Lunch with Jim Hahn

Times columnist Steve Lopez met the former mayor at Yang Chow in Chinatown yesterday, and they talked about Hahn's new improved life out of the public eye: a steady lady friend, an office in Brentwood and time to get to the Hollywood Bowl.

Hahn is a new man altogether, even if he still has no better judgment than to dine with me. He's tanned, he's relaxed.

He's even funny.

While the two of us worked on the slippery shrimp at Yang Chow, he told me about his new life setting up real estate investments for the pension funds of building trade unions. Another diner came up and shook his hand, telling Hahn he looked great.

"Everybody says that," Hahn responded. "I must really have looked terrible."

One of the great things about being an ex-mayor, he said, is that everyone you meet claims to have been a fan.

"Everyone voted for me," he said. "I think I should demand a recount."

Hahn agreed, though, that he's better off for having lost on Election Day a year ago: "I just didn't know it at the time." Comments on the job being done by his successor? Wouldn't bite.