Hotel Carla

Fresh cut flowers at Hotel Carla

Sometimes, the SJG just has to get out of Sherman Oaks and explore the more glamorous parts of Los Angeles.  So I booked a suite at Hotel Carla, a boutique B&B in Lower Bel Air.  "I'll take my coffee in the dining room, at 6:30," I told the proprietor of this charming establishment. "Press the green button and voila, you have a fresh cup," she said last night, before retiring.  "I have to make my own coffee?  On Downton Abbey, the servants would take care of my caffeine needs." "We've lost our PBS funding and had to let the servants go," she told me.  I commenced weeping.  "Excuse, but, no chocolate on the pillow?"  "Budgetary cuts.  Good night," Carla said.  "May I have a wake up call at 6:15?" I asked.  "I'd prefer you wake up on your own," she said.  "Things just aren't the same since the war," I said.  "Which war?" Carla asked.  "All of them," I said, and thanked her, formally, for the wonderful accommodations.