester of where I live..

​
It was 121 degrees in Los Angeles County.  That's oven territory.  An all-time record.  It was 115 degrees in Los Angeles proper.  This lasted for two scorching, blistering days.

And not a word I'm aware of from Trump.  Spoken, tweeted or perhaps even thought.

Nothing about this searing heat.  Nothing about the killing wildfires,  Silence.  And there wasn't even a word of "thoughts and prayers" I've heard from any Republican official in Congress or the administration either.  In fact, the only thing I heard from Republican officials were a couple of snarky comments about the Mayor of Los Angeles asking residents to not run heavy appliances to save electricity, "quipping" about what it's like living in a third world country run by Democrats.  The snarkiest was from Ted Cruz, a Climate Change denier, by the way, who came up with what he thought was a hilarious slogan for Democrats.  What I wondered in response to him was whether he thought it was okay for everyone to joke about cute slogan for Texas the next time it's deluged with yet another hurricane and homes are under water.

But hey, at least Cruz and the few other Republicans recognized that there was ravaging heat -- even if they somehow managed to blame it on Democrats.  Never mind that heat this oppressive and the rampaging wildfires are both results of Climate Change that so many Republicans want to deny.

Climate Change, for which the United States is the only country in the entire world that is not a signatory to the Paris Accord. Because Trump doesn't believe in it.  If only he had been in Los Angeles this weekend, trying to raise money for his failing coffers.

Silence from Trump on all of this.  On the the record-setting heat and yet again silence on the wildfires 

And yes, I know the response of most people.  Of course I know it.  California is a Blue State.  Trump isn't going to win it, doesn't have a chance.  So, he doesn't care about it.  

Yes, of course that's his response.  My response?

So what?  That's not a defense.  It's not even a good explanation.  It's certainly not a normal reaction from a president, and it shouldn't be normalized as if it was.  "Well, that's just Trump" doesn't cut it.  Trump is president of the United States, whether he likes it or not, and Americans are being devastated by these disastrous conditions.  It is the job of the President of the United States to deal with disasters.  And accepting who Trump is doesn't change that.  It must be pointed out repeatedly so that it is not taken for granted, not normalized.

Further, even if one does choose to accept it -- whether because you're a Republican and like that Trump will act on behalf of only you or because you just feel you can't fight Trump on everything  -- there is another reality.  there are 2.9 million people who live in the entire state of Mississippi, one of the most Red States in the country.  In California, there are about 4.9 million registered Republicans voters.  The point?

Any Republican who thinks that Trump with work on your behalf just because you're a Republican -- you're wrong, he won't.  If you're a Republican and your home is surrounded by a wildfire -- if you're a Republican living in stifling, breath-taking heat -- Trump doesn't care about you, if you're living in the wrong state.  This isn't a subjective guess.  This is reality.  Beyond those registered Republican voters, there are about 9.5 million Republicans living in California (while, once again, only 2.9 million people whatever their party in Mississippi).  There are Republican districts in California, Republican representatives here both federal and state, Republican candidates, Republican issues.  But despite deadly wildfires and massive heat in California, with all those Republicans and Republican matters in the state...Trump was totally silent about them all.  Because he doesn't care about them.  And by "them," if you're a Republican, I mean -- you.

But ultimately, that shouldn't matter.  And we defer back to point number one.  There are 39 million people in California.  They are all Americans.  It is the most populous state in the country.  It has an economy which would be the fifth largest in the world.  It exports a product from Hollywood which is one of the most successful financially and socially in spreading America to the world.  And again, everyone is an American.  But then, when there are disasters in other countries, the U.S. often offers its help.  But not Trump and today's Republican Party, they not only don't offer help to California disasters, they don't even offer commiseration.  They can't even muster their default "thoughts and prayers" that they spit out automatically after a gun massacre.

So, yes, of course I get why Trump is totally silent.  Again silent about California, as always.  Of course, I get it!  And I get why the enabling and complicit Republican Party therefore is, too, following his fascist lead like puppy lap dogs.  (Well, silent except for the snarky ridicule as a result of Mother Nature.)  But that's no answer.  It's not normal.  It's wrong.  It's a problem.  It's unacceptable.

