With the exception of palm trees and nice weather, Orange County, California didn't seem too much different than DuPage County, Illinois or Bergen County, New Jersey...

But the palm trees definitely add something.

The fact that the weather is always nice, and that you can buy beer, wine, and hard liquor at CVS are almost reasons enough for me to pack my bags and move out there.

Palm trees at the hotel.

More palm trees. I couldn't get enough of them.

One of the restaurants we dined at had a cool aquarium filled with tropical fish.

Most of the week was spent at this Macy's store in Orange County. Built in 1957, the store actually has a pretty handsome exterior that evokes mid-century modernist design in California.

Outside Macy's in Orange County. Throughout the week, I kept seeing a bright thing in the sky that Californians apparently refer to as the "sun".

Outside Macy's in Orange County

Outside Macy's in Orange County

Approaching LAX from the east on the 105 freeway. Downtown LA is way off in the distance, with the Santa Monica Mountains beyond.

A zoom shot of downtown LA from the 9th floor of our hotel at LAX.

And here's the non-zoom shot of the same view.

A classic 1950's diner on LaTijera Boulevard, not far from LAX. (Upon doing some internet research, I learned that the diner scenes from Pulp Fiction were filmed at the Hawthorne Grill at 13763 Hawthorne Boulevard, which has since been demolished.)

Large swaths of Los Angeles apparently look like this. (In fairness to LA, this isn't much different than Western Avenue in Chicago or Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.)

A Denny's Diner in the art deco Wiltern Theater building on Wilshire Boulevard.

The Wiltern Theater on Wilshire Boulvard. Considered one of the finest examples of art deco architecture in Los Angeles, the Wiltern was designed by the LA firm of Morgan, Walls & Clements and built in 1931. It was threatened with demolition twice in the 1970's, but has since been nicely restored.

You can't spit in Los Angeles without hitting a food truck, but apparently the city hasn't yet collapsed into the sea, and local restaurants still manage to stay in business. To listen to some Cincinnati politicians and witness police harassment of Cafe de Wheels Cincy and Cincy Taco Truck - Azul, you'd think food trucks bring plaques of frogs and swarms of locusts to any city that allows them.

The whole Hollywood Boulevard area near Grauman's Chinese Theater is a tourist mecca in much the same manner as Times Square in New York. Like Times Square, I probably wouldn't go near this place if I actually lived in LA, but it's something you have to see on your first visit to town.

Hollywood Boulevard at night