Me with Phil Rosenthal

Last night I had dinner with Phil & Monica Rosenthal at his diner, Max and Helen’s, named after his parents. Those of you are addicted to his Netflix show (like I am), “Somebody Feed Phil,” remember Max & Helen because on every show, no matter where he was in the world, eating his way through some city, he always took time to cut to his parents, in New Jersey, in order to get a joke from his father. He’s a deep family man and, besides the amazing food at Helen & Max, this maybe is what makes it unique. This diner is a little island of love. Lily Rosenthal, their daughter works there and her husband, Mason Royal, is a chef there. Of course, It’s the one and only chef, Nancy Silverton, who developed the menu with input from Mason, and let me tell you it lives up to its rapidly growing reputation. On weekends there’s already an eight hour wait. It’s worth it. No one is disappointed.

Sharing a malt with Monica Rosenthal

You won’t believe what I ate: first came the French fries and I swear, they were the best fries I have ever had in my very long life!l Then the pastrami sandwich…OMG! Then the already famous waffle with maple butter that didn’t even require maple syrup. It was the fluffiest, most scrumptious waffle I ever devoured. Then there was an out of this world hot dog followed by a fantastic tuna melt and a divine salad, a hot chocolate that I swear was better than anything I ever had in Paris and a chocolate malt that you see me drinking above. No, I didn’t eat all of everything, but I had a lot of all of it, and I can’t wait to go back.

Sitting in a booth near the entrance with Phil and Monica was a special treat. He greets everyone as they come in, asks them if they liked the food as they’re leaving and the answer is always an astounding yes!! I love seeing the faces of people as they came in and recognized Phil. Sort of like going to Disneyland and meeting Walt Disney.

It’s hard to describe how perfect the actual, physical place is: the lighting, the way it’s laid out, the old-fashioned quality. This place is the real deal. See for yourself when you come to L.A.

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First we went to the St John the Divine cathedral in Harlem for the St Francis of Assisi service and the blessing of the animals.

Then for the best southern fried chicken and collard greens at Melba’s.

The food and vibes were top notch and here I am hugging Melba herself.

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Last night, Marta Kaufman, creator of “Grace & Frankie,” and I went to see “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Hollywood Bowl. It was starring Cynthia Erivo as Jesus, and she was breathtaking. Her talent is something out of this world. She was Jesus. She appeared transported by a powerful internal force of reverence and the awareness that she had to die. I was moved to tears. Her body at the crucifixion looked like El Greco’s painting “Christ on the Cross.” What an inspired piece of casting.

Adam Lambert was also brilliant as Judas.

And Josh Gad was hysterical in a cameo as King Herrod.

I wish this cast could do it on Broadway, but after reading all the work plans that Cynthia Erivo has, doesn’t look like she’ll be free for years.

This was an inspired production

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Wonderful to talk with Bloomberg’s Meg Szabo and Jason Kelly at Bloomberg Green in Seattle. It was a full house of people from all over who work in various ways on Climate. Beautifully organized and nice to speak with people who don’t need to be convinced that we are facing an existential crisis but there’s still time to turn things around if we act fast. This is why I have my Climate PAC: to elect climate champions on the local and state level.

Bravo to Bloomberg

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Ozkan Bilgin / Anadolu via Getty Images

I’ve always loved Anne Lamott’s writing, so I was very happy when I saw her Guest Contribution in the Los Angeles Times on March 7th. The title of her essay is “In Trump’s dark age, collective action springs up.”

The photo is captioned: “Nature models ‘the resistance’: The first flowers don’t wait for sunny days.”

Leave it to Lamott to join nature and resistance in such a simple, beautiful, and inspiring way.

“Where is our North Star, pointing home? We have never lived in a country where men behave like this “she writes. “While we wait to see whether Musk and President Trump defy the coming court orders, while we wait for the mass protest marches and general strikes to begin, my friends and I are taking care of each other and our families. We give to the ACLU and Oxfam. We check in with each other: the system works because we are not all freaked out on the same day. Someone always feels hopeful about the future. It is me, quite often. I know in my Sunday-school teacher’s heart that goodness surrounds us, that grace bats last and that things are not going to end up well for these guys. Yay, Karma.”

She continues: “We savor all that still works, the beauty all around us, small moments. Of course, in my cranky case, some are vengeful: Watching the little Musk boy scold Trump in the Oval Office gave me a new lease on life. I laughed for days at the look on Trump’s face, like someone trying to be polite on a bad first date. As Musk raved on to the press, you could see Trump wanting to be supportive of this strange little billionaire. You could see him thinking, “Why did I agree to this; and who do I fire?”

She references moments; crips clean sheets, and Edward Norton as Pete Seeger in “A Complete Unknown” as two examples of recent pleasures that I’m 100% with her on.

