The traffic hasn't gotten any better since my last post. If anything, the consistency of its awfulness was putting me into a funk. After the first couple days on my job with so little traffic, perhaps my expectations were just out of whack. Then again, my coworkers were also telling me that the past few days had been particularly bad.
Regardless, my boyfriend made a suggestion that I have been trying and have found so far to be immensely successful. Like Tim Gunn says, I'm "making it work" with a few tweaks.
Every morning I had been waking up early, going to the gym, coming back home to get ready for work, and then heading into the office. I was getting up at 6:20am and getting into the office by 9am. Well, my boyfriend's suggestion was to go to work first thing in the morning and then head to the gym after work. Basically, I'd go in at 7:30am, and be able to leave at least an hour earlier than I was before. With the blessing of my boss, I tried it out a few days this week, and voila! it works!
I haven't been missing the traffic altogether. But the drive home for me has gone down from an average of 70 minutes to 25-30 minutes. Yay!
And with that extra time, I can do a little more work, spend a little more time at the gym, and take a little more time at home to chill and do other things I care about. It's a fantastic rearrangement. :-)
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Miserable
I'm just four days into my new job, and already I'm realizing that all that talk about "LA traffic" really is appropriate. Granted, my commute doesn't exactly skirt the busy roads - in fact, it takes me right through one of the busiest and most congested thoroughfares - but the past couple nights of desperately seeking alternatives to avoid what were terrible traffic jams on the freeways have only made my drive that much worse... and worn me out in the process.
I never cared for the inconsistency of the Muni in San Francisco. It was always a crapshoot, and more often than not it involved a ride that I could have biked faster. It was slow, and yet it worked. I suppose that's why I continued to take it, even as it drove me bonkers on a regular basis. About the only thing consistent with Muni was its inconsistency. When I lived out in the Sunset, which was just 6 miles from my workplace downtown, my commute often took an hour each way, on a good day.
Los Angeles traffic is another beast entirely. Rarely have I seen four- and five-lane-wide stretches of highway with nothing but brake lights as far as the eye can see... until now. I thought I knew what I was getting into when my commute the first few days took me little more than 25 minutes each way. Easy peasy, right? Not so fast - literally.
Last night my drive home took an hour and 20 minutes. Tonight, an hour. Now, to be fair, last night there was a major accident on the freeway that I would normally take, which turned a typical nightmare into a collective version of hell on earth for all those with the unfortunate experience of being on the road at the time. And, what I also didn't plan on was running into traffic for the Lakers-Clippers game as I tried to skirt the freeways by taking sidestreets across downtown. But tonight there was no accident. Just normal traffic. Which apparently means an hour-long drive. To go 10 miles.
So, yeah, everyone outside LA who says "oh, I hate the traffic," you got me. Whoop it up. The traffic can definitely be bad. Painfully so for this driving neophyte.
And, frankly, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I came home in tears last night and close to it again tonight. I really am not prepared to spend upwards of two hours a day in my car. One hour, I can handle, but two?
Oh, and for those of you who know how much of a transit geek I am, don't think I hadn't already tried to figure out what it would take to do my trip on the train/bus. It's a minimum of 90 minutes each way. And when I know that I can do it in my car for a possible 25 minutes if traffic permits (which it has a number of times), and 80 minutes in the worst case scenario, well... you get the picture.
So, what now? I don't know. I'm just kvetching because I hafta. This week has been super fun for me at work, and that's been tainted by a drive that has left me really upset on several occasions.
What would you do?
I never cared for the inconsistency of the Muni in San Francisco. It was always a crapshoot, and more often than not it involved a ride that I could have biked faster. It was slow, and yet it worked. I suppose that's why I continued to take it, even as it drove me bonkers on a regular basis. About the only thing consistent with Muni was its inconsistency. When I lived out in the Sunset, which was just 6 miles from my workplace downtown, my commute often took an hour each way, on a good day.
Los Angeles traffic is another beast entirely. Rarely have I seen four- and five-lane-wide stretches of highway with nothing but brake lights as far as the eye can see... until now. I thought I knew what I was getting into when my commute the first few days took me little more than 25 minutes each way. Easy peasy, right? Not so fast - literally.
Last night my drive home took an hour and 20 minutes. Tonight, an hour. Now, to be fair, last night there was a major accident on the freeway that I would normally take, which turned a typical nightmare into a collective version of hell on earth for all those with the unfortunate experience of being on the road at the time. And, what I also didn't plan on was running into traffic for the Lakers-Clippers game as I tried to skirt the freeways by taking sidestreets across downtown. But tonight there was no accident. Just normal traffic. Which apparently means an hour-long drive. To go 10 miles.
So, yeah, everyone outside LA who says "oh, I hate the traffic," you got me. Whoop it up. The traffic can definitely be bad. Painfully so for this driving neophyte.
And, frankly, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I came home in tears last night and close to it again tonight. I really am not prepared to spend upwards of two hours a day in my car. One hour, I can handle, but two?
Oh, and for those of you who know how much of a transit geek I am, don't think I hadn't already tried to figure out what it would take to do my trip on the train/bus. It's a minimum of 90 minutes each way. And when I know that I can do it in my car for a possible 25 minutes if traffic permits (which it has a number of times), and 80 minutes in the worst case scenario, well... you get the picture.
So, what now? I don't know. I'm just kvetching because I hafta. This week has been super fun for me at work, and that's been tainted by a drive that has left me really upset on several occasions.
What would you do?
Monday, November 15, 2010
Employed!
Just under two weeks ago, I published this post about being in-between jobs and looking for work. And I want to say thank you to all of you who connected me with people you know and have been looking out for me. It means a lot to me - thank you!
I am fortunate to have been offered (and accepted) a job this past weekend. It's true! I start in 3 weeks and am very excited both for the work that I'll be doing and for the ability to better support myself financially going forward. All good things. :-) I won't go into the details of the work right now, but suffice to say that it builds on my analytical and policy background and is an excellent place to get started in Los Angeles.
That said, I am definitely still looking for different ways to connect and plug into the LA community, so if you you know if people you think would be good for me to talk to, please let me know! While my new job did not come through the networking that I've been doing, I do credit that networking for giving me a much better sense of the community and ways to get involved. Every reference sent my way (so far) has been super, and I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has been so supportive of me in my journey.
Thank you!
I am fortunate to have been offered (and accepted) a job this past weekend. It's true! I start in 3 weeks and am very excited both for the work that I'll be doing and for the ability to better support myself financially going forward. All good things. :-) I won't go into the details of the work right now, but suffice to say that it builds on my analytical and policy background and is an excellent place to get started in Los Angeles.
That said, I am definitely still looking for different ways to connect and plug into the LA community, so if you you know if people you think would be good for me to talk to, please let me know! While my new job did not come through the networking that I've been doing, I do credit that networking for giving me a much better sense of the community and ways to get involved. Every reference sent my way (so far) has been super, and I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has been so supportive of me in my journey.
Thank you!
Your home... You're home
This past weekend was a big moment for me. I had my housewarming, which involved inviting lots of friends over and commiserating over gnoshes and drinks. I also played host to my mom and her friend, with whom I drove to LA after a quick flight up to San Francisco to surprise my brother for a live jazz recording he was doing.
I was nervous, honestly, to show my mom my place. It wasn't even just my apartment that I was nervous about sharing as much as showing her my new city. At the brunch that my mom hosted a couple months ago on the day that I moved here, one of her friends blurted out how awful LA was and how he just loved SF so much more. Readers of this blog know that I've heard this sentiment a lot, but coming from one of my mom's closest friends, and in the context of my final brunch in San Francisco before I moved to LA, it was more jarring than usual. I'm certain this is a sentiment that mom has heard time and time again, as have I.
As we made the long slog southward down the 5 toward the grapevine, I began to worry. What if mom thought LA sucked? What if the air was horrible and aggravated my mom's friend's breathing issues? What if our visit would just be a slog from one destination to the next?
As it turned out, not only were my worries unfounded, but my mom and her friend had a great time. Mom was ecstatic about being in Hollywood and walking along the Hollywood Walk of Stars. She and her friend loved the view from Griffith Observatory, and mom and I had a lovely walk to my garden and onward to get some herbs and seeds to plant. While our time together was short, we did make the most of it and saw a few different parts of LA - enough to give my mom a sense of a city she admits she'd never visited before (quite smartly, she doesn't include a three-day trip to Disneyland a few years ago as being a visit to LA). Mom and her friend enjoyed the warm sunshine, the walkability of my neighborhood, and the overall accessibility of LA that I have been enjoying myself.
What struck me most, however, was our first evening here after finally finishing our long drive, after mom had briefly seen part of my neighborhood and also walked around my new apartment. She looked up at me and said, "Luke, this is truly your home... Your home." And the restatement of "your home" was inflected in a way that meant "You are home," which gave me pause for a moment. It was a recognition from her that I had not anticipated, and it meant so much to me to know that she could see what I have begun to understand in my couple months here, even as I have struggled to find work, and routine, and friends. That recognition was that I am home. And I am really happy to be here.
I was nervous, honestly, to show my mom my place. It wasn't even just my apartment that I was nervous about sharing as much as showing her my new city. At the brunch that my mom hosted a couple months ago on the day that I moved here, one of her friends blurted out how awful LA was and how he just loved SF so much more. Readers of this blog know that I've heard this sentiment a lot, but coming from one of my mom's closest friends, and in the context of my final brunch in San Francisco before I moved to LA, it was more jarring than usual. I'm certain this is a sentiment that mom has heard time and time again, as have I.
As we made the long slog southward down the 5 toward the grapevine, I began to worry. What if mom thought LA sucked? What if the air was horrible and aggravated my mom's friend's breathing issues? What if our visit would just be a slog from one destination to the next?
As it turned out, not only were my worries unfounded, but my mom and her friend had a great time. Mom was ecstatic about being in Hollywood and walking along the Hollywood Walk of Stars. She and her friend loved the view from Griffith Observatory, and mom and I had a lovely walk to my garden and onward to get some herbs and seeds to plant. While our time together was short, we did make the most of it and saw a few different parts of LA - enough to give my mom a sense of a city she admits she'd never visited before (quite smartly, she doesn't include a three-day trip to Disneyland a few years ago as being a visit to LA). Mom and her friend enjoyed the warm sunshine, the walkability of my neighborhood, and the overall accessibility of LA that I have been enjoying myself.
What struck me most, however, was our first evening here after finally finishing our long drive, after mom had briefly seen part of my neighborhood and also walked around my new apartment. She looked up at me and said, "Luke, this is truly your home... Your home." And the restatement of "your home" was inflected in a way that meant "You are home," which gave me pause for a moment. It was a recognition from her that I had not anticipated, and it meant so much to me to know that she could see what I have begun to understand in my couple months here, even as I have struggled to find work, and routine, and friends. That recognition was that I am home. And I am really happy to be here.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
In-between jobs
Perhaps the biggest challenge in moving to a new city has been finding work. And it's not even just that I don't yet have gainful employment, but that I also have very few elements of a routine - something that I took for granted before moving here. I have always been very involved, had lots of people to spend time with, and any number of activities on my plate, and now that I'm in a new city a lot of that has changed.