And it should be unacceptable by all parties.  Because the next natural disaster may hit a Red State -- like hurricanes with the Red States of the Gulf Coast.  And like tornadoes hit the Red States of the Corn Belt.  Just like the pandemic hit all states.  And in the end, we are all affected, because we are the United States.

As much as Trump wants his fascist view of the country to be otherwise.

It is unacceptable.  And must relentlessly be said, so that it is not now, not ever taken as "normal."

And yes, Climate Change is real.  Science is not a belief system.

​As I noted here the other day, I've written periodically about attending the wonderful Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum outdoors in the Topanga Forest.  This is also where Billie Eilish performed her recent world premiere video, "My Future," for the DNC Convention.

​
The Theatricum Botanicum has just announced a month of special online Zoom events -- all free -- that they will be putting on over the next month, intended no doubt to involve the public to do some fundraising since they've had to shut their performance season down.

First up is a fascinating sounding event, "An Evening of Mummers and Mystery."  This is a small, independent film that Will Geer made In 1974 with other original Theatricum company members.  As they describe it, the film "recreated the experience of a troop of mummers performing a mystery play typical of The Middle Ages in Europe. This rarely seen film, full of familiar faces and screened now for the first time in nearly five decades, illustrates how early acting companies in the 1400s helped give way to the modern theater as we know it."

Here's a trailer for the film -- clearly low-budget, but just as clearly rambunctious and lively.  I did recognize a few performers, like Will Geer, of course, and also -- at the 50-second mark -- Dana Elcar and Arthur Malet (a longtime character actor who, among many other things, played the banker 'Mr. Dawes, Jr.' in Mary Poppins, the character who rehires Mr. Banks at the end, as everyone sings "Let's Go Fly a Kite), as well as, I think, Joyce Van Patten (who memorably played a killer in an episode of Columbo), along with some others I recognized but couldn't quite place in the few moments on screen, , but this is just a brief trailer, so I look forward to seeing the many others .  

If you want to see the film, which is free, you have to RSVP first, and then they'll email a Zoom link and password.  You can sign up at here.  There will be a Zoom discussion afterward.  

By the way, this is the full schedule of their free Zoom events over the next month.  One is their Evening with Woody Guthrie, who was friends with Will Geer.  And there is an evening of storytelling from performers who've worked at  the Theatricum Botanicum, an evening for young children, and a gala "fundraiser" -- which, again, is free -- full of performers and hosted by Pamela Adlon, creator and star of the series Better Things...and daughter of my friend, the late writer Don Segall, who I wrote about here.  

As readers may recall, I've written here  and elsewhere a few times about attending plays and concerts at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanticum, a wonderful, outdoor theatrical venue out in the Topanga National Forest.  It's a bit of a drive for me to get there, about 45 minutes, much of the way through a long and winding road (and that's not even meant as a Beatles reference), so I don't go often, but whenever I do, it's a treat.  They put on high-quality work, and the atmosphere of the full complex is a joy.

In what seem like a total non sequitor, if you watched the Democatic National Virtual Convention, you might have seen Billie Eilish present the world premiere performance of her new song, "My Future."

It turns out not to be a non sequitor at all.  I just found out that she performed the song at the Theatricum Botanicum.  It's hard to recognize, since the stage is filled with smoke and the lighting is very moody.  But once you know where it is, you can see the same wooden plank flooring and couple of steps in the back.

Here's the video for those who haven't seen it, or did but want to make the Theatricum connecticum..

Once again, I took my morning walk past the neighborhood Laemmle Royal art house movie theater in order to check out the marquee because (as I note each week) they change on Fridays to make some pandemic joke.

I stared at it a bit though, not sure what in the world they were referring to this week.  And then, finally, it hit me, and I burst out laughing.  It's also probably their most political comment.  I'm not sure how many people passing the theater by will get the joke, since it's pretty subtle, most especially compared to their previous marquee quips.  But clear enough since it was definitely in the news.

