One for the Los Angles City Notebook

So I'm on Vermont, in the part of the city called Los Feliz, just a touch north of that corner where Vermont, Hollywood and Prospect all come together, but before Kingswell. I'd come from a bit of nice chat with the fellow who operates Blue Rooster, the only independent art supply store I am familiar with at this point--
(-- so that is where I like to get any art supplies I need. Usually gluestick and Moleskines. I was exactly there back in February of 2007 when suddenly, and that is exactly the word I mean, I took to collaging. I bought my first gluestick from him, and a Moleskine sketchbook, and collected ephemera from up and down the street, then sat in Starbucks and made a mess and was very happy with the results. So I like the place.)
--and I look over and notice that the base of the tree in its rock-laden patch of dirt alongside the curb, is covered in artfully planted succulents, in all those dreamy hazy shades of green and grey and purple that they come in out here. So I stop, and look up and down the street, after admiring this patch. I do not see another similar one. This one is in front of a storefront painted a harmonious shape of purple, I think the shop was called "Purple Circle," so this all makes sense.

The whole thing was so unexpected and unlooked-for. A secret garden of an entirely different sort from Burnett's, but with good effects.