I know a lot of people hate L.A. and all that goes with it, but I love it, and have since I moved here as a child. I liked walking to the bakery when we lived in Pico-Union (though not the gunfire I could hear from our apartment, courtesy of our local gang). I loved the few times I went to clubs in Hollywood, riding down Hollywood Boulevard with music blasting and looking at the people on the streets. I also loved the Saturday mornings my daughter and I spent at the playground in Griffith Park while my ex went hiking, when she was very small - one time I almost talked her into riding the carousel, but the calliope music scared her. And I still like going to Little Tokyo for manga at Kinokuniya and to stock up on Pocky and green tea at the market downstairs. And the Pantry! And Philippe’s French Dip! And Chinatown - I really wish I hadn’t been too sick to attend the Dopefest a few years back, when the other L.A. Dopers went for dim sum on a Sunday morning. Oh yeah, don’t forget Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles!
I apologize for the disjointed nature of my post, but it’s late at night and this is the only time I have to post here, right before bed.
P.S. I’ve lived here for over 30 years and still have never gone to Farmer’s Market. I wonder why.
I miss LA so much. 35 years I lived there and never ever thought I would leave. The things we do for love. I think possibly I will never get over having to leave, never forgive him for making us move.
Randy Newman came into the car dealership where I used to work, dropped off his wife to pick up her car and sat in the driveway waiting for her. My boss and I stood there saying “you go talk to him”; “no, you go talk to him” until he left.
I like it. I couldn’t get over the fact that I could see the Hollywood sign off in the distance from my $100 per night hotel room. It was a long way off but unmistakable. And there’s no way in the world you could get a proper hotel room back home (Sydney) for that little. More like $300. For that matter even a grimy motel room in Sydney is likely to cost about $100 a night.
And then I was amazed going outside onto Wilshire Boulevard and seeing street signs and buildings I had seen many times before on movies. It was surreal.
The place is nowhere near as tacky or dangerous as I had been led to believe. I felt safe enough to walk down to the CBD and back. No problems, in the daytime at least. The taxi driver who took me to the hotel warned me not to wander around at night though.