For those still scratching your heads --

Rio de Janeiro, as you know, is the largest city in Brazil.  Its president, Jair Bolsonaro, has long been a close ally of Trump.  Indeed, in his ongoing and ill-advised effort to suck up, he's similarly been very dismissive of the coronavirus, referring to it merely as nothing more than "the flu."  Bolsonaro has also even followed in his buddy Trump's footsteps an advocate of the drug hydroxychloroquine being the miracle cure, despite it not having medical approval anywhere in the world.

This past Wednesday, Brazil President Bolsonaro tested positive for COVD-19. 

As CNN reported about Bolsonaro's response now, "He also acknowledged the grave risk posed by a virus that he has in the past dismissed as just a 'little flu.' 'We know the fatality of the virus for those of a certain age, like me, above 65, as well as for those with comorbidities, diseases, other issues. In those cases, the virus could be decisive and lead to death -- everyone knew that.'"

Well, not everyone.  And even those who did didn't always say it.

But back to the main point here -- I don't know who's in charge of the Royal's marquee, but hats off for their love and knowledge of movies, and willingness to go all-in with subtlety.

​I thought you’d appreciate this.  The Laemmle Royal is a fine art movie house about three blocks from me.  I haven’t seen it for a few months because, of course, I’ve been staying inside, and the few times I ‘ve been out, I went a different direction.  But I took my morning walk in its direction the last two days.  I walked past it yesterday, looked over and started laughing.  I took a picture of the marquee but it was fuzzy, so I went back today – and the marquee was different.  So, my guess is that they actually change this every day.   I don’t know if they’ve been doing this for the past couple months, or if they just started it recently or what.  But hats-off to them whenever they began.
 
Yesterday, the marquee was --
 
“Now Playing: 
High Anxiety.” 
 
“Coming Soon: 
“Serenity.”
 
 
Here’s what it was today –

At my local grocery store yesterday, amid the hoarding, almost all varieties of soup were sold out. All except one type. There were empty shelves -- and dozens and dozens of cans of cream of mushroom soup.

What's odd is if it clearly is such an unpopular soup there, why does the store carry so much of it??

Mind you, I know that once upon a time, cream of mushroom soup was in most-every recipe in the 1950s.  And I can see them selling a lot around Thanksgiving for that spinach-fried onion crisp casserole .  But not being Thanksgiving (let alone Thanksgiving in the '50s...) and clearly it isn't selling now, that's what's so weird about them having SOOO much of it. 

It was really funny -- empty shelf after empty shelf after empty shelf, except for all that cream of mushroom soup.  People really didn't want cream of mushroom soup.  Even in a hoarding panic.  I mean, seriously people cleaned out ALL the cans of soup.  All of it.  Except the cream of mushroom soup.

I wrote about this on social media, and people were trying to come up with explanations and not all the things people really do use cream of mushroom soup for.  What I tried explain was that -- whatever the reason it's the only soup still there and however many reasons there are to use it -- the only point is that it's odd.  Odd that cream of mushroom soup is the only one left on the shelves, and odd that the store still stocks a soup that clearly isn't being bought like all others.  (Shelf space is tremendously valuable and competitive.  If a product doesn't sell enough, it's replaced.)  So, that's the only point -- that it's odd.  And really noticeable.  And funny.

This photo doesn't even do it justice, since you can't see how far the looooong rows of empty shelves go -- empty except for the cans of cream of mushroom soup.  And yes, all those cans are only cream of mushroom.

As you likely heard on the news, there were very long lines in California, in part because so many people voted, but mainly because it was a new system, and there were screw-ups.  To off-set them, California also instituted early voting for five days -- and in some areas for 11 days.  And they also sent everyone a vote-by-mail ballot.  And you could vote at any Election Center in your city, let alone in the state.  Still, though, most people waited to Election Day.

