The Travelodge I stayed in (Denise had already returned to London) was just round the corner from Westwood Village, not a quaint little village as we would understand it in Britain, but built-up, commercialised and with 6-lane highways running through it! Nevertheless it has a lot of character with palm tree-lined avenues, lots of little restaurants, and Mexican-influenced architecture. The houses in the residential sector are all unique, ranging from the small hacienda-style to mock classical collonaded mansions. There's a large Iranian community here, which surprised me (for no good reason other than the effect of listening to George Bush's anti-Iranian vitriol) and there's one main street which is full of Iranian restaurants and shops, interspersed, bizarrely enough, by Jewish artefact shops. The 'village' is also home to some cool art deco cinemas, often with only
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