Hey! Great writing. I regret I never had the opportunity to live in LA. I lived in NYC for about 20 years. It feels like a waste of time at this point. That’s a little harsh - say I wish I’d diversified a bit more.
I've lived in both cities and your opinion on food is 100% wrong. This is completely wrong: "This is why Manhattan is often not a good place to eat." It's hard to generalize with two large cities and thousands of places to eat, but I can't think of a cuisine where it's not better in NYC except tacos.
Chinese and Thai in LA basically have NYC licked as far as I can tell, NYC has pizza, but it’s not like you can’t find great pizza here, just not as abundant
Good insights! Great reminders why we are in LA. I must say that an endless summer is sometimes negative on our aging, we are never reminded that time flies. I miss having 4 seasons and go through cycles of hibernating-resting in the winter, re-birth with new energies in spring, enjoy the summer and stock up on vitamin D, stock up your pantry with crops for the winter... and so on. In LA we forget to take breaks, so much to do in such nice sunny lands like you said: by the beach in the morning and skiing in the afternoon.... is exhausting! Thank you for your post.
I foolishly left LA in the '60s. I can still visualize Laurel Canyon Bl as my MG Midget slid around the tight curves and away from a police car. My co-workers at a sales company included a Venezuelan hippie, a refugee from Castro, an actor, a hat model from Buffalo, and an Apache who lived near the Warners Bros. studio in Burbank. I learned how to say, Lancia, from a beautiful, blond Italian woman in the former Luigi Chinetti, Ferrari dealership in east Hollywood. "Loonchia." You don't get those experiences in the hard land of the winter where grey and white are the preferred house colors. But now, the Leftist attack on prosperity discourages a return. Bummer!
- That Los Angeles is the funniest city I've ever been too, that it is fully of goofy stuff.
- That by now L.A. has a fair amount of history. Alexander Payne, director of "Sideways," said: "People always tell me L.A. has no history, but I'm always driving around and saying to myself, "Hey, look, there's that outdoor staircase that Laurel & Hardy tried to move the piano on." (Much of L.A.'s history is funny.)
A fellow NorCal native visited me for a weekend, and the entirety of the visit consisted of us walking to Repo Man filming locations. In high school, we had watched that movie every day for months, so it put us in touch with an important part of OUR history. It also finally convinced my friend that LA was a cool place.
When I lived in East Hollywood, accross from the ex-Cedars Of Lebanon Hospital, my friends and I would get stoned, go to a nearby restaurant and laugh at the way that people ate. Sadly, I don't remember why.
Also the music is the best. A place like the Baked Potato could likely not exist in any other city on earth. Where else could you have first-call session players roll in on a Wednesday night and play some of the best fusion music possible? Oh, I'll just randomly go see the drummer for Paul McCartney play with his friends, who just happened to play on several major records just released. These kinds of experiences just don't happen anywhere else. The density of quality musicians is unparalleled, and you could find an excellent show to go to every single night.
Wonderfully put. I am a NorCal native and moved to LA from Silicon Valley in 2009. So many people, friends, family, people I cared about, told me I was crazy. I don't have much to add to what you already wrote except my specific perspective. It took my brain about a year or more to understand the sheer size of the place. Like when you say, "It’s hard to really get Los Angeles until you’re standing here," yes that's right, and it's hard also hard to get it unless you've lived and driven around and hung out and met people and made friends for about a year. Then at that point your brain changes. Related to that, and related to, "If you try to find the essence, the centre, the One True Experience, you will go mad..." yeah. And here is another related attribute built on top of all of the size, diversity and sprawl: change. I have heard from countless people, "I could never get bored here -- even if I had explored the whole thing and had to start over, the first place would be completely different." Living here is a radical new perspective, like seeing multiple lifetimes in a single life.
I grew up in LA and wholly endorse this description. Sometimes converts are the most perceptive. Also, no kidding, my HS graduating class was called the Epicureans.
Hey! Great writing. I regret I never had the opportunity to live in LA. I lived in NYC for about 20 years. It feels like a waste of time at this point. That’s a little harsh - say I wish I’d diversified a bit more.