The Los Angeles Times wrote an article on it.
​

Readers of these pages will know that I often write about my friend Myles Berkowitz who, among his many other talents, is a unique individual with a unique personality and very politically-centered and active.  He is neither a Democrat, Republican or even an Independent, but what I refer to as a Mylesist, a unique political philosophy that encompasses one person and can probably only ever be understood by one person.  He will often register as a Democrat to vote in the primaries, but he is most definitely not a Democrat.  In fact, I'm sure he'd register as a Republican if he felt their primary was the more important one.  (For all I know, he has, though I don't think so.)

I mention all this because that quote above used in the Los Angeles Times headline is from -- Myles Berkowitz!  (Hey, I've told you want a unique guy he is.  I tries nots to lie to you.)

You can find the full article here, but this is the passage that deals with Myles --
​

What should have included in the article next was --

​Said his friend Bob Elisberg – “I told Myles to vote early and that the Felicia Mahood Center was close to him.  And I even told him that I myself had voted early there, and that I was only the only voter at the center at the time. (In fairness, it was an early Sunday morning.)  And today on Election Day when he called to tell me how much-too crowded the Hammer was and that he wanted to find someplace else to go, I told him again that he should go to the Felicia Mahood Center…which he did!  But he didn’t stay there.  I told him.  I told him.  I told him.  Not that I want to say 'I told you so,' or anything, mind you…  But I’ll bet you cash money that he’s complaining to you about how screwed up the new voting system is.  But I told him!!  Not that I want to say, 'I told…' oh, you know.  He’s a good guy, and I feel for him.  I’m really sorry he had to go through all that.”  Elisberg turned to walk away, but then stopped and turned back.  “But I told him.”

Okay, in fairness to Myles, he had a few funny comments that he told the reporter who left them out of the article.  One thing was that he said, "I took my 14-year old daughter with me to vote. But it was taking so long I had to leave her back at home.  By the time I finished she'd have been able to vote herself."

Another was -- "We often read about how in Third World nations there are people who walk across the countryside to get to a polling place just so that they can cast their ballot.  They voted faster than I did."

And then, since jokes come in threes, he added, "I think the State of California intentionally made this as terrible as possible because they want to convince people to vote by mail."

I will do Myles one other big favor.  The only thing about the article that bothered him is that it identifies him as a Bill Clinton voter in 1992 -- who he hates (though being a Mylesist nonetheless begrudgingly supported).  So, I thought I'd be nice to the guy, given how long it took him to vote, driving around town from one polling place to another, and clarify that point publicly for him.

When I spoke with him this morning, I had one question that bothered me -- how was he able to vote, I thought one had to be in line before 8 PM to be allowed to vote after the cut-off .  "I did, I finally got in line by the deadline," he said.  Ahh, I replied, when we talked during the evening, I had thought he wasn't in line before 8 PM.  He burst out laughing, "I was in THREE lines before 8 PM.  I just kept leaving them."

So, finally did get to vote and at last got home.  The good news is that he did not leave it in order to find another home that was more convenient.

Classical musical station KUSC in Los Angeles has done some weird things over the years, mostly during the last five or so.  This concerns one of my bugaboos.  It's not anything major, just personal.  But then, that's the point of a bugaboo. The underlying theme behind all of them at KUSC is that the station has been dumbing down its programming. It's still quite respectable.  Just less so than before.  And if such things are needed to keep classical music on the radio dial, I get it.   I know we're lucky to have a classical musical station in Los Angeles unlike many cities.  Though I've heard classical music stations in some of the other cities that still do have theirs, and the level of weirdness is less.  Then again, in fairness, this is Los Angeles.  Though in equal fairness, because this is Los Angeles, the entertainment center of the U.S., if you're going to do shtick, you'd better do it really well because the competition is strong.

