Extra Mustard, Please

All you care about is that the grill smoke at the snack bar is making your heart scream and your lips quiver. And that the sun feels so good on your forehead, and that the Dodgers are hanging in, sometimes good, yet not always.

Marilyn’s Beach

On this beach, Tommy Zahn and Marilyn Monroe soaked up some rays, then each other. But she wanted fame more than she wanted him. As it turns out, the handsome lifeguard may have been the love of her life.

What I Learned at Med School

I praised my late wife’s oncologist for not filling every silence in the exam room -- for allowing pauses in the conversation, as we absorbed and pondered the latest results.

In Search of Paradise

I drive past lots of razor wire, which I’m pretty sure is just decorative, past the karate academies, the noodle shops and the “8 Barbers, No Waiting” salon on Beverly … all the things I would truly miss if I went screaming off to Duluth.

Magic Moments

We were headed for a gala that night, so neither of us was in very good spirits, though the banquet, in support of the gorgeous Pasadena Playhouse, turned out to be really enjoyable.

Impossible Outcomes

Heaven must be a place where the milk is cold and creamy, the movies are 90 minutes long, the wifi never fails, the burgers are three bucks and rosy pink on the inside.