So Cal

I was raised in Pasadena. After the Army, first working, later going to PCC and then UCLA, I lived in Altadena, Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades. Used to drive up the coast to Malibu a lot to watch the sun sink into the ocean from a barstool. Malibu was always in some kind of trouble, it seemed ... if not fires, mud slides, spendy homes falling into the sea. But they always rebuild because it's so damn beautiful.

All my LA friends are away from the flames so far. Not a pretty sight on TV, to be sure. And less chaos and administrative failure than in New Orleans, it seems.