Anyway, back to the show.  And what follows is nothing especially substation -- just another one of my occasional personal bugaboo tales --

​Between 7-8 in the morning, which is generally when I get up, the station started two features about 10-15 years ago.  The first of these features, which comes on at 7:15 is the "Off to School" request selection.  I wrote about it here at great length, so I will spare you and not repeat it all again. The very short version is that it's a perfectly fine idea in theory -- letting kids request a classical music selection in the morning -- but is dismal in practice. Not only because they eventually realized that not enough kids were requesting classical music, so they've had to expand the "Off to School" concept to the point of meaningless, by now allowing requests from just about anyone in the world who has children regardless of age or has grandchildren or students, or who knows someone who may have once been a child -- but also because when an actual child does request something, it's almost always a movie theme (which isn't classical music) and usually the theme from Harry Potter.

The other feature comes along around 7:45 in the morning, the Great Composer Quiz.  Again, in theory it's a perfectly nice idea.  The host who created the idea at least put in the time to come up with thoughtful clues before playing a piece of music by the Great Composer who you were supposed to guess.  He was a bit overly-pedantic in presenting the quiz, making it seem Oh-So-Important ("...and so...who IS...today's -- GREAT...COMPOSER??!") but it was handled fine, and an okay guessing game.  

When a new host came in, though, his heart was never in it.  And worse, he didn't want to risk any listening not possibly missing the right answer, so it came across like he didn't try to come up with clues until five minutes before, and his clues would be things like, "Okay, today's Great Composer was German, and famous for writing operas like The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro, and a movie was made about his life that won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and he was considered a child prodigy who had a rival name Antonio Salieri and his name rhymed with "oat-zart."  And here's a piece of music he wrote -- and would then play "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik."  But what made it worst of all is that after all these clues, he'd say, "Okay, I think after all of that you should really be able to get it now!!" which not only is not the point of a quiz, but it only served to make listeners feel really terrible if after all those easy clues they couldn't guess it.

I only bring this up today because this morning they went from the ridiculous to the sublime  There was a new host today -- I don't know if this is temporary or permanent, though she did a nice job -- and it doesn't seem like she has quite grasped the best way to handle the Great Composer Quiz yet.  It was actually sort of funny.  From "You will probably be able to guess this even if you have never listened to classical music in your life and accidentally just landed on this station today", we now are at "You probably won't be able to guess this unless you have a PhD in musical composition and a Ouija board."

I am not exaggerating today's Great Composer Quiz.  The clues were basically -- "Today's composer was born in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.  He only ate fish.  He was a bachelor.  And he was part of a group known as 'The Five.'  So, who is today's Great Composer?"  Okay, on three, all together, one -- two...wait, the looks on your faces suggest that those clues didn't help much.  Not to worry, I'm not too big to admit I didn't have a clue either.  But then I thought, well, maybe, the piece of music will ring a bell with me.  No, it didn't.  Not the slightest idea.

So, I waited to hear who the Great Composer was.  I know there are a lot of well-regarded classical composers whose names I recognize, but don't know all that well.  People like Scriabin, Monteverdi, Purcell, Donizetti, Messiaen, and such, composers I've heard of but know very little about and would have a hard time recognizing their music.  Though I know that experts would know them well.

And so, who was today's Great Composer who likes fish, is a bachelor and was born in Nizhny Novgorod?  It was none other than -- Mily Balakirev!!

And I hear the collective "Ahhhhhhhhh, of course!!  It was Balakirev!" from all of you.

I suppose that KUSC will continue to run these features for a while -- probably a long while.  And that's okay.  At heart, the idea behind them is fine.  And I am certain that there are many many who loooove the.  Fair enough. (And fair enough, too, that there are those who don't.)  It is just my fondest wish that if the station is going to have Fun Features that they actually figure out how to make them fun.  And make them work properly.  And not just be time fillers to seem clever and audience-involving when instead they handle them like afterthoughts.

Handel.  Now, if that was the Great Composer, I might have been able to guess it...

Around when I was perhaps in the third grade, I remember reading in class about the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.  It's where prehistoric animals got trapped, and then other of their fellow creatures would see them struggling and easy prey -- and going in to get them, they in turn would get caught.  Only the lucky few got out.  The site was discovered in 1901, with excavations beginning in 1913.  Though I wasn't big dinosaur fanatic as a kid, I was nonetheless seriously impressed.  Even at that age, I thought it was remarkable that one of civilization's great archeological locales was in the middle of the (then) third largest city in the United States.

