Driving into Los Angeles in the morning, I managed to contact my friend Chris from La Jolla, who now lives in LA. He was open to getting together and suggested that we have lunch at Universal Studio's CityWalk complex. I didn't know what this was, but he assured me that I would love it. So we rendezvoused at a nearby convenience store and I followed him up to CityWalk.

Evidently, CityWalk is an extravagant shopping complex built directly in front of the main Universal Studios theme park. It has restaurants, and theaters and plenty of novelty shops you can buy interesting items at. Everything in CityWalk has been built to an enormous scale. The architectural elements dwarf you. It's a lot of fun because everything is so campy.

Chris and I found a great seafood place that was somewhat affordable and had lunch. We then spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through all the fascinating stores. One shop I remember had lots of toys from when I was a child in the early '60's. Things like Lincoln Logs and various items from Mattel and Whamo. Wow!

After one last look at the famous Universal Studios globe, I told Chris I needed to make it down to San Diego before dark. He was a bit disappointed since he wanted to continue on and visit the theme park. Another time.