A return to visit UCLA and Westwood Village

Famous UCLA students include Carol Burnett, Jimmy Connors, Rob Reiner, Kirsten Gillibrand, Francis Ford Coppola, Arthur Ashe, Mayim Bialek, Jackie Robinson, Troy Aikman, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jim Morrison

Royce Hall, completed in 1929, is one of the four original buildings on UCLA's Westwood campus and has come to be the school's defining image; luminaries who have appeared here: George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, Ella Fitzgerald, Albert Einstein and JFK

This was the business school when I attended but is now the Luskin School of Public Affairs; UCLA is only 419 acres surrounded by wealthy enclaves like Beverly Hills, Brentwood and Holmby Hills

1932 Student Activities Center building; Ray Bradbury wrote his classic novel Fahrenheit 451 at Powell Library in 1951; UCLA today is 31,600 undergrads and 14,300 grad and professional students

The Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is the primary teaching hospital for the David Geffen School of Medicine; it is currently ranked the 3rd best hospital in the country by U.S. News + World Report, and 1st on the West Coast

As a student I'd go to the Wooden Center mainly to play racquetball while the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center came after my days; Pauley Pavilion, where home basketball games are played, is off to the left of Wooden Center

The business school has new buildings and a more central location these days; supposedly, the Internet started at UCLA in 1969; the first Internet transmission was sent from UCLA to Stanford (right after it was sent, the computer sending it crashed)

Westwood Village is an on-street shopping, dining and entertainment district that was planned in the 1920s - the second such district ever to be built in the nation (preceded only by Country Club Plaza in Kansas City)

The 87 Janss Steps lead to the 4 original buildings on campus; UCLA was not founded until 1919 and is the only leading research institution in the world that was started in the 20th century

My best friends at UCLA; Tim and Sandy (standing) accompanied me on my first trip to Europe after graduation; the 18 months I spent at UCLA were enriched by the intelligence and lack of pretense shown by my classmates

The Daily Bruin began the same year as UCLA, 1919; Ralph Bunche was valedictorian of the 1927 class and was integral in the formation of the UN; he was the first African American and first person of African descent to be awarded a Nobel Prize

With 13,000+ students living on campus plus adjacent fraternities, sororities and apartments, Westwood is still popular for theaters and restaurants; there is also a new Target and nice Ralph's grocery store

I lived here my first year before moving to an apartment in mid-Wilshire for my second year; UCLA receives more admission applications than any other US college or university (100,000+ last year)

On 5+ acres next to my old business school lies the Franklin Murphy Sculpture Garden; 70+ works by artists like Rodin, Calder, Moore and Hepworth make for a tranquil place to study

The 55 acre Westwood Village has a Mediterranean theme, with clay tile roofs, decorative Spanish tile, paseos, patios and courtyards; shuttle buses connect to UCLA but parking here is limited and expensive

The gorgeous UCLA campus is adorned with jacaranda and eucalyptus trees; undergrads are now 58% female with graduate students being 48% female; UCLA will host the Olympic Village for the 2028 Games