When I came to Los Angeles for graduate school at UCLA, there was a small handful of places I wanted to see.  Disneyland, of course was one.  A movie studio was another.  I think Catalina Island may have been up there.  And I really couldn't wait to see the La Brea Tar Pits.

Time passes.  Several decades, as it happens.  And during all that time, I never went to the La Brea Tar Pits.  I passed by it a hundred times.  I thought about going regularly.  It's next door to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which I don't love but I'm a member of and go to periodically.  But for reasons I can't explain, I'd never gone to the La Brea Tar Pits.

Until yesterday!

Whatever the reasons I never had gone before, I finally got fed up and set aside a day, bought my ticket online, and went -- finally.

O huzzah!
​

Afterwards, I was talking with a friend who had a somewhat similar situation, and he was extremely disappointed by the experience.  Coming from New York and having seen the Natural History Museum, he found the museum there almost nothing.  I felt differently.  I grew up going to the Field Museum of Natural History there, and it's impressive (though a bit dry) in it's own right, but I still was thrilled to be at the La Brea Tar Pits.  It's not that it's a great museum -- it's not -- but that's not the point.  It's that it's one of the great archeological sites in the world that's located in a major city.  And it was a joy being there.

Actually, the site is divided into two parts -- the George C. Page Museum, which they charge for, and the Tar Pits area with the excavation areas which is free.

The Museum is fairly small and, no, not impressive, but the history of what's their is wonderful, and so is what they display. For instance, I enjoyed stopping by their Fossil Lab where a lot of the research is open to the public, and you get to watch the scientists at work, studying the material unearthed on the grounds.

There were some pleasant displays and short movies, though a lot of it seems more focused on kids.  (They have a longer 3-D movie, but I passed on that.)  However, the reconstruction of prehistoric animals is what stands out.  One of the more surprising skeletons is Harlan's Ground Sloth.  We think of sloths and small, sort of cuddly creatures.  They have have been cuddly, up to a point, but back in prehistoric days, the sloth was anything but small. 

My favorite was the Columbia Mammoth.  The bones are all from fossils discovered on the grounds, though not from the same animals.  The tusks however were added separately.

I wasn't sure what the difference was between a mammoth and mastadon.  It turns out that the latter is small and more compact.

Bizarrely, though the Page Museum has its own collection that covers over five million artifacts, some of what was on display there the day that I went was part of a traveling exhibition -- from the Field Museum of Chicago!!!  (Not most of what was on display, and not the Columbia Mammoth above.)  The outside grounds are really the historic site.  There's nothing overly majestic about it -- most of the pits, in fact, have been mostly-covered up over time, though you can still see the a bit of the tar still seeping through, with occasional methane bubbles.

(By the way, it's not actually tar.  It's asphalt, which is a natural material.  Tar has additives, but it's the name that stuck over the decades.  Brea means "tar" in Spanish.)

New pits crop up all the time, though.  One area was such that they had to carve out the "tar" and what was caught in it, and then crated.  The crates have been moved to the Project 23 area, which is where the work reclaiming the fossils takes place.
​

Currently, the part of the grounds where most of the active excavating is going on is Pit 91.  The bulk of what has been found there is fossils from Sabre-Tooth Cats and what they call ancient horses.

As I said, the La Brea Tar Pits (and its adjoining Page Museum) is most definitely not a great exhibition.  What it is, however, is a historic part of civilization.  And for that reason I had a wonderful time.  I wish there was more, but I was not let down after waiting to get there since I was eight years ago -- and driving by it regularly for decades.  I have no idea why I waited -- in one regard it's like any sites that are famous in a city, but second nature to those who live in their midst because "they're just there" and a part of your daily life -- but I wanted to go.  And continued to want to go.  But didn't.  

Until I did.  Finally.  And was thoroughly glad for it.