As you probably know from personal experience, being unemployed is tough. To make matters worse for me, I was told just a couple weeks ago that the job that I'd been promised before I moved here, that I understood would start in late October, has no funding. So now I am doing everything I can to change that situation for the better.
In keeping with that effort, I'm putting this out there, in case someone is reading this and has any ideas or people they would be willing to connect me with as I continue to get settled in my new home:
I'm looking for work.
I've got my resume and bio up on my fairly barebones website. Every day I'm applying for a new job. And although the job market sucks and looking for work is a trying experience, as my boyfriend encourages me to do every day, I'm focusing on the positive.
I've had a number of meetings with different movers and shakers in the Los Angeles area, all of whom have been incredibly friendly and helpful. I've been looking into consulting opportunities and trying to find opportunities to provide financial, analytical and communications contractual services. I've already had a preliminary job interview this week for an opportunity about which I'm very very excited. And I've even been reaching out to organizations that are doing work that I care about so that I can plug into different volunteer opportunities, since those are another way to get involved, create a routine, and meet other people with similar interests.
That said, I am still [very much] in-between jobs.
So... I'm asking for your help. If you know of someone in Los Angeles who you think would be good for me to talk to. If you've heard about an opportunity you think is worth exploring. If you think there is some organization or two that I ought to check out. Please tell me.
My resume and bio explain a lot about me. My passions are building community, empowering people out of power, truly understanding key issues (i.e. knowing the second, third, fourth, etc. layer beneath the public story about any issue), developing sustainable transportation systems and land use patterns, providing high quality education to all people, and providing equal rights to the disenfranchised. My background is policy and financial analysis, with a focus on local government and nonprofits. I love working on teams, and thrive in an environment where people are encouraged to speak their minds so that everyone can learn from each other.
My email is lukehklipp [at] gmail [dot] com. You can find me on Facebook. You can check out my website. Please let me know if you have ideas to share.
Thank you!
PS - I will get back to sharing about my experiences in Los Angeles shortly. Frankly, it was around the time that I learned that I didn't have this previously-promised job opportunity that my blogging petered out, as a lot of my time has since been dedicated to my job search. That said, I continue to have any number of experiences that I would love to share, and will share... soon. :-)
As you probably know from personal experience, being unemployed is tough. To make matters worse for me, I was told just a couple weeks ago that the job that I'd been promised before I moved here, that I understood would start in late October, has no funding. So now I am doing everything I can to change that situation for the better.
In keeping with that effort, I'm putting this out there, in case someone is reading this and has any ideas or people they would be willing to connect me with as I continue to get settled in my new home:
I'm looking for work.
I've got my resume and bio up on my fairly barebones website. Every day I'm applying for a new job. And although the job market sucks and looking for work is a trying experience, as my boyfriend encourages me to do every day, I'm focusing on the positive.
I've had a number of meetings with different movers and shakers in the Los Angeles area, all of whom have been incredibly friendly and helpful. I've been looking into consulting opportunities and trying to find opportunities to provide financial, analytical and communications contractual services. I've already had a preliminary job interview this week for an opportunity about which I'm very very excited. And I've even been reaching out to organizations that are doing work that I care about so that I can plug into different volunteer opportunities, since those are another way to get involved, create a routine, and meet other people with similar interests.
That said, I am still [very much] in-between jobs.
So... I'm asking for your help. If you know of someone in Los Angeles who you think would be good for me to talk to. If you've heard about an opportunity you think is worth exploring. If you think there is some organization or two that I ought to check out. Please tell me.
My resume and bio explain a lot about me. My passions are building community, empowering people out of power, truly understanding key issues (i.e. knowing the second, third, fourth, etc. layer beneath the public story about any issue), developing sustainable transportation systems and land use patterns, providing high quality education to all people, and providing equal rights to the disenfranchised. My background is policy and financial analysis, with a focus on local government and nonprofits. I love working on teams, and thrive in an environment where people are encouraged to speak their minds so that everyone can learn from each other.
My email is lukehklipp [at] gmail [dot] com. You can find me on Facebook. You can check out my website. Please let me know if you have ideas to share.
Thank you!
PS - I will get back to sharing about my experiences in Los Angeles shortly. Frankly, it was around the time that I learned that I didn't have this previously-promised job opportunity that my blogging petered out, as a lot of my time has since been dedicated to my job search. That said, I continue to have any number of experiences that I would love to share, and will share... soon. :-)
Monday, November 1, 2010
VOTE
Tomorrow is a big day for our country. Every two years it seems like people are saying "this is the biggest election ever;" and this is a year that I wish I could say, "this election isn't as important as elections past." But I don't think that I can say that, because I'm not sure that would be right.
Take the "tea party," for example. This is one of the most ginned-up phenomenons I've seen in my lifetime. The "tea party" is a well-financed grasstops (as opposed to grassroots) cadre of organizations run by people whose primary motivator is cutting taxes for the wealthy and eliminating the social safety net (in other words, the economic self-interests of the few people financing the "tea party"). Contrast statements by "tea party" candidates Sharron Angle (AK) and Joe Miller (AK) who want to gut Social Security and Medicare with all the health care town hall protesters who simultaneously lamented "government-run healthcare" while vigorously defending their own medicare. In a genuinely grassroots operation, the message being spoken by the people at the "bottom" of the organization is the message of the organization, by definition. In the case of the "tea party," the message from people at the "bottom" is the opposite of those at the top.
Take social issues. This election is particularly notable for the level of vitriol being spoken by people who claim to have god on their side. A candidate for Congress compared LGBT people to alcoholics and another candidate defended his choice to dress up as an SS guard (i.e. Hitler's army), and both of these men continue to have the support of the GOP leadership. Nearly all the "tea party" candidates for Senate oppose a woman's right to choose, even in the case of incest or rape, which is such an extreme anti-choice position that very few elected officials have been willing to venture that far outside the mainstream until now.
Take anything you care about. Access to college? The wealth gap? Don't Ask, Don't Tell? A woman's right to choose? Tax fairness? You name it.... it appears to be on the line this election with a cohort of some of the most extreme candidates for office we've ever seen.
I am sad, because it appears that Democrats will handily lose the House tomorrow, which will mean that one of the most outspoken and powerful advocates for equality and fairness - Nancy Pelosi - will lose her ability to keep moving the national needle toward equality. That needle will be left with Barack Obama who, quite frankly, has been disappointing in his willingness to buy into the GOP narrative. I am sad, because it appears that people like Pat Toomey, Sharron Angle, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio will dominate DC for at least the next two years, with their primary intent being to undermine this President (even as the President doesn't seem to fully get that this is in fact their primary intent). I am sad, because Democrats had a unique opportunity to create a sea-change in our national narrative since 2008, and instead they punched a couple times and then crawled back into their collective shells, surrendering to the GOP months before their time was up, and basically handing over the keys to the Capitol without a real fight.
I hope I'm wrong about what appears to be the certain outcome of tomorrow's election. I sure would like to be. And one way you can change that is to get out and vote. There's so much at stake, and it is through our vigilance and commitment to sticking with it, even (and especially) when times are tough, that we shift the narrative and the direction of our country toward increased fairness and equality for all.
Vote.
Take the "tea party," for example. This is one of the most ginned-up phenomenons I've seen in my lifetime. The "tea party" is a well-financed grasstops (as opposed to grassroots) cadre of organizations run by people whose primary motivator is cutting taxes for the wealthy and eliminating the social safety net (in other words, the economic self-interests of the few people financing the "tea party"). Contrast statements by "tea party" candidates Sharron Angle (AK) and Joe Miller (AK) who want to gut Social Security and Medicare with all the health care town hall protesters who simultaneously lamented "government-run healthcare" while vigorously defending their own medicare. In a genuinely grassroots operation, the message being spoken by the people at the "bottom" of the organization is the message of the organization, by definition. In the case of the "tea party," the message from people at the "bottom" is the opposite of those at the top.
Take social issues. This election is particularly notable for the level of vitriol being spoken by people who claim to have god on their side. A candidate for Congress compared LGBT people to alcoholics and another candidate defended his choice to dress up as an SS guard (i.e. Hitler's army), and both of these men continue to have the support of the GOP leadership. Nearly all the "tea party" candidates for Senate oppose a woman's right to choose, even in the case of incest or rape, which is such an extreme anti-choice position that very few elected officials have been willing to venture that far outside the mainstream until now.
Take anything you care about. Access to college? The wealth gap? Don't Ask, Don't Tell? A woman's right to choose? Tax fairness? You name it.... it appears to be on the line this election with a cohort of some of the most extreme candidates for office we've ever seen.
I am sad, because it appears that Democrats will handily lose the House tomorrow, which will mean that one of the most outspoken and powerful advocates for equality and fairness - Nancy Pelosi - will lose her ability to keep moving the national needle toward equality. That needle will be left with Barack Obama who, quite frankly, has been disappointing in his willingness to buy into the GOP narrative. I am sad, because it appears that people like Pat Toomey, Sharron Angle, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio will dominate DC for at least the next two years, with their primary intent being to undermine this President (even as the President doesn't seem to fully get that this is in fact their primary intent). I am sad, because Democrats had a unique opportunity to create a sea-change in our national narrative since 2008, and instead they punched a couple times and then crawled back into their collective shells, surrendering to the GOP months before their time was up, and basically handing over the keys to the Capitol without a real fight.
I hope I'm wrong about what appears to be the certain outcome of tomorrow's election. I sure would like to be. And one way you can change that is to get out and vote. There's so much at stake, and it is through our vigilance and commitment to sticking with it, even (and especially) when times are tough, that we shift the narrative and the direction of our country toward increased fairness and equality for all.
Vote.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
My new garden
A few days ago I made the unfortunate error of locking myself out of my apartment. Exactly how that happened is irrelevant to my story, but suffice to say it ended up necessitating a mile-long stroll to my landlord's office to get a spare key (all the while I was wearing my workout duds because I had originally been on my way to hit the gym). What is relevant is that, along the way to the landlord's, I walked past the Fountain Community Gardens, which is a relatively new (like just a couple years old) community garden just a short 15-minute walk (or 5-minute bike ride) from my apartment.
I took note of the contact info posted outside the gardens and sent them an email when I got back home, and today I dropped by for their garden work day.
One of the garden's boardmembers greeted me at the gate and showed me around, including pointing out several plots that were available to rent by those on the garden waitlist. I was very interested in getting a plot and wondered how long the waitlist might be. My experience in San Francisco was that these sorts of things could take years to get a plot after putting your name on a waitlist, so I checked out the plots without any keen interest, only making note of different plants, herbs, and vegetables that the gardeners were growing throughout the garden.
We strolled around to the common spaces, including the sheds with tools and soil. This particular boardmember had been instrumental in growing and tending to a communal herb and citrus garden. After taking me around, she showed me the garden work day project, which was weeding out nut grass (thus buggers are tough to pull!), and then asked me if I wanted to get a garden plot before doing the project. I told her that I definitely wanted to, and she directed me to the garden treasurer, who was standing nearby.
The treasurer asked me, "which plot would you like? They're $10/month." This caught me by surprise. While there had been about 5 vacant plots out of 65, I did not expect that I could just show up and rent one on the spot. And sure enough, I could! So.... I did! :-D Plot 21 is my new garden, and I'm super stoked about it.
