Americana

Wednesday night I played a gig with Steve Tyrell at a new, enormous mall here in L.A. called The Americana (it was designed by the same folks who designed The Grove in Hollywood for those of you who might have been there before during a visit). As far as the shopping goes its much like any other high end mall you'd see anywhere else in the country (Cheesecake Factory, Lucky Brand Co., Barnes & Noble, etc.) but similarities to other malls pretty much end there. There is an enormous courtyard with a big fountain and, of course, a stage. Tony Bennett had actually opened the place a couple of months ago. The gig went really well, there were hundreds of people (as it turns out, when you play for free a LOT of people show up, go figure!) and the crowd was very enthusiastic.

The odd thing about this mall is that it features luxury condos. There is a concierge service that will run down to The Gap and pick out some shirts for you and bring them up so you can try them on without leaving your place. Our band room was in one of the condos and it was pretty nice, roomy, 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bath.

The cost of such a place? $2.5 million!

If I'm paying that much scratch for a condo I want it to be either really, really big or by the beach or some other really great neighborhood. But a mall? I don't think so.

Would you like to live in a mall?

Here's your boy with the little one at soundcheck: