Palm trees set the stage for the California climate.

Nathan Lane and I have the same dream: to buy a condo near The Grove ... The Grove as in the shopping area next to the Farmers Market in Los Angeles, Calif.


It’s “Utopia,” he told Ellen DeGeneres on an episode of her talk show. “It’s got everything. It has an Apple Store.”


Well, I don’t so much care about the Apple Store, with the exception that my children would come visit me just to go to the Apple Store. But he’s right about The Grove. It’s got everything ... it’s the most beautiful outdoor shopping area I’ve ever seen.


Lane said he loves L.A., having recently moved there. He loves it even though he’s not a vegan and hates traffic. I’m with him there.


During a family trip this summer, I fell in love with the city all over again, just as I did about 30 some years ago when I first flew west.


It was the first trip for my children, Amanda and Leland, who had only met one relative in their lifetimes out of the big bunch that lives in California. And, now they, too, are California dreamin’.


What is the attraction to a city full of glitz and glamour and money and shiny cars? For me, it’s not so much the glitz or the glamour or the money or the shiny cars ... but, more the friendliness of the people who live there.