One of the things I've been saddest about in the transition from my previous apartment to my current apartment has been the loss of garden space. While I love my new apartment, I did really enjoy poking around my garden in San Francisco, planting different herbs and flowers, and clearing out the various weeds that relentlessly regrew every few months. I've noticed that LA homes generally have a lot more green space on their properties than did homes in SF, but, at least in my neighborhood, they're not often well-tended. In the nicer parts of town it's fairly apparent that the homeowners pay someone else to tend to their properties, which to me is a big loss because there's little else like digging your hands in the ground and tending to the growth of plants to feel connected to nature.
So, stumbling upon this community garden and now being the proud renter of a 5' x 15' garden plot - just a few days later! - has me pretty stoked. For those of you wondering, here's my new garden...
 |
| Luke's new garden :-) |
The prior plot renter left behind some tomato cages, so I'll definitely be using those next year! Just about everything currently growing in my new plot is a weed, so next time I get to the garden I'll be tearing out those weeds and putting down a new bed of soil.
Can I just reiterate how excited I am about this? For a mere $10/month, I now have a garden where I can grow my own fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc. There won't be as much weeding of this plot as my garden in SF, since it will be pretty clear once I tear out what's there now, and that will free me up to spend more time getting my plants to grow nice and strong. I am also thinking that I might do more work in the garden communal areas, helping spruce them up and making the garden better for everyone who comes there.
Why does SF hate LA so much?
I've already blogged about this topic a few times, but it just keeps coming up. Today it's this article in the San Francisco Chronicle which goes out of its way to snarkily mock Los Angeles. Just another in a long line of "SF is so way much cooler and better and funner than LA" articles/stories/etc. I've heard over many many years. So, in much the same style as the Chronicle's story, here's my response...
----
Signs on the Muni buses proclaim San Francisco as "The City that Knows How," which is ironic considering that it took 10 years and 3 elections to decide if "the City" (which is how residents of this 700,000-person town refer to San Francisco in a geographic region where the largest city, of more than 1 million residents, is actually San Jose) would tear down a five-block section of elevated freeway and replace it with essentially a freeway with traffic lights at street level. Sure, you can stroll along the Octavia boulevard today and not feel as threatened by shadows and dirty underpasses as you once were, and now you just have to navigate the shopping carts and cars that don't understand what the extra alleys are for along each side of the 6-lane road. Still, the new Patricia's Green is a beautiful space with a temporary art exhibit that brings a little bit of Black Rock City to the neighborhood.
The gold leaf covered dome of City Hall - the leafing which was paid for using city funds designated for creation and maintenance of open space - is about the most striking architectural element anywhere for miles in the Tenderloin, where the majority of people strolling the streets are more likely to panhandle, stare or yell at you than they are to simply ignore you and go about their business. But don't let that distract you from the aromas of urine and feces that greet your nostrils as you stroll the streets, only to come across any number of nooks that often serve as open-air toilets. And the "real" public toilets that dot the landscape are not for the faint of heart. For just 50 cents, you too can have your senses accosted and your mind blown by the sight of needles and vomit while you attempt to do your business without touching anything for fear of what may linger afterward.
So for $2 you head down into the Muni, San Francisco's version of a subway, where the half-mile ride from Civic Center to Powell station can take anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes depending on the time of day, the day of the week, and myriad other totally unrelated factors that make each and every day a special one on Muni. Sometimes it's that someone got caught in the door and almost slammed into a station wall; other times it's that the doors simply stopped working on one train, backing up the entire single-line subway; and other times there's just no explanation (which seems to most often be the case). But hey, you only paid $2, so suck it up. It's not like you were going to drive, right? And, if you did drive, good luck affording (or finding) parking, so you're probably best off walking - it's free and can actually be quite pleasant.
You arrive at Powell station and are greeted first thing out the gates by panhandlers at the base and top of the escalator out of the dingy "plaza" which features a below-street-level "coffee shop" that is sometimes open, sometimes not, and always patronized by more pigeons than people. Now that you're here, though, it's time to ride one of the cable cars, which are San Francisco's world-reknowned moving national historic landmarks (the only moving national landmarks in the country). However, be prepared to wait in a long line and pony up $5 for a one-way trip, for if there's anything that "The City that knows how" knows how to do it's empty out your pockets and make you gladly do it.
Once you get to the end of the cable car line, 2 hours later (of which one and a half hours were spent in line), you arrive at tourist hell, also known as Fisherman's Wharf. Yes, this was at one time a functioning wharf, for fishermen even, and it basically still serves that purpose. But, like all things San Francisco that once were just functional things that people used to get their work done, it has been commoditized and commercialized and now you can watch the fishermen doing their work as if Disneyland relocated from Anaheim to SF and this is part of the "small world" exhibit. And that is something San Francisco knows how to do... take once ordinary things and make them spectacularly exciting. It's like being in a place where everything we generally take for granted elsewhere is so different and glorified. What? You want to repaint your house? That'll be at last a half-dozen neighborhood group meetings, a historic preservation permit, and one year later you'll just be going from one shade of dark blue to another.
Take another example: big box development. Want to hit the Home Depot, or Ikea, or Target? You'll have to leave the City. And now Target likely won't get a store in SF because they gave $150,000 to a major a*hole anti-gay candidate for governor in Minnesota (yes, this caused even yours truly to boycott them). On the other hand, for many years Target has consistently been one of the country's most LGBT-supportive companies for their employees. And the alternative to a Target or Home Depot is... what exactly? How are you going to know if every single purchase you make was manufactured, distributed, and sold by good progressive-leaning companies?
San Francisco's tendency is to oppose all things corporate and big, even though these things can sometimes serve as magnets or vehicles for development in areas that otherwise are falling apart at the seams or totally unappealing to small business for any number of reasons. Areas like the Bayshore corridor, or the incredibly empty, and spacious, Metreon. Large and small business can and do co-exist, even as they compete for market share. In San Francisco, however, anything that can be construed as a "chain" must jump through additional hoops, essentially having to get the sign-off of the neighborhood, which in some cases has meant San Francisco-founded and based companies that have prospered using successful models have found themselves unable to open new storefronts in their hometown because they've grown too big and have become the "big, bad other."
Once you've strolled the urine-stained Civic Center, panhandler-filled Union Square, and tourist-centric (and also panhandler-filled) Fisherman's Wharf/Pier 39, you might make it to the Ferry Building, which is indeed one of San Francisco's treasures. The food may be a bit pricey, but the open-air halls and brickwork do hearken back to days of old, before the bridges were built, when people took the ferries to get to and from SF. It's a step back in time, redone for a new era, and it is a beautiful anchor at the heart of old San Francisco.
It's worth noting that almost every day of the year in San Francisco is jacket weather. There are certainly a handful of days when you can wear shorts for more than a few hours without risking getting goosebumps by 4pm. But very little else demarcates a tourist like uniform of cargo shorts and joined with an "SF" parka, which was probably purchased at no small cost at a hole-in-the-wall shop along Powell Street. Not only do the temperatures rarely rise above 70 (or fall below 50), but the wind will almost always send a chill through you. So, like a good boy scout, be prepared.
All this and more can be yours if the price is right. For San Francisco's landlords, home sellers, and hoteliers, the price is nearly always right, because about the only place in the entire country that is more expensive to live than San Francisco is Manhattan. For the low low price of $1,200 a month, you too can share an apartment with a perfect stranger and haggle with your landlord over things like... painting the walls, or, getting a pet. If you want your own place, be ready to pony up more than $2,000 a month, or compromise substantially on location and/or space.
Let's say you want to buy your own slice of heaven? In a decent neighborhood your one-person pad will cost you close to half a million dollars. In a fancy neighborhood it's more like $700,000, at least. If you're willing to forgo parking, you can lop off about 10% of that price, but about the only thing more scarce in San Francisco than land is street parking, so it's good to know these things going in. Spend a little time in San Francisco, and you'll find those people who bought their home before "the market exploded," (where their homes are now worth 3-10 times what they originally paid) but more often these days it's the folks whose mortgages are eating up more than half their paychecks, and they're the lucky ones.
San Francisco, "The City that Knows How." So much can be said, but I'll close with this...
With all this to offer and more, one wonders why so many residents, let alone media, feel compelled to trash talk SF's sister city to the south? Having been one of those trash talkers for years, the reasons seem too many to count to someone in love with the fog, the hills, the colors, and the people of San Francisco (and there are many many reasons to love SF). On the other hand, it does seem just a touch ridiculous to focus so intently on all the things going wrong with someplace else when one's own city could use a few nips and tucks of its own, and no one seems to know the first thing about fixing those (or if they do then they must accept that it'll probably take 10 years and 3 elections and hundreds of thousands of dollars to get it done).
So, lay off, San Francisco. You got a good thing going, really. Revel in that and, as Tim Gunn would say, make it work. And next time you want to trash talk Los Angeles or any other city, first think to yourself, "Am I in a position to criticize another given my own foibles?" If the answer is ever anything other than "no," get a second opinion. And if the answer is still "no," get to know your city a little better.
----
I love San Francisco and, above all else, miss my friends and family. What I've written here is from a place of love, recognizing that we all got our stuff to take care of, and I truly hope that SF figures out some solutions, particularly to its most vexing issues. In the meantime, I hope that papers like the Chronicle will stop feeling the need to give voice to mocking Los Angeles or any other city. It's unnecessary and unwarranted. The people in LA didn't make it the way it is anymore than the residents of San Francisco could all claim responsibility for it being the way it is. But every day we can and should seek to make our respective communities better.
Ironically enough, today's Chronicle features another article bemoaning the challenges with attracting entertainment business to the City from Los Angeles and elsewhere. This is just a case of too much work for too little benefit relative to the cost - or at least the perception of it - as well as city leaders who, as a whole, aren't compelled to find ways to get more entertainment business in SF. And it's just one example of when it's better to discuss ways to improve oneself than to throw stones from one's glass house.
----
Signs on the Muni buses proclaim San Francisco as "The City that Knows How," which is ironic considering that it took 10 years and 3 elections to decide if "the City" (which is how residents of this 700,000-person town refer to San Francisco in a geographic region where the largest city, of more than 1 million residents, is actually San Jose) would tear down a five-block section of elevated freeway and replace it with essentially a freeway with traffic lights at street level. Sure, you can stroll along the Octavia boulevard today and not feel as threatened by shadows and dirty underpasses as you once were, and now you just have to navigate the shopping carts and cars that don't understand what the extra alleys are for along each side of the 6-lane road. Still, the new Patricia's Green is a beautiful space with a temporary art exhibit that brings a little bit of Black Rock City to the neighborhood.
The gold leaf covered dome of City Hall - the leafing which was paid for using city funds designated for creation and maintenance of open space - is about the most striking architectural element anywhere for miles in the Tenderloin, where the majority of people strolling the streets are more likely to panhandle, stare or yell at you than they are to simply ignore you and go about their business. But don't let that distract you from the aromas of urine and feces that greet your nostrils as you stroll the streets, only to come across any number of nooks that often serve as open-air toilets. And the "real" public toilets that dot the landscape are not for the faint of heart. For just 50 cents, you too can have your senses accosted and your mind blown by the sight of needles and vomit while you attempt to do your business without touching anything for fear of what may linger afterward.