And she asks, “Will large and small demonstrations make a difference? They’re good for the soul. We have to continue to act on our understanding of what is right. We need to perform acts of compassion that are missing in the current nasty public sphere.

“When anyone sees people like us respond in a human and compassionate way, it’s a check against the feral thing we all carry inside.”

So come on, y’all, let’s strengthen our community, care for our neighbors like Anne Lamott does; And let’s be first flowers, not wait for the sunny days.

You can read Anne Lamott’s entire article at this link: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2025-03-07/anne-lamott-hope-donald-trump-elon-musk

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Last Saturday night, Lo Maximo, Homeboy Industries’ annual gala, honored Kim Kardashian for her work on criminal justice reform. She gave a personal and heartfelt acceptance speech and everyone was thrilled to have her there. For those of you unfamiliar with Homeboy Industries, it is the largest and most successful reentry program in the world. Formerly incarcerated men, women, boys and girls go through an 18 months training program that encompasses everything from tattoo removal to anger management, therapy, parenting, art, financial management classes, and much more. The homies and homegirls are paid during the 18 months and get help finding jobs when they’ve graduated.

I’m on the board and again hosted the event together with Rainn Wilson, Camilla Bell, and Lisa Ling.

We were lucky enough to be treated to a few songs from the one and only Babyface. He was terrific!

Another major highlight of the evening was when our CEO, Tom Vozzo, announced that Father Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboys some 33 years ago, was going to Washington this weekend to receive the most distinguished civilian honor there is: the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Everyone on the board came on stage for the announcement. Of course, we all think Father Greg should be sainted for the unique and profound work he has done but the Presidential Medal of Freedom is a real wowzer!!!!

https://homeboyindustries.org/

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Here I am with (left to right: Supervisor Holly Mitchell, Chair Lindsey P. Horvath, Supervisor Janice Hahn receiving the Jane Fonda Day scroll.

This morning, Lindsey P. Horvath, Chair of the LA County Board of Supervisors, officially declared April 30th Jane Fonda day. Suffice to say, I was bowled over. I didn’t even know such a thing was done. I kept thinking of my father. I wanted to hold the scroll up for him to see, “hey dad, I’ve turned out OK. Look at this!” Back in the early 70s if I had told him this would happen neither one of us would’ve believed it.

Los Angeles County has a really fantastic Board of supervisors, All brave, powerful women and all of them care about people more than they do about getting rich and they are all paying a lot of attention to the climate crisis. In my acceptance remarks I spoke about how important it is for people to vote not just for the top tickets like presidents and senators but for down ballot races including boards of supervisors, city Council and state legislatures. You may not know it, but these elected bodies have a great deal of power over things concerning the climate crisis and ensuring our cities and towns are resilient. Let’s remember that when we vote.

My deepest gratitude to the LA County Board of Supervisors.

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I did a really fun podcast with Phil Rosenthal and David Wild. It’s called NAKED LUNCH. We weren’t naked but there were many laughs, and great food! We had lots to discuss, so there are two parts. Check them out here: https://link.chtbl.com/v_wO2BFi

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I’m popping out of my skin with happiness and pride! Last night, the Jane Fonda Climate PAC saw most of our supported candidates win. I’m posting about this because I want people to see that down ballot races are truly strategic when it comes to confronting the climate crisis. It’s state legislatures, city councils, county executives, mayors, and supervisors where the robust work on climate is taking place these days. Please remember this when you vote in 2024. And we must ALL vote. Voting for someone doesn’t mean you’re marrying them! It means making a pragmatic decision that will make a difference in how hard or easy your life will be. And let’s all remember this: IT’S BETTER TO TRY AND MOVE AN ALLY THAN TO BE BLOCKED BY A FASCIST.

In Virginia – 13 out of 14 of our endorsed candidates for Virginia’s state legislature won! That means that Democrats held the Senate flipped the House and won control of the State General Assembly. Take that Gov. Youngkin!

We also supported winning candidates for School Board and Board of Supervisors in Fairfax County, Virginia!

Our candidate for Minneapolis City Council won the first round of ranked choice voting by only 59 votes (which shows that EVERY VOTE COUNTS!)

Our goal in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, was to flip the County Council in a community that has 6 superfund sites, a proposed gas line expansion and NO environmental oversight committee. Of our 5 endorsed candidates — 4 of them WON! While we didn’t completely flip the Council, we helped elect four climate champions who will fight for their communities.

In Allegheny County, PA, our candidate for the County’s new Executive won her general election. These county executive positions can be very important when it comes to climate-related matters. Keep this in mind for future elections.

And finally in San Diego County, CA our candidate Monica Montgomery-Steppe won her race for the County Board of Supervisors, making history as the first Black woman to be elected to the Board.

If you feel like joining my PAC, please go to JANEPAC.com

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