Back to L.A.?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I didn’t like L.A. when I was there. After the novelty wore off (previously I lived in Northern L.A. County in the desert, and before that in San Diego), I was getting bored. I didn’t like sunshine every single bloody day! When the weather was cool and rainy though, it was nice. I tried for years to move up north; and, though not exactly in the manner I had planned, I finally did.

There are things I miss about L.A. I was never really a beach-goer, but they were always there. In my last year there, I took to kayaking in the Pacific Ocean. Not much to see there; open ocean on one side, and the beach on the other. Up here there are islands and creeks and rivers. Kayaking is much nicer up here. And I have my boat. I can pull up fresh dungeness crab (in season) for the cost of a few gallons of fuel, a $5 launching fee, and a license. How cool is that? And just try buying a three-bedroom house only a few steps from the beach!

But L.A. has its advantages. There’s a lot more to do there. More choice of ethnic foods, and better tasting to boot! L.A. doesn’t have a ‘motorcycle season’, as we do up here. Sometimes I miss L.A. A recent drive up to the seedier side of Vancouver, B.C. reminded me of what it’s like to be in a big city.

So I was talking to Jerry yesterday. He moved up here to be near his son, because his ex was moving up here. But she stayed in Long Beach. He misses the city too. He’s very keen to bring me into his business. He has broadcast video gear, and I have 16mm film gear, lots of lighting equipment, camera supports, dolly, etc. His primary business is wedding videography and commercial videos, but he really wants a ‘creative’ production company. His company has a good reputation up here for producing quality products, and he makes a decent living at it. But he could run himself (and me) ragged with business in SoCal.

The thought is intriguing. I’m no longer engaged, so there’s no question about ‘making a life’ up here. My other filmmaking partner has apparently given up the game. What’s keeping me here?

Well, there’s the pleasant weather. My house, which I really like. A beach nearby. Crabbing.

But Jerry is ready to move his business south if I come along. (Geez, this guy really likes my camerawork!) It’s rather tempting. Only I’d have to keep my house! For one thing, I’m a strong believer in having a Plan B. If things don’t work out in L.A., it’s always good to have an escape hatch. And (as I’ve said repeatedly) I really like it up here. If we could make enough money as an independent videography/filmmaking company, then I could go to L.A. and keep my cool, damp PNW refuge.

There’s lots of work coming up this summer. In fact, we’re supposed to shoot some video today (weather permitting – and it looks like it will cooperate). No decisions until the Fall.

In other news, three of us are planning a trip to L.A. next week. Drop of the hat sort of thing. Jerry wants to visit his son, and I want to check on the MGB. And I gotsta get some fish’n’chips at Ye Olde King’s Head! After shooting the commercial video this week, there’s three weeks until the next wedding; so there’s plenty of time to drive down and spend one or two days in L.A.

It would be so much easier if I were independently wealthy! Then I could have a house in West L.A. and my house up here; plus a Cessna, Long EZ or Quickie Q200 so I could come up/go down any time I felt like it!

2

Ya know Johnny, I wondered when you left if you might just end up going back eventually. It’s seems that your first love is filmmaking and you were in the heart of it. So you’re pondering and ponder some more. Think it through, weigh the advantages/disadvantages. It’ll come to you.

Good luck!

3

Actually, my first love is flying. :wink:

I want it both ways! I must eat my cake, and also have it!

4

It just occurred to me when I was opening this up.
Aerial cinematography!

5

I thought about that.

First, I’d have to get current.

Next, I’d have to earn my commercial certificate.

Then I’d have to get the necessary materials to legally use the helicopter in film work.

Of course, that would give me a nice excuse to buy a Robinson R-22 (or R-44)! Yeah, that’s the ticket! Get a $200,000 or $300,000 small business loan…

6

[hijack] Johnny Are you coming to dinner for SwampBear in Seattle on Saturday? [/hijack]
Now back to your regularly scheduled postings.

7

I think so. Scotticher and I are planning to drive down together. I need to double-check the schedule though, to make sure we’re not taping Saturday.

8

Just checked. No video on Saturday. :slight_smile:

9

Wow. Top end of the country (Alaska isn’t really there) to the bottom. I like Pac NW for pretty much the same reasons you do I think, but the downside is that it’s a lot easier to convince yourself to stay indoors or at home when the weather is miserable. Which is a lot of the time. It’s hard to meet new people that way. If ever you thought you might be headed for a rut to get stuck in, I would very strongly urge you to avoid Mossland.