So for $2 you head down into the Muni, San Francisco's version of a subway, where the half-mile ride from Civic Center to Powell station can take anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes depending on the time of day, the day of the week, and myriad other totally unrelated factors that make each and every day a special one on Muni. Sometimes it's that someone got caught in the door and almost slammed into a station wall; other times it's that the doors simply stopped working on one train, backing up the entire single-line subway; and other times there's just no explanation (which seems to most often be the case). But hey, you only paid $2, so suck it up. It's not like you were going to drive, right? And, if you did drive, good luck affording (or finding) parking, so you're probably best off walking - it's free and can actually be quite pleasant.
You arrive at Powell station and are greeted first thing out the gates by panhandlers at the base and top of the escalator out of the dingy "plaza" which features a below-street-level "coffee shop" that is sometimes open, sometimes not, and always patronized by more pigeons than people. Now that you're here, though, it's time to ride one of the cable cars, which are San Francisco's world-reknowned moving national historic landmarks (the only moving national landmarks in the country). However, be prepared to wait in a long line and pony up $5 for a one-way trip, for if there's anything that "The City that knows how" knows how to do it's empty out your pockets and make you gladly do it.
Once you get to the end of the cable car line, 2 hours later (of which one and a half hours were spent in line), you arrive at tourist hell, also known as Fisherman's Wharf. Yes, this was at one time a functioning wharf, for fishermen even, and it basically still serves that purpose. But, like all things San Francisco that once were just functional things that people used to get their work done, it has been commoditized and commercialized and now you can watch the fishermen doing their work as if Disneyland relocated from Anaheim to SF and this is part of the "small world" exhibit. And that is something San Francisco knows how to do... take once ordinary things and make them spectacularly exciting. It's like being in a place where everything we generally take for granted elsewhere is so different and glorified. What? You want to repaint your house? That'll be at last a half-dozen neighborhood group meetings, a historic preservation permit, and one year later you'll just be going from one shade of dark blue to another.
Take another example: big box development. Want to hit the Home Depot, or Ikea, or Target? You'll have to leave the City. And now Target likely won't get a store in SF because they gave $150,000 to a major a*hole anti-gay candidate for governor in Minnesota (yes, this caused even yours truly to boycott them). On the other hand, for many years Target has consistently been one of the country's most LGBT-supportive companies for their employees. And the alternative to a Target or Home Depot is... what exactly? How are you going to know if every single purchase you make was manufactured, distributed, and sold by good progressive-leaning companies?
San Francisco's tendency is to oppose all things corporate and big, even though these things can sometimes serve as magnets or vehicles for development in areas that otherwise are falling apart at the seams or totally unappealing to small business for any number of reasons. Areas like the Bayshore corridor, or the incredibly empty, and spacious, Metreon. Large and small business can and do co-exist, even as they compete for market share. In San Francisco, however, anything that can be construed as a "chain" must jump through additional hoops, essentially having to get the sign-off of the neighborhood, which in some cases has meant San Francisco-founded and based companies that have prospered using successful models have found themselves unable to open new storefronts in their hometown because they've grown too big and have become the "big, bad other."
Once you've strolled the urine-stained Civic Center, panhandler-filled Union Square, and tourist-centric (and also panhandler-filled) Fisherman's Wharf/Pier 39, you might make it to the Ferry Building, which is indeed one of San Francisco's treasures. The food may be a bit pricey, but the open-air halls and brickwork do hearken back to days of old, before the bridges were built, when people took the ferries to get to and from SF. It's a step back in time, redone for a new era, and it is a beautiful anchor at the heart of old San Francisco.
It's worth noting that almost every day of the year in San Francisco is jacket weather. There are certainly a handful of days when you can wear shorts for more than a few hours without risking getting goosebumps by 4pm. But very little else demarcates a tourist like uniform of cargo shorts and joined with an "SF" parka, which was probably purchased at no small cost at a hole-in-the-wall shop along Powell Street. Not only do the temperatures rarely rise above 70 (or fall below 50), but the wind will almost always send a chill through you. So, like a good boy scout, be prepared.
All this and more can be yours if the price is right. For San Francisco's landlords, home sellers, and hoteliers, the price is nearly always right, because about the only place in the entire country that is more expensive to live than San Francisco is Manhattan. For the low low price of $1,200 a month, you too can share an apartment with a perfect stranger and haggle with your landlord over things like... painting the walls, or, getting a pet. If you want your own place, be ready to pony up more than $2,000 a month, or compromise substantially on location and/or space.
Let's say you want to buy your own slice of heaven? In a decent neighborhood your one-person pad will cost you close to half a million dollars. In a fancy neighborhood it's more like $700,000, at least. If you're willing to forgo parking, you can lop off about 10% of that price, but about the only thing more scarce in San Francisco than land is street parking, so it's good to know these things going in. Spend a little time in San Francisco, and you'll find those people who bought their home before "the market exploded," (where their homes are now worth 3-10 times what they originally paid) but more often these days it's the folks whose mortgages are eating up more than half their paychecks, and they're the lucky ones.
San Francisco, "The City that Knows How." So much can be said, but I'll close with this...
With all this to offer and more, one wonders why so many residents, let alone media, feel compelled to trash talk SF's sister city to the south? Having been one of those trash talkers for years, the reasons seem too many to count to someone in love with the fog, the hills, the colors, and the people of San Francisco (and there are many many reasons to love SF). On the other hand, it does seem just a touch ridiculous to focus so intently on all the things going wrong with someplace else when one's own city could use a few nips and tucks of its own, and no one seems to know the first thing about fixing those (or if they do then they must accept that it'll probably take 10 years and 3 elections and hundreds of thousands of dollars to get it done).
So, lay off, San Francisco. You got a good thing going, really. Revel in that and, as Tim Gunn would say, make it work. And next time you want to trash talk Los Angeles or any other city, first think to yourself, "Am I in a position to criticize another given my own foibles?" If the answer is ever anything other than "no," get a second opinion. And if the answer is still "no," get to know your city a little better.
----
I love San Francisco and, above all else, miss my friends and family. What I've written here is from a place of love, recognizing that we all got our stuff to take care of, and I truly hope that SF figures out some solutions, particularly to its most vexing issues. In the meantime, I hope that papers like the Chronicle will stop feeling the need to give voice to mocking Los Angeles or any other city. It's unnecessary and unwarranted. The people in LA didn't make it the way it is anymore than the residents of San Francisco could all claim responsibility for it being the way it is. But every day we can and should seek to make our respective communities better.
Ironically enough, today's Chronicle features another article bemoaning the challenges with attracting entertainment business to the City from Los Angeles and elsewhere. This is just a case of too much work for too little benefit relative to the cost - or at least the perception of it - as well as city leaders who, as a whole, aren't compelled to find ways to get more entertainment business in SF. And it's just one example of when it's better to discuss ways to improve oneself than to throw stones from one's glass house.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Welcome home!
The past few days I was doing a lot of traveling. When the cabbie picked me up to take me to LAX for the start of my travels, he asked me if I wanted him to take the freeways. I later understood why, as the freeways were a bit of a slog, but everything worked out fine in the end.
This was the first time that I've flown out of and back to LAX as a resident of my new city. After ten years of an established pattern, including lots of flights in and out of SFO for visits to my boyfriend in LA, I was keenly aware that this was different. From the trip down (and later back via) the 101, 110, and 105 to get to and from LAX, to seeing downtown both on the way down and back, and the much more expensive cab fare than that to which I've been accustomed, I was noticing the differences each step of the way.
As we landed late last night, I was reminded of how I used to look forward to seeing the lights and familiar sights of the Bay come into view as my plane made its final descent into SFO, particularly as I tried to figure out where we were over the LA region as we got closer and closer to landing. At some point, I finally figured it out, but by then the fog was beginning to obscure the landmarks and eventually turn the whole scene into a blotchy tableau of yellow light and grey wisps.
My boyfriend left me a voicemail message welcoming me "home" while we were en route, and I listened to it as our plane taxied to the gate. My initial reaction upon hearing him use the word "home" was a bit of confusion. Yes, this is where I live, but can I really call it home after only being here a month? When I don't presently have steady work? When my circle of nearby friends is a fraction of what I once knew? When for the first time in my life I'm more than an hour drive from my nearest family (and that was only for college... otherwise either living with or within a mile or two of at least one family member)?
It got me thinking... what does it mean to be home? Does Los Angeles yet fit that definition for me?
...And yet, when I stepped out of the cab last night in front of my place, the warm moist air spun around me, the familiar smell of the air greeted me, the grass shined under the yellow streetlights, my mind finally began to rest after a long journey, and I knew it. I was home.
This was the first time that I've flown out of and back to LAX as a resident of my new city. After ten years of an established pattern, including lots of flights in and out of SFO for visits to my boyfriend in LA, I was keenly aware that this was different. From the trip down (and later back via) the 101, 110, and 105 to get to and from LAX, to seeing downtown both on the way down and back, and the much more expensive cab fare than that to which I've been accustomed, I was noticing the differences each step of the way.
As we landed late last night, I was reminded of how I used to look forward to seeing the lights and familiar sights of the Bay come into view as my plane made its final descent into SFO, particularly as I tried to figure out where we were over the LA region as we got closer and closer to landing. At some point, I finally figured it out, but by then the fog was beginning to obscure the landmarks and eventually turn the whole scene into a blotchy tableau of yellow light and grey wisps.
My boyfriend left me a voicemail message welcoming me "home" while we were en route, and I listened to it as our plane taxied to the gate. My initial reaction upon hearing him use the word "home" was a bit of confusion. Yes, this is where I live, but can I really call it home after only being here a month? When I don't presently have steady work? When my circle of nearby friends is a fraction of what I once knew? When for the first time in my life I'm more than an hour drive from my nearest family (and that was only for college... otherwise either living with or within a mile or two of at least one family member)?
It got me thinking... what does it mean to be home? Does Los Angeles yet fit that definition for me?
- This is the first time in my life that I've had an apartment that really felt like my home. I couldn't afford something like this in SF, and I have felt tremendous excitement making this place my home.
- This move is the first time that I've taken such a big risk to be with my boyfriend. While having been with and loved some great guys in SF, this is the first time I've felt not only "in love" but also "freely loved" (in no small part because of my own maturity).
- This is the first time I have had both this degree of uncertainty about what lies ahead in my future and also lots excitement about encountering it and taking on new challenges as life comes at me.
...And yet, when I stepped out of the cab last night in front of my place, the warm moist air spun around me, the familiar smell of the air greeted me, the grass shined under the yellow streetlights, my mind finally began to rest after a long journey, and I knew it. I was home.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Heat - No heat - Heat - No heat
A couple weeks back I blogged here about the heat and perpetual sunshine that defined much of my first month in LA. And undoubtedly many readers of this blog will have seen a news story somewhere on last week's all-time record high temperature of 113 degrees Fahrenheit that was reached at the official downtown station just before the thermometer broke (meaning it might have gotten even hotter, but we just don't know). Even though it cooled off after that record-setting Monday, temperatures cooled slowly - down to "only" 100 degrees on Tuesday and then topping out at 90 degrees every day through Saturday.