You might like this piece: https://www.bldgblog.com/2007/10/greater-los-angeles/. I read this a decade ago, probably, and it always stuck with me.
wow i'm envious of this piece -- the deeper, more poetic version of some things i was getting at
fantastic!!
I've lived in both cities and your opinion on food is 100% wrong. This is completely wrong: "This is why Manhattan is often not a good place to eat." It's hard to generalize with two large cities and thousands of places to eat, but I can't think of a cuisine where it's not better in NYC except tacos.
Jewish delis, Korean, Chinese, etc. there actually nothing better in NY
Korean? Mexican? Persian? Vegan and other "health" food? I can't imagine these are all better in New York.
Chinese and Thai in LA basically have NYC licked as far as I can tell, NYC has pizza, but it’s not like you can’t find great pizza here, just not as abundant
Good insights! Great reminders why we are in LA. I must say that an endless summer is sometimes negative on our aging, we are never reminded that time flies. I miss having 4 seasons and go through cycles of hibernating-resting in the winter, re-birth with new energies in spring, enjoy the summer and stock up on vitamin D, stock up your pantry with crops for the winter... and so on. In LA we forget to take breaks, so much to do in such nice sunny lands like you said: by the beach in the morning and skiing in the afternoon.... is exhausting! Thank you for your post.
I foolishly left LA in the '60s. I can still visualize Laurel Canyon Bl as my MG Midget slid around the tight curves and away from a police car. My co-workers at a sales company included a Venezuelan hippie, a refugee from Castro, an actor, a hat model from Buffalo, and an Apache who lived near the Warners Bros. studio in Burbank. I learned how to say, Lancia, from a beautiful, blond Italian woman in the former Luigi Chinetti, Ferrari dealership in east Hollywood. "Loonchia." You don't get those experiences in the hard land of the winter where grey and white are the preferred house colors. But now, the Leftist attack on prosperity discourages a return. Bummer!
I'd add a couple of things:
- That Los Angeles is the funniest city I've ever been too, that it is fully of goofy stuff.
- That by now L.A. has a fair amount of history. Alexander Payne, director of "Sideways," said: "People always tell me L.A. has no history, but I'm always driving around and saying to myself, "Hey, look, there's that outdoor staircase that Laurel & Hardy tried to move the piano on." (Much of L.A.'s history is funny.)
A fellow NorCal native visited me for a weekend, and the entirety of the visit consisted of us walking to Repo Man filming locations. In high school, we had watched that movie every day for months, so it put us in touch with an important part of OUR history. It also finally convinced my friend that LA was a cool place.
When I lived in East Hollywood, accross from the ex-Cedars Of Lebanon Hospital, my friends and I would get stoned, go to a nearby restaurant and laugh at the way that people ate. Sadly, I don't remember why.
I would argue that a center of the city is very visible. Also I don't understand the drug that is LA. I lived there for 3 years and hated it.
Also the music is the best. A place like the Baked Potato could likely not exist in any other city on earth. Where else could you have first-call session players roll in on a Wednesday night and play some of the best fusion music possible? Oh, I'll just randomly go see the drummer for Paul McCartney play with his friends, who just happened to play on several major records just released. These kinds of experiences just don't happen anywhere else. The density of quality musicians is unparalleled, and you could find an excellent show to go to every single night.
Wonderfully put. I am a NorCal native and moved to LA from Silicon Valley in 2009. So many people, friends, family, people I cared about, told me I was crazy. I don't have much to add to what you already wrote except my specific perspective. It took my brain about a year or more to understand the sheer size of the place. Like when you say, "It’s hard to really get Los Angeles until you’re standing here," yes that's right, and it's hard also hard to get it unless you've lived and driven around and hung out and met people and made friends for about a year. Then at that point your brain changes. Related to that, and related to, "If you try to find the essence, the centre, the One True Experience, you will go mad..." yeah. And here is another related attribute built on top of all of the size, diversity and sprawl: change. I have heard from countless people, "I could never get bored here -- even if I had explored the whole thing and had to start over, the first place would be completely different." Living here is a radical new perspective, like seeing multiple lifetimes in a single life.
Excellent post. So many funny, spot on things. And definitely agree on the food!
I grew up in LA and wholly endorse this description. Sometimes converts are the most perceptive. Also, no kidding, my HS graduating class was called the Epicureans.