I think you should go south. B-town and the islands will always be there, and it’s not like there’s a great chance of property values changing any time in the next 400 years in that neck of the woods. Go back to Cali and make your fortune and then snag a Birch Bay beach pad at your liesure. Do you have to live IN L.A? Or might you be able to live a few (300) miles up the coast at say, Big Sur–an absolutely goreous hunk of real estate in its own right. You could pick up a Huey from some Army Surplus store, pimp it out and fly yourself in every morning. You’re a movie guy, it’d work!

Make the move.

10

Inigo Montoya,

But by the same token, you feel absolutely obligated to go out and be somebody when its nice! That made Southern California had for me, I never got a break. Every day is sunny, Every day I had to dress up and go be whoever I was suposed to be that day. Heck, one could forget how to read down there!
Johnny L.A. glad to hear it. I’m not sure if Phil will make it, he’s in class all day. I’m just going to dinner, I think. There’s no where in Pioneer Square I’d be happy parking the 'Vette.

11

Johnny, I seem to remember you made it sound like you really weren’t happy in LA and really wanted to leave, for a couple of years before you actually did. Is there any new reason why you won’t feel like that again?

You sound, besides job woes, as if you are happy where you are.

12

Tep.

Not really.

But I have to make a living; and if I can do it in a ready-made videography position, then that could be fun. One of the things I was looking forward to up here was filmmaking. Another was getting married. Filmmaking partner gave it up, fiancée changed her mind. May as well be a videographer, either up here or down there.

On the other hand, I really do like it up here better – except for the lack of a lot of things I took for granted. That’s why I want to keep the house. If L.A. starts depressing me again, I’ll have an escape hatch.

At this point, it’s just talk. We’ll see what happens in six months.

13

That should have been ‘Yep.’ in the last post.

14

In this thread I described my quick bounce down to L.A.

Jerry definitely wants to move back. He loves it there. He can be near his son. And we can make a lot of money. I have to admit that it’s nice this time of year. Not too hot yet. And I like the driving style there, if not the overcrowding. (I guess you can’t have one without the other.) Paul wants to move back too. He’ll probably leave his wife and kids here, at least for the time being. Jerry says he wants to take care of the pending videos that are near-time, and refund the monry to the far-off clients and send them to another videographer. His sister is an actress, and attends about a dozen weddings a year in L.A. He says she will be glad to help him drum up business.

Well… Hell. I like it up here! But after seeing my old friends and neighbours, and after gettng to partake again of things that are unavailable up here, I may have to do it. As long as I can keep my house in the PNW.

15

I just returned from Vancouver and Seattle, making the entire journey by train. I’m still in awe of Stanley Park, and of the majestic forests in Washington and Oregon. I know that sounds like a cliche but they truly are majestic, like Notre Dame or Il Duomo in Florence.

To the OP, you’ve been saying for years how glad you are to be out of L.A., so if I were you I’d think long and hard before moving back.

[aside]While riding the train back Tuesday night, nearing Union Station, we passed through the dark and forbidding areas beside the tracks in Chatsworth, Northridge, Van Nuys, San Fernando, Burbank, and Glendale. My wife spoke up: Though I cross the San Fernando Valley of darkness I will fear no evil…:smiley:
[/aside]

16

Very, very true. L.A. bugged the hell out of me the last few years I was there.

But I have to make a living. Jobs are incredibly scarce up here.

I wonder what it was about L.A. that bothered me so much. There was the weather, of course. Boy, did I get tired of the sun every day! And the heat. Noisy neighbours. (Not so much the ones I saw the other day, but the ones with kids who would scream in the courtyard.) The traffic blew chunks. (Of course, it wasn’t so bad since I have the motorcycles. :wink: ) Maybe I was just lonely. I didn’t really know anyone there.

Then there’s the job. If I can have a job doing my second-favourite thing, and be a partner in the business, and hang out with friends who share my passion, it might be worth the stuff I didn’t like. And having my house in the PNW as my ‘ace in the hole’ would allow me to Escape From L.A. if (and when) I needed to.

17

Any chance you could rent out your PNW house while you were gone?

18

We need to work out some kind of exchange program. :slight_smile:

Stranger

19

Indeed, mon!

If only I were independently wealthy. Then I could be bi-borderal.

Could do, but don’t really want to. I’d leave most of my stuff up here, and only have what I needed in L.A.

20

Johnny L.A> would be the fourth person I know who left L.A. because they hated only to come back a couple o fyears later.