This week? An entirely different story. Two of the four days so far this week we've been cooler in LA than in San Francisco. In fact, our high temperature on Monday this week was about 50 degrees cooler than our all-time record high temperature just one week prior. So far this week we've recorded a quarter-inch of rain (this during the tail-end of our dry season!). WTF is going on?
I'll tell ya, kids. :-)
It's actually something that I saw happen on a number of occasions when I was living in San Francisco, but this weather pattern doesn't typically impact SF. We have a cutoff low sitting off the coast west of San Diego. A cutoff low is a low-pressure system (the kind that are associated with clouds and rain) that has detached from the general flow of weather systems, moving from west to east. In this case, the low has been just hanging out for a few days, spinning up rain clouds from the central California coast all the way out to Arizona and Colorado, where big thunderstorms and tornadoes are the story right now.
The cutoff low will be out of here tonight and tomorrow and we'll gradually return to 80s and sunshine - i.e. the norm for this time of year. In the meantime, I'm actually enjoying the wacky weather we've been having, from the really hot to the really cool, the sunshine and the rain. It's fun!
This week? An entirely different story. Two of the four days so far this week we've been cooler in LA than in San Francisco. In fact, our high temperature on Monday this week was about 50 degrees cooler than our all-time record high temperature just one week prior. So far this week we've recorded a quarter-inch of rain (this during the tail-end of our dry season!). WTF is going on?
I'll tell ya, kids. :-)
It's actually something that I saw happen on a number of occasions when I was living in San Francisco, but this weather pattern doesn't typically impact SF. We have a cutoff low sitting off the coast west of San Diego. A cutoff low is a low-pressure system (the kind that are associated with clouds and rain) that has detached from the general flow of weather systems, moving from west to east. In this case, the low has been just hanging out for a few days, spinning up rain clouds from the central California coast all the way out to Arizona and Colorado, where big thunderstorms and tornadoes are the story right now.
The cutoff low will be out of here tonight and tomorrow and we'll gradually return to 80s and sunshine - i.e. the norm for this time of year. In the meantime, I'm actually enjoying the wacky weather we've been having, from the really hot to the really cool, the sunshine and the rain. It's fun!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Entertainment
There's no denying it, Los Angeles is the heart of the television and movie entertainment business. It's everywhere you go.
Just a few blocks from me is one end of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It may not be the most glamorous thing, but I've never lived in an area where the names of hundreds of entertainment stars were permanently emblazoned for miles in the sidewalk and tourists from around the world walk around with their cameras pointed toward the ground.
A few more blocks from me is the famed Capitol Records building, with its iconic (though apparently unintentional) shape of a stack of records. Then there's the nearby Palladium, which in just the month I've been here has hosted the likes of the Scissor Sisters, The xx, and Belle & Sebastian, and is sold out this weekend for two nights featuring world-reknowned DJ Kaskade. The other day, I stepped out of the Hollywood & Vine LA Metro station and could see the top of the Capitol Records building as I strolled out across the Walk of Fame.
Within a half-mile of my place there are at least three television studios of which I'm aware, including Sunset Bronson, Sunset Gower, and Nickelodeon. Sounds glamorous right? Except that television studios are basically giant walls facing the street, as shown in this lovely street-view of Sunset Gower studios from Gower. Still, in just the immediate vicinity, a number of television programs are taped for national broadcast.
Going to a movie theater in Los Angeles is more of an experience than any theater I've gone to elsewhere, and why wouldn't it be? At the nearby ArcLight Cinemas, an usher announces to the assembled audience the name of the movie and the title stars before the theater dims for the previews. It's a small touch, to be sure, but in addition to the super-large, comfy seats which are assigned in advance, and the wide-open space outside the theaters, it all signals that movies are really important here. Just a short jog up the road from ArcLight is the major intersection of Hollywood and Highland where the importance of the movie industry becomes all the more obvious, where the new Kodak Theatre is the regular home of the Academy Awards and the finale of American Idol.
Everywhere I turn, there's the possibility of running into some kind of celeb. As I've mentioned here before, I saw Matthew Morrison (of Glee fame) the other day at my gym (and again today). Last week at a small book-signing party, I met and had a fun conversation with Ashley Williams, who was super sweet. At a premiere party last week for the new Logo show, "The Arrangement," I saw Santino Rice, who was on the second season of "Project Runway," and is now one-half of the title duo on the new Lifetime show, "On the Road with Austin and Santino." And the other day I had the pleasure of meeting actress Nancy Stephens and her husband, director Rick Rosenthal, at a gathering they hosted at their lovely home.
On Friday night, my boyfriend took me to see "Leap of Faith," featuring the inimitable Brooke Shields. And last night, we went to a reading of Terrence McNally's "Some Men," which had a laundry list of incredible actors on tap, including Alan Cumming, John Glover, Matt Gould, David Alan Grier, Luke MacFarlane, Justin Kirk, Michael McKean, Jason Ritter, Josh Stamberg, and none other than Lily Tomlin. For me, it was pretty incredible going to a one-night-only reading of a play on a random Monday night and seeing that kind of cast come together for a cause (it was a fundraiser for the Courage Campaign's latest effort, "Testimony").
From the built community, to the people on the street, to events happening any night of the week, you can not only not escape the entertainment industry here in Los Angeles, you'd probably be foolish to want to do so. It's everywhere, and it's pretty amazing to be up close and personal with it, even in just the short time that I've been here so far.
Having grown up in a household where we sang all the time, and having studied singing, acting, and dancing, I am really interested in what I am encountering. And I promise to soon have another blog post up about the personal experience I am having in my new home, as it relates to my background in entertainment and my interest in doing more with it now that I am in the industry's proverbial backyard.
Just a few blocks from me is one end of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It may not be the most glamorous thing, but I've never lived in an area where the names of hundreds of entertainment stars were permanently emblazoned for miles in the sidewalk and tourists from around the world walk around with their cameras pointed toward the ground.
A few more blocks from me is the famed Capitol Records building, with its iconic (though apparently unintentional) shape of a stack of records. Then there's the nearby Palladium, which in just the month I've been here has hosted the likes of the Scissor Sisters, The xx, and Belle & Sebastian, and is sold out this weekend for two nights featuring world-reknowned DJ Kaskade. The other day, I stepped out of the Hollywood & Vine LA Metro station and could see the top of the Capitol Records building as I strolled out across the Walk of Fame.
Within a half-mile of my place there are at least three television studios of which I'm aware, including Sunset Bronson, Sunset Gower, and Nickelodeon. Sounds glamorous right? Except that television studios are basically giant walls facing the street, as shown in this lovely street-view of Sunset Gower studios from Gower. Still, in just the immediate vicinity, a number of television programs are taped for national broadcast.
Going to a movie theater in Los Angeles is more of an experience than any theater I've gone to elsewhere, and why wouldn't it be? At the nearby ArcLight Cinemas, an usher announces to the assembled audience the name of the movie and the title stars before the theater dims for the previews. It's a small touch, to be sure, but in addition to the super-large, comfy seats which are assigned in advance, and the wide-open space outside the theaters, it all signals that movies are really important here. Just a short jog up the road from ArcLight is the major intersection of Hollywood and Highland where the importance of the movie industry becomes all the more obvious, where the new Kodak Theatre is the regular home of the Academy Awards and the finale of American Idol.
Everywhere I turn, there's the possibility of running into some kind of celeb. As I've mentioned here before, I saw Matthew Morrison (of Glee fame) the other day at my gym (and again today). Last week at a small book-signing party, I met and had a fun conversation with Ashley Williams, who was super sweet. At a premiere party last week for the new Logo show, "The Arrangement," I saw Santino Rice, who was on the second season of "Project Runway," and is now one-half of the title duo on the new Lifetime show, "On the Road with Austin and Santino." And the other day I had the pleasure of meeting actress Nancy Stephens and her husband, director Rick Rosenthal, at a gathering they hosted at their lovely home.
On Friday night, my boyfriend took me to see "Leap of Faith," featuring the inimitable Brooke Shields. And last night, we went to a reading of Terrence McNally's "Some Men," which had a laundry list of incredible actors on tap, including Alan Cumming, John Glover, Matt Gould, David Alan Grier, Luke MacFarlane, Justin Kirk, Michael McKean, Jason Ritter, Josh Stamberg, and none other than Lily Tomlin. For me, it was pretty incredible going to a one-night-only reading of a play on a random Monday night and seeing that kind of cast come together for a cause (it was a fundraiser for the Courage Campaign's latest effort, "Testimony").
From the built community, to the people on the street, to events happening any night of the week, you can not only not escape the entertainment industry here in Los Angeles, you'd probably be foolish to want to do so. It's everywhere, and it's pretty amazing to be up close and personal with it, even in just the short time that I've been here so far.
Having grown up in a household where we sang all the time, and having studied singing, acting, and dancing, I am really interested in what I am encountering. And I promise to soon have another blog post up about the personal experience I am having in my new home, as it relates to my background in entertainment and my interest in doing more with it now that I am in the industry's proverbial backyard.
Friday, October 1, 2010
"I love San Francisco!"
What has been rather remarkable to me in the short time that I've been in LA (now officially 24 days) is the degree to which Los Angelenos tell me how much they love San Francisco. Perhaps I was just under the (mis-)impression from my ten years in the city by the bay that these two cities had a mutual dislike for each other because of the unkind things so many of my SF compatriots (myself included) had to say about our smoggier, larger neighbor 350 miles to the south. However, in just a few weeks I've heard the words "I love San Francisco!" exclaimed to me by at least a half-dozen people when I've told them that I just moved from there.
This, to me, starkly contrasts with the reactions of San Franciscans to Los Angeles. There is only one person (out of literally dozens) who I can recall outright told me that I would love Los Angeles, and I'd only met him minutes before. A few other friends either neutrally or begrudgingly admitted they thought I would like it here, and otherwise the reactions ranged from negative to horrified. Among the things I heard about LA from San Franciscans?
Honestly, I don't get it. It reminds me of when I was at high school back in the metro Detroit area and everyone at my school pooh-poohed the University of Michigan as "elitist" and "snobby" and instead spoke of how fantastic Michigan State was. I didn't buy it, and today I am a maize-and-blue-bleeding U-M alum. I can also honestly say that I never heard the kind of trashing of Michigan State when I was at U-Michigan (other than the few times the high profile sports teams from each school played each other) that I heard from MSU fans when I was growing up.
What's that about? Why the need to trash someone else? I mean, did the 15 million people in the LA area do something to deserve being lumped into a smelly, waste-of-time morass in the collective consciousness of the upstanding and environmentally-friendly people of the Bay Area?
Not caveats: I just had a meeting today with a legislative aide who is helping with the rapid, ongoing expansion of the Los Angeles Metro Rail, which is only 20 years old and already has 5 lines and will be adding 2 more and extending a 3rd in the next 10-15 years... I attended a meeting this week where the elected leaders of the neighborhood-based organization were actually attempting to work in concert with a developer of an under-utilized property within a block of a metro station... From my home, I'm able to walk to nearly everything I need, including the gym, grocery store, pharmacy, restaurants and shops, tons of clubs/hang-out spots, post office, and neighborhood city hall... Oh, and I randomly discovered that my neighborhood has an LGBT senior housing facility (it's called "Triangle Square" - kinda cute!).
