What's the philosophy of Los Angeles? "What number are you on the call sheet?" Rolling calls. Rolling your calls is a fancy way of saying you're making one call after another. I've heard laypeople say, "I had to roll such and such number of calls," and I almost keeled over.

Is there a place where you can witness that mentality? Probably the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. I always feel like everyone is reading­ a script there. And everyone is reading a script at the gym; it's a little bit of a one-industry town. At the one on Sunset, there are a lot of people on their computers. Sometimes it makes me really depressed when I go there, because I feel like, I hope everyone gets a break. Some of them are probably writing something brilliant. When I first got here, I just felt like it was an infestation of Hollywood. I felt so accosted by how everyone was in the same business and everyone was trying to get the same thing. I don't feel that way anymore. Now, it annoys me when New Yorkers kind of pooh-pooh L.A. and say, "Oh, it's full of vapid people." Because the truth is, most of the smartest friends of mine either have lived here or are living here - including my fiancé, who's much smarter than I am.

What about somewhere where you can escape that mind-set? I like the 29 Palms Inn. It's a little boutique hotel near Joshua Tree National Park. I've only gone there in the winter. I went with a girlfriend of mine, and we made a fire in our room. It was so romantic - or it would have been if we hadn't been [there] with each other. It's just so small and intimate. It feels very Neil Young. I think they have massages there, but it's not a spa. I used to go up Runyon Canyon and go hiking. I'm not that beachy. Now that I'm getting old, I'm not allowed to go into the sun.