In late November David flew in from Germany for a road trip to Southern California. With the exceptions of visits to major American cities such as New York, David had not spent time in America in 40 years.
After a few days in San Francisco we went down Highway 1 to LA. We stopped at Pacific Grove for the butterflies, in San Simeon for a private tour of Hearst Castle, in Santa Barbara for a stay at the Biltmore, then three days at the Bonaventure in LA and at the Georgian on the Santa Monica coast. David flew back to London and we went to Pasadena for two days with Diane and Dave, then all four of us went to Palm Springs for two days with Sandy and Keith.
In Venice we visited the studio of Klaus Rinke, a German artist friend of David’s.
In LA we visited Steven Katz’s sister Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, the screenwriters, had brunch and viewed their Japanese photography collection.
We also visited Valerie Curtin and had lunch with her at her house.
From Palm Springs we returned on back roads (Highway 178 to 99), staying overnight in Bakersfield.