Why do I bring these things up? Well, let's compare, shall we?
In SF, the Muni expansion down 3rd Street was its first major rail expansion in like 30 years, and it did little to shorten the time to get from Visitacion Valley to downtown (unlike my 15-minute ride downtown from Hollywood... where driving could be anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes, depending)... In SF, I've seen multiple well-intentioned projects get bogged down to the point of imploding because of community opposition that often results in developers walking away... In SF, I could walk to everything I needed too (in other words, that hasn't changed very much for me in my new home)... And in SF, there's been talk of LGBT senior housing for a long, long time, and while it will still likely happen, the effort to do it was stalled for years by a handful of neighbors whose ultimate argument ended up being that they preferred to declare as historic a blank wall and a couple long-since-abandoned buildings over allowing new residents into their community.
Now, I don't want to trash-talk San Francisco here. Tit-for-tat isn't my style. I merely raise these points to offer some more concrete ways in which I think the negativity directed by SF residents toward Los Angeles may be a bit misguided. Every city has its pluses and minuses. So, I merely turn the spotlight to show that it ain't all rose-petals and Krispy Kremes in San Francisco, even as the Muni buses will sometimes display the words "San Francisco: The City that Knows How."
As I start to settle into my new home, I can see a lot of the warts that make this city a challenging place to live. I've even blogged about some of them. :-) I also think it's important to consider that there's no reason both of these cities aren't worth some amount of praise and some amount of criticism for what they offer.
Like the people who have exclaimed their joy for San Francisco to me, I too love San Francisco. This week, when we hit an all-time record high of 113 degrees, I longed for the cooling breeze and foggy skies to put me at ease. Sufice to say, they didn't come, but I've also started to accept that maybe it isn't so bad to be able to walk around in flip-flops and shorts on almost any given day and feel comfortable and warm.
Suffice to say, I am beginning to see how my new home works, and I am beginning to love Los Angeles.
This, to me, starkly contrasts with the reactions of San Franciscans to Los Angeles. There is only one person (out of literally dozens) who I can recall outright told me that I would love Los Angeles, and I'd only met him minutes before. A few other friends either neutrally or begrudgingly admitted they thought I would like it here, and otherwise the reactions ranged from negative to horrified. Among the things I heard about LA from San Franciscans?
- It's so dirty!
- I get sick every time I go there.
- Enjoy the smog!
- Everyone is so fake.
- They don't call it LaLa Land for nothing!
- Hope you like driving!
- Better work on your tan.
- Are you sure? (as in, I obviously hadn't thought this one through enough)
Honestly, I don't get it. It reminds me of when I was at high school back in the metro Detroit area and everyone at my school pooh-poohed the University of Michigan as "elitist" and "snobby" and instead spoke of how fantastic Michigan State was. I didn't buy it, and today I am a maize-and-blue-bleeding U-M alum. I can also honestly say that I never heard the kind of trashing of Michigan State when I was at U-Michigan (other than the few times the high profile sports teams from each school played each other) that I heard from MSU fans when I was growing up.
What's that about? Why the need to trash someone else? I mean, did the 15 million people in the LA area do something to deserve being lumped into a smelly, waste-of-time morass in the collective consciousness of the upstanding and environmentally-friendly people of the Bay Area?
Not caveats: I just had a meeting today with a legislative aide who is helping with the rapid, ongoing expansion of the Los Angeles Metro Rail, which is only 20 years old and already has 5 lines and will be adding 2 more and extending a 3rd in the next 10-15 years... I attended a meeting this week where the elected leaders of the neighborhood-based organization were actually attempting to work in concert with a developer of an under-utilized property within a block of a metro station... From my home, I'm able to walk to nearly everything I need, including the gym, grocery store, pharmacy, restaurants and shops, tons of clubs/hang-out spots, post office, and neighborhood city hall... Oh, and I randomly discovered that my neighborhood has an LGBT senior housing facility (it's called "Triangle Square" - kinda cute!).
Why do I bring these things up? Well, let's compare, shall we?
In SF, the Muni expansion down 3rd Street was its first major rail expansion in like 30 years, and it did little to shorten the time to get from Visitacion Valley to downtown (unlike my 15-minute ride downtown from Hollywood... where driving could be anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes, depending)... In SF, I've seen multiple well-intentioned projects get bogged down to the point of imploding because of community opposition that often results in developers walking away... In SF, I could walk to everything I needed too (in other words, that hasn't changed very much for me in my new home)... And in SF, there's been talk of LGBT senior housing for a long, long time, and while it will still likely happen, the effort to do it was stalled for years by a handful of neighbors whose ultimate argument ended up being that they preferred to declare as historic a blank wall and a couple long-since-abandoned buildings over allowing new residents into their community.
Now, I don't want to trash-talk San Francisco here. Tit-for-tat isn't my style. I merely raise these points to offer some more concrete ways in which I think the negativity directed by SF residents toward Los Angeles may be a bit misguided. Every city has its pluses and minuses. So, I merely turn the spotlight to show that it ain't all rose-petals and Krispy Kremes in San Francisco, even as the Muni buses will sometimes display the words "San Francisco: The City that Knows How."
As I start to settle into my new home, I can see a lot of the warts that make this city a challenging place to live. I've even blogged about some of them. :-) I also think it's important to consider that there's no reason both of these cities aren't worth some amount of praise and some amount of criticism for what they offer.
Like the people who have exclaimed their joy for San Francisco to me, I too love San Francisco. This week, when we hit an all-time record high of 113 degrees, I longed for the cooling breeze and foggy skies to put me at ease. Sufice to say, they didn't come, but I've also started to accept that maybe it isn't so bad to be able to walk around in flip-flops and shorts on almost any given day and feel comfortable and warm.
Suffice to say, I am beginning to see how my new home works, and I am beginning to love Los Angeles.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Driving
I know y'all are wondering what I think about all the driving. This is LA so of course I'm driving now, right? Well, yes. Luke who never owned a car in his life (and took the trains and buses all over San Francisco for ten years), now not only owns a car but has been driving it too. It's true!
I got to experience the nightmare of driving that so many know as "just another day in LA" first-hand a few days ago when I had a couple meetings in and near Santa Monica. Yes, that is the same Santa Monica that is just ten miles west of me but took nearly an hour for me to get to on Friday morning. You wanna see road rage? Thank goodness there was no car webcam on me once I reached my destination at the end of that excursion.
Oh and thank goodness for Ryan Seacrest and his morning radio show, which at least kept me semi-entertained.
It is definitely true that traffic here can be horrifying. Case in point, we went to watch the LA Galaxy MLS Soccer game on Friday night and it took an hour and a half just to get to the stadium, which is 22 miles south of me. Granted, we were driving in Friday after-work rush-hour traffic, and we also overshot the stadium by a couple miles, so perhaps we could have done it in 15-20 minutes' less time. Still, I can say that I've rarely had to just suck it up and get used to driving conditions like I've experienced in my brief time in Los Angeles so far.
I just added up all the time I spent in a car on Friday. About... five hours. No wonder I had serious vertigo by the end of the day!
So, yeah, driving can be a pain in the butt. However(!), if you know the short routes - the fast(er) ways to get around town - you can shave lots of time off your drive. Just the other night, I took the fast(er) way to my boyfriend's place, and it was just 10 minutes. A few days later I tried a different route, thinking I'd mix it up and try something new, and it made the trip take almost 20 minutes. No, there wasn't more traffic at that time of day; I literally just tried something that was almost the exact same distance and ended up taking nearly twice the time.
I do loves me my transit, and I'll have more to say on what I think of LA's transit system sometime soon. In the meantime, suffice to say that LA probably proves the point that a good transit system means more than just fast trains and buses that run frequently. It also means trains and buses that take you to the places you want to go from the place you are, and it means new development being clustered around transit-accessible locations so that people at least have the option to take the train or a bus, even if it's not quite as convenient.
I've also learned (and kinda already knew this) that Santa Monica Boulevard moves about as quickly as the U.S. Senate. This is a given. Almost any day. Any time. Any place along the road. Don't trust the Google Maps on this one. SMB (as I have learned to abbreviate it) is no place for the impatient or those on a schedule.
Now I just need to find alternatives...
I got to experience the nightmare of driving that so many know as "just another day in LA" first-hand a few days ago when I had a couple meetings in and near Santa Monica. Yes, that is the same Santa Monica that is just ten miles west of me but took nearly an hour for me to get to on Friday morning. You wanna see road rage? Thank goodness there was no car webcam on me once I reached my destination at the end of that excursion.
Oh and thank goodness for Ryan Seacrest and his morning radio show, which at least kept me semi-entertained.
It is definitely true that traffic here can be horrifying. Case in point, we went to watch the LA Galaxy MLS Soccer game on Friday night and it took an hour and a half just to get to the stadium, which is 22 miles south of me. Granted, we were driving in Friday after-work rush-hour traffic, and we also overshot the stadium by a couple miles, so perhaps we could have done it in 15-20 minutes' less time. Still, I can say that I've rarely had to just suck it up and get used to driving conditions like I've experienced in my brief time in Los Angeles so far.
I just added up all the time I spent in a car on Friday. About... five hours. No wonder I had serious vertigo by the end of the day!
So, yeah, driving can be a pain in the butt. However(!), if you know the short routes - the fast(er) ways to get around town - you can shave lots of time off your drive. Just the other night, I took the fast(er) way to my boyfriend's place, and it was just 10 minutes. A few days later I tried a different route, thinking I'd mix it up and try something new, and it made the trip take almost 20 minutes. No, there wasn't more traffic at that time of day; I literally just tried something that was almost the exact same distance and ended up taking nearly twice the time.
I do loves me my transit, and I'll have more to say on what I think of LA's transit system sometime soon. In the meantime, suffice to say that LA probably proves the point that a good transit system means more than just fast trains and buses that run frequently. It also means trains and buses that take you to the places you want to go from the place you are, and it means new development being clustered around transit-accessible locations so that people at least have the option to take the train or a bus, even if it's not quite as convenient.
I've also learned (and kinda already knew this) that Santa Monica Boulevard moves about as quickly as the U.S. Senate. This is a given. Almost any day. Any time. Any place along the road. Don't trust the Google Maps on this one. SMB (as I have learned to abbreviate it) is no place for the impatient or those on a schedule.
Now I just need to find alternatives...
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Fine dining
I don't intend to spend much time offering critiques or reviews of the local culinary offerings, but this particular experience was far too bizarre to pass up. Combine the best Mexican food I've ever eaten (and it was quite affordable) with a gigantic restaurant that was absolutely empty, and you begin to understand why this might be blog-worthy.
Before going to see Easy A at the ArcLight Cinemas, my boyfriend and I decided to check out a restaurant in the neighborhood that looked interesting from the outside when we'd driven past it a couple times. The restaurant is called La Vida, and it's on the corner of Sunset and Gower, across from a Denny's, so you know it has to be good. Even though we had been concerned that it might be pricey (based on the facade, and the look of the restaurant), we decided to go when we saw on the restaurant's website that the menu was actually quite reasonable.
We walked in at 7:15pm on a Saturday evening, which in my experience in San Francisco would make us very lucky to find a table at a good restaurant. Not only was there a table available for us, there wasn't a single other patron in the entire restaurant! My boyfriend asked the hostess "How long have you been open?" meaning, "When did this restaurant open? It looks new to us." However, the hostess responded with, "We've been open since 7PM." When he asked her again about when they had opened in the space, she said "Oh! We've been here since March."
She proceeded to seat us in one of three large dining room spaces. Below is a picture of that room, which could probably seat at least 75 people when filled.
Just based on the decor, I worried again that we might have misjudged the pricing on the menu, but once we checked it out, turns out that it was as advertised on their website. I kept thinking there had to be something we were missing.
I can honestly say that I've never had any as tasty or as well-done as what I had at La Vida. And the chips were free, guac $6.50 and burrito $12. Huh? To be sure, drinks were as expensive as each entree, and the waiter and hostess both explained to us that they're more of a "club" than a restaurant. That may be the case, but they are a "club" that has restaurant seating for more than 200 people.
Here are a few more shots of the interior:
And the outdoor patio:
Frankly, the thing that most stuck with me was how phenomenal the space was, combined with phenomenal food, and yet we were the only diners until a group of three people showed up just before 8PM. So, in a restaurant that could seat over 200 people, on a Saturday night, in a great location, with great food and a great milieu, we were the lone diners for over half an hour.
Oh, and did I mention that the lighting was being adjusted while we were eating? First it went up a notch, then it came down some, and then it came down a lot more. I felt like we were interfering on the restaurant's pre-opening prep time.
However, given the quality and price of the food and the niceness of the space, I'd definitely go back again, and I'm sure I will.
Before going to see Easy A at the ArcLight Cinemas, my boyfriend and I decided to check out a restaurant in the neighborhood that looked interesting from the outside when we'd driven past it a couple times. The restaurant is called La Vida, and it's on the corner of Sunset and Gower, across from a Denny's, so you know it has to be good. Even though we had been concerned that it might be pricey (based on the facade, and the look of the restaurant), we decided to go when we saw on the restaurant's website that the menu was actually quite reasonable.
We walked in at 7:15pm on a Saturday evening, which in my experience in San Francisco would make us very lucky to find a table at a good restaurant. Not only was there a table available for us, there wasn't a single other patron in the entire restaurant! My boyfriend asked the hostess "How long have you been open?" meaning, "When did this restaurant open? It looks new to us." However, the hostess responded with, "We've been open since 7PM." When he asked her again about when they had opened in the space, she said "Oh! We've been here since March."
She proceeded to seat us in one of three large dining room spaces. Below is a picture of that room, which could probably seat at least 75 people when filled.
Just based on the decor, I worried again that we might have misjudged the pricing on the menu, but once we checked it out, turns out that it was as advertised on their website. I kept thinking there had to be something we were missing.
I can honestly say that I've never had any as tasty or as well-done as what I had at La Vida. And the chips were free, guac $6.50 and burrito $12. Huh? To be sure, drinks were as expensive as each entree, and the waiter and hostess both explained to us that they're more of a "club" than a restaurant. That may be the case, but they are a "club" that has restaurant seating for more than 200 people.
Here are a few more shots of the interior:
 |
| Looking back into the restaurant to another of the rooms. |
 |
| One of the light fixtures in the furthest-back room, that could probably easily seat 40-50 people. |
And the outdoor patio:
Frankly, the thing that most stuck with me was how phenomenal the space was, combined with phenomenal food, and yet we were the only diners until a group of three people showed up just before 8PM. So, in a restaurant that could seat over 200 people, on a Saturday night, in a great location, with great food and a great milieu, we were the lone diners for over half an hour.
Oh, and did I mention that the lighting was being adjusted while we were eating? First it went up a notch, then it came down some, and then it came down a lot more. I felt like we were interfering on the restaurant's pre-opening prep time.
However, given the quality and price of the food and the niceness of the space, I'd definitely go back again, and I'm sure I will.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Heat
Perhaps the most noticeable change I've experienced to date since moving from San Francisco to Los Angeles is the weather. It's an adjustment, to say the least.
I've taken to wearing shorts and a tank top every day and my sunglasses are almost always affixed to my face. Anytime I go out without the sunglasses is an unfortunate experience before the unrelenting sunshine. No clouds. Little breeze. Just warm warm sunshine.
A little something about me: I much prefer rainy, cool weather. Yes, you heard that correctly. My ideal climate is probably Forks, Washington, one of the country's rainiest towns (and now known for other reasons - go ahead and Google it). Well, I like rain and snow. You probably think that's weird, so feel free to just say it out loud. There. Happy now?
Despite my complaining about the perpetually chilly air of San Francisco, the fog was somehow cathartic to me on those days when I just wanted to be bundled up in a blanket, sipping hot chocolate, and watching the latest episode of Top Chef. For me, the fog was San Francisco's version of "rain" during a long dry season.
That said, who wants to be bundled up in his winter jacket and hat to watch the fireworks lighting up the blustery fog on July 4th? Or just being cold the entire summer for that matter? Oh yes, I know that San Francisco's "summer" is September and October - but last I checked it has still only broken 80 degrees 3 times since Sept. 1, and mostly highs have been in the 60s. Meanwhile, the high in LA has only been cooler than 70 degrees once since Sept. 1, and generally has been hovering between 75 and 80 every day. And that one day cooler than 70? Several people complained to me that I'd brought the "San Francisco weather" with me in my move. Gee, thanks guys! Apparently some Los Angelenos think that any SF'er - transplant or visitor - brings the clouds with him wherever he goes. But, aren't the clouds pretty?
I'm a weather fanatic. Years ago I took a one-credit college course on climate change, and the one grade for the class was a final exam that was all things meteorology (and not what we covered on climate change issues). Needless to say, I aced the exam because, ever since I can remember, I have been fascinated by fronts, air masses, storms, cloud patterns, precipitation, etc. Changes in weather patterns, in particular, interest me. Shifts from hot to cold or vice versa; days of rain/snow; different cloud patterns... you name it, if it's changing I'm probably outside watching it or obsessing over it on numerous websites like this and this. For many years, must-see TV for me generally consisted of ESPN's SportsCenter and all things The Weather Channel.
Well, the weather didn't change much over the course of any given year in San Francisco, and that appears likely to be even more so the case in Los Angeles. It's basically sunny, and warm, every day. Yes. Every day.
As this article points out, LA gets 329 days of sunshine a year, out of 365 days. Last I checked, that's a little over 90% of the time. (dramatic pause) Do you know how hard that kind of unrelenting warm sunshine is for someone used to changing weather, including both hot and cold days and intermittent precipitation? Or do you lack sympathy with my plight? I don't blame you if you fall into the latter category.
So, doing my best to adjust - walking and biking around to explore and discover my environs, and to acclimate to a climate that brings perpetual sunshine and warmth. Any and all suggestions for coping mechanisms to adjust to this new climate are welcome.
I've taken to wearing shorts and a tank top every day and my sunglasses are almost always affixed to my face. Anytime I go out without the sunglasses is an unfortunate experience before the unrelenting sunshine. No clouds. Little breeze. Just warm warm sunshine.
A little something about me: I much prefer rainy, cool weather. Yes, you heard that correctly. My ideal climate is probably Forks, Washington, one of the country's rainiest towns (and now known for other reasons - go ahead and Google it). Well, I like rain and snow. You probably think that's weird, so feel free to just say it out loud. There. Happy now?
Despite my complaining about the perpetually chilly air of San Francisco, the fog was somehow cathartic to me on those days when I just wanted to be bundled up in a blanket, sipping hot chocolate, and watching the latest episode of Top Chef. For me, the fog was San Francisco's version of "rain" during a long dry season.
That said, who wants to be bundled up in his winter jacket and hat to watch the fireworks lighting up the blustery fog on July 4th? Or just being cold the entire summer for that matter? Oh yes, I know that San Francisco's "summer" is September and October - but last I checked it has still only broken 80 degrees 3 times since Sept. 1, and mostly highs have been in the 60s. Meanwhile, the high in LA has only been cooler than 70 degrees once since Sept. 1, and generally has been hovering between 75 and 80 every day. And that one day cooler than 70? Several people complained to me that I'd brought the "San Francisco weather" with me in my move. Gee, thanks guys! Apparently some Los Angelenos think that any SF'er - transplant or visitor - brings the clouds with him wherever he goes. But, aren't the clouds pretty?
I'm a weather fanatic. Years ago I took a one-credit college course on climate change, and the one grade for the class was a final exam that was all things meteorology (and not what we covered on climate change issues). Needless to say, I aced the exam because, ever since I can remember, I have been fascinated by fronts, air masses, storms, cloud patterns, precipitation, etc. Changes in weather patterns, in particular, interest me. Shifts from hot to cold or vice versa; days of rain/snow; different cloud patterns... you name it, if it's changing I'm probably outside watching it or obsessing over it on numerous websites like this and this. For many years, must-see TV for me generally consisted of ESPN's SportsCenter and all things The Weather Channel.
Well, the weather didn't change much over the course of any given year in San Francisco, and that appears likely to be even more so the case in Los Angeles. It's basically sunny, and warm, every day. Yes. Every day.
As this article points out, LA gets 329 days of sunshine a year, out of 365 days. Last I checked, that's a little over 90% of the time. (dramatic pause) Do you know how hard that kind of unrelenting warm sunshine is for someone used to changing weather, including both hot and cold days and intermittent precipitation? Or do you lack sympathy with my plight? I don't blame you if you fall into the latter category.
So, doing my best to adjust - walking and biking around to explore and discover my environs, and to acclimate to a climate that brings perpetual sunshine and warmth. Any and all suggestions for coping mechanisms to adjust to this new climate are welcome.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Plastic
Whenever a single word was ever used to describe Los Angeles to me before I moved here, it was "plastic." A close second is "smog," but I would say that "plastic" beat out "smog" by virtue of it describing something more endemic to the people of LA rather than just its environment. And I would have to say that my first experiences of this city years ago backed up the "plastic" meme, from the bright colors adorning the most plain of storefronts, to the women in 6-inch heels and Gucci bags and sunglasses, to the thousands of people who come here anticipating fame in their near future.
If anything changed for me in the past year and a half with my boyfriend it was seeing a side of LA that wasn't plastic. Rather, as a native to this city, my boyfriend showed me an LA that was more of a community and that was interested in more than just your body mass index and skin elasticity. I got to see an LA where families grow up, distinct neighborhoods attract a wide variety of people, and entertainment is an industry, not just an attraction.
Which isn't to say that "Plastic LA" doesn't exist.
Case in point: Moments after arriving at the gym this morning, I almost ran into a woman with breasts as big as her head and nearly popping out of her low-cut shirt. Y'all know I'm not the type to chase skirts, and yet I couldn't help but be distracted by what appeared to be a three-headed woman who, mysteriously enough, nearly always had some man talking to her. I suppose I should have been shocked - shocked! - by the voluminous silicone in front of me, but it just seems to be par for the course.
Never mind that the gym is packed with myriad men with arms bigger than my neck, and legs to match. This may be the same gym - Gold's - as I went to in San Francisco, but the similarities end there. To say I feel like wimpy, skimpy Luke would be an understatement. About the only people with breasts larger than the woman mentioned above are the men. Almost all of them. I kid you not.
All this to say that the plastic meme certainly does have its place. I suppose the thing that makes it distinct here is that people are more forthright about wanting to look like they just popped out of a fashion mag (in some cases almost literally). And, given the proximity of the entertainment industry, I suppose it all makes sense.
Speaking of proximity to the entertainment industry... I must also mention my first celeb sighting, which I suppose is commonplace in LA. It turns out that Matthew Morrison - of Glee fame - apparently works out at my gym. I spotted him and a buddy doing bench presses while I was trying to get my chest to half the size of said woman above. And while I was not about to run up to him like a giddy school girl and ask him to sign my sweaty gym towel using a pen I'd scammed from the front desk when the clerk wasn't looking, I was definitely tempted.
I guess it just makes the point about plastic and the entertainment industry... the television and movie biz is literally around every corner and employs so many people. It would be hard not to want to act and dress the part to have a shot at fame. (I'll blog more about the entertainment industry soon enough...)
If anything changed for me in the past year and a half with my boyfriend it was seeing a side of LA that wasn't plastic. Rather, as a native to this city, my boyfriend showed me an LA that was more of a community and that was interested in more than just your body mass index and skin elasticity. I got to see an LA where families grow up, distinct neighborhoods attract a wide variety of people, and entertainment is an industry, not just an attraction.
Which isn't to say that "Plastic LA" doesn't exist.
Case in point: Moments after arriving at the gym this morning, I almost ran into a woman with breasts as big as her head and nearly popping out of her low-cut shirt. Y'all know I'm not the type to chase skirts, and yet I couldn't help but be distracted by what appeared to be a three-headed woman who, mysteriously enough, nearly always had some man talking to her. I suppose I should have been shocked - shocked! - by the voluminous silicone in front of me, but it just seems to be par for the course.
Never mind that the gym is packed with myriad men with arms bigger than my neck, and legs to match. This may be the same gym - Gold's - as I went to in San Francisco, but the similarities end there. To say I feel like wimpy, skimpy Luke would be an understatement. About the only people with breasts larger than the woman mentioned above are the men. Almost all of them. I kid you not.
All this to say that the plastic meme certainly does have its place. I suppose the thing that makes it distinct here is that people are more forthright about wanting to look like they just popped out of a fashion mag (in some cases almost literally). And, given the proximity of the entertainment industry, I suppose it all makes sense.
Speaking of proximity to the entertainment industry... I must also mention my first celeb sighting, which I suppose is commonplace in LA. It turns out that Matthew Morrison - of Glee fame - apparently works out at my gym. I spotted him and a buddy doing bench presses while I was trying to get my chest to half the size of said woman above. And while I was not about to run up to him like a giddy school girl and ask him to sign my sweaty gym towel using a pen I'd scammed from the front desk when the clerk wasn't looking, I was definitely tempted.
I guess it just makes the point about plastic and the entertainment industry... the television and movie biz is literally around every corner and employs so many people. It would be hard not to want to act and dress the part to have a shot at fame. (I'll blog more about the entertainment industry soon enough...)
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Sites around the neighborhood
Went for a little bike ride around my neighborhood to take a few pictures and to get a feel for the area. Here they are ---
The Hollywood Community Hospital is on De Longpre Ave, just a couple blocks from my new place. Perhaps it is somehow connected with all the senior housing in the immediate vicinity?
My initial impressions of the neighborhood are good, and also a little mixed. I love the proximity to shops, restaurants, groceries and other necessities, and transportation. The amount of trees, the walkability, and a lot of the new development are all pretty fantastic. At the same time, there are random places interspersed throughout the neighborhood that could really use new or improved care-taking, and it feels in many places like a neighborhood going through a substantial transition.
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| Carlton Way |
The first picture here is Carlton Way (as seen looking West from this intersection), which is lined for a couple blocks with these beautiful, tall Mexican fan palm trees. These trees grow all over my neighborhood, and I've noticed that in a few places they're coming up almost like weeds. In this instance, they were obviously planted all at the same time, and the way they line the street is pretty dramatic.
This is the front of an apartment building (location here) that was quite beautiful with all the palm trees out front.
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| Hollywood Community Hospital |
The Hollywood Community Hospital is on De Longpre Ave, just a couple blocks from my new place. Perhaps it is somehow connected with all the senior housing in the immediate vicinity?
I had a few more shots but will just end this post with a picture of one of the most well-known sights of LA, the Hollywood sign. Turns out that in my neighborhood this sign is also something you see at nearly every turn. The sign is a good 4 miles from where this picture was taken.
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| The Hollywood Sign |
Frankly, that's all very exciting to me. :-)
Go Blue!
Labor Day evening, and we had just arrived in my new city. I had unpacked my "new" car (hereafter referred to by her name, Mary Ann, in deference to my mom who lovingly owned this car for the past 7 years before selling it to me) after she had made the challenging trek up and through the grapevine while loaded up with my most expensive electronics and live plants.
We were taking a stroll up El Centro Ave (don't be deceived by the name, it's a small street) when some woman walking her dog said "Go Blue!" to me as she walked by. I was caught off guard, having forgotten that I was wearing my "Michigan Alumni" t-shirt and having only heard something along the lines of "Yo you!" My boyfriend immediately ribbed me for not acknowledging the support I'd just gotten from one of my new neighbors, and, when I realized what I'd failed to understand moments earlier, I turned around and thanked her and responded with my own, now sadly behind-the-times "Go Blue!"
I don't believe in omens. Looking for the universe to give us "signs" as to whether today or tomorrow will be better or worse than yesterday is time spent that could otherwise have been dedicated to far more useful exploits. That said, I did appreciate the unexpected welcome to my new city, literally within the hour of my arrival.
Oh, and come to find out that there's a giant bar literally one mile from my new apartment that is the Michigan sports bar. As you might expect, that bar is at the top of my list of places to visit!
We were taking a stroll up El Centro Ave (don't be deceived by the name, it's a small street) when some woman walking her dog said "Go Blue!" to me as she walked by. I was caught off guard, having forgotten that I was wearing my "Michigan Alumni" t-shirt and having only heard something along the lines of "Yo you!" My boyfriend immediately ribbed me for not acknowledging the support I'd just gotten from one of my new neighbors, and, when I realized what I'd failed to understand moments earlier, I turned around and thanked her and responded with my own, now sadly behind-the-times "Go Blue!"
I don't believe in omens. Looking for the universe to give us "signs" as to whether today or tomorrow will be better or worse than yesterday is time spent that could otherwise have been dedicated to far more useful exploits. That said, I did appreciate the unexpected welcome to my new city, literally within the hour of my arrival.
Oh, and come to find out that there's a giant bar literally one mile from my new apartment that is the Michigan sports bar. As you might expect, that bar is at the top of my list of places to visit!
Welcome to Los Angeles!
I grew up in the Midwest. Spent nearly 15 years in Michigan, and before that was born in and lived some in Wisconsin (with 2 years in nowhere-Texas sprinkled in). So when I decided to move to San Francisco 10 years ago, it was a big deal.
Last week I moved to Los Angeles, which is the inspiration for this blog. Yeah, I have already learned the ropes living on the West Coast since 2000, and it is pretty much my home now, but I also chose to come to LA independent of what anyone asked me to do or thought was the "right" thing for me to do. It was entirely by my own choice, and primarily because I wanted to live near my boyfriend of the past year and a half. It made sense for me at this point in my life to move, and here I am.
Los Angeles is very different than any place to which I might have seen myself moving years ago. Part of the purpose of this blog is to put my thoughts down and share first impressions and experiences of this city in a public forum, for anyone who thinks that what I have to say or share is even the least bit interesting. It's also to organize my thoughts as things come at me from all sides - perhaps you can provide some semblance of order to it.
I come at this as someone who learned early in my life to hate LA, when as a child I watched my beloved Detroit Pistons (that's NBA basketball, for those of you who care to know) lose to the Lakers, before finally besting them a year later. As an alum of the University of Michigan, I have had no love lost for the USC Trojans, with their year-in/year-out Pete Carroll media lovefest and powder puff PAC-10 conference (Note: The PAC-10 is pretty amazing these days... but not so 10 years ago; and yes, I know Pete Carroll jumped ship for the NFL and that USC is in a difficult place this year). Having grown up in a city dependent on cars for even the most basic necessities, I'm no fan of being in the ultimate car city, known not only for its parking lot freeways, but also its smog which taints an otherwise unbeatable daily weather routine of sunshine and 70s.
I didn't start a blog 10 years ago when I first moved to San Francisco because (a) I didn't know blogs existed back then and (b) moving to LA feels somehow different for me than my move to SF. LA feels like and moves like a big city, while SF felt more familiar, almost like a big town where everybody knew your name. LA is the first place I've been able to afford my own place, in a desirable part of town, that isn't the gay ghetto.
This isn't to speak ill upon the good name of San Francisco, a city that I have loved and continue to love, because SF is an incredible place. It's simply to provide some arrangement for my thoughts as to why now, why this medium, and what next.
I'll share thoughts, experiences, and pictures here as this journey unfolds. And, whoever you are reading this, thank you. I hope you'll share your own thoughts as you see fit.
Last week I moved to Los Angeles, which is the inspiration for this blog. Yeah, I have already learned the ropes living on the West Coast since 2000, and it is pretty much my home now, but I also chose to come to LA independent of what anyone asked me to do or thought was the "right" thing for me to do. It was entirely by my own choice, and primarily because I wanted to live near my boyfriend of the past year and a half. It made sense for me at this point in my life to move, and here I am.
Los Angeles is very different than any place to which I might have seen myself moving years ago. Part of the purpose of this blog is to put my thoughts down and share first impressions and experiences of this city in a public forum, for anyone who thinks that what I have to say or share is even the least bit interesting. It's also to organize my thoughts as things come at me from all sides - perhaps you can provide some semblance of order to it.
I come at this as someone who learned early in my life to hate LA, when as a child I watched my beloved Detroit Pistons (that's NBA basketball, for those of you who care to know) lose to the Lakers, before finally besting them a year later. As an alum of the University of Michigan, I have had no love lost for the USC Trojans, with their year-in/year-out Pete Carroll media lovefest and powder puff PAC-10 conference (Note: The PAC-10 is pretty amazing these days... but not so 10 years ago; and yes, I know Pete Carroll jumped ship for the NFL and that USC is in a difficult place this year). Having grown up in a city dependent on cars for even the most basic necessities, I'm no fan of being in the ultimate car city, known not only for its parking lot freeways, but also its smog which taints an otherwise unbeatable daily weather routine of sunshine and 70s.
I didn't start a blog 10 years ago when I first moved to San Francisco because (a) I didn't know blogs existed back then and (b) moving to LA feels somehow different for me than my move to SF. LA feels like and moves like a big city, while SF felt more familiar, almost like a big town where everybody knew your name. LA is the first place I've been able to afford my own place, in a desirable part of town, that isn't the gay ghetto.
This isn't to speak ill upon the good name of San Francisco, a city that I have loved and continue to love, because SF is an incredible place. It's simply to provide some arrangement for my thoughts as to why now, why this medium, and what next.
I'll share thoughts, experiences, and pictures here as this journey unfolds. And, whoever you are reading this, thank you. I hope you'll share your own thoughts as you see fit.
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