LA is ....
Jul. 13th, 2004 01:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theatokosBefore leaving on my trip a friend suggested that Los Angeles was like being anally fisted without lube. I would like to state for the record that it is not even remotely like being anally fisted without lube. Perhaps it is more like being vaginally fisted with a lot of lube: something one can with time acquire a taste for, even eventually find pleasurable, but why would one want to? In any case, I will elaborate on my experience below.
In many ways LA is as I expected it would be: overwhelmingly large, concrete, treeless, filled with aspects of our culture I can barely handle, like fast food on every corner, the professionally beautiful (becoming one of my new favorite phrases), and cars cars cars. Flying over LA was dizzying. There are multiple city centers, a maze of concrete freeways, one series of asphalt grids after another... where are all those cars going? Ultimately, LA is a city that is going somewhere and nowhere fast. It is a city designed for cars, not people. On more than one occasion I mentioned walking somewhere and I was laughed at, in my face, not in a mean way, but in a way that highlighted the absurdity of my words. There seem to be few parks, the mountains are barely visable under the layers of smog, and money is the defining characteristic of each neighborhood: how much or how little. It is sad that money equals trees. These things I suppose I was expecting and so I wasn't all that overwhelmed by their actuality. The disorientation and mild panic I felt flying in was expected and so I was able to handle it.
What I wasn't expecting was fascination and enjoyment. LA is terrible, awesome,
diverse, inspiring, fascinating, complex, one of the great cities of the world. I was impressed. Getting over my frustration with the lack of planning (my fault since it was really my idea to come, but I had no idea a city demanded a car like that), we first went to the Hollywood Hills (or near it, I saw the big sign) with one of our gracious hosts for a Moveable Feast. The house was spectacular, the people engaging and open. As I came to realize over the course of my stay, it is the people that are the joy of this city. Perhaps it is just a reflection on the fine people that Adam knows in LA, but I was inspired by and felt at home with his friends. I wish I understood where the creativity goes in such a place. I feel a little bit like LA is giant black hole of creativity. Not everyone's efforts produce a new star or world or even get seen, but the place sucks creativity in and there is no visable sign that thousands, maybe millions, of intensely creative people live in one location.
Other highlights include the Getty Museum, an amazing place. I've never been somewhere in which the art is eclipsed by the architecture and the views. There are trees and lovely neighborhoods in LA, you just have to be incredibly wealthy to afford them. But trees are for everyone, dammit. Also, I loved the exhibit on LA at the Natural History Museum. That afternoon I got to meet Erin, who didn't seem fazed by our bunch at all. It was a short meeting due to plans in Irvine with Adam's parents. Even though Irvine is a black hole of all that is good in a community, I am grateful for the experience of Orange County and the tour of Irvine. I now get what suburban angst is all about. It's a horrible place. Do not let your loved ones go there.
There are other highlights too: the screenplay reading on Thursday night, watching Adam glow in his bantering, getting to swim, watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, brunch in Santa Monica.
LA is also a place that cannot sustain itself. It draws power and water from states far away. Nothing grows in LA. It is truly an urban landscape, with all the joys and complications that brings. It is truly unlike any place I have ever been. It is also not the place for me. Flying back to Oakland I realized how managable this landscape here is, how green it is in comparison. I understand now the Norcal/Socal rivalry. Norcal will always win for me. I need trees. I need wild in a way that CA cannot provide for me, however, I am grateful for where I am now in a way that I wasn't before my trip. I am committed to LA, only because Adam needs it. I am committed to spending more time there, time I know I will enjoy and be fed by and grow from, but LA is not for me. I don't want to be there person I would need to be or would become in order to survive there.
This is not as articulate as I would like it to be, but alas, there is so much in my head and in my spirit. Thank you to our hosts. Thank you for listening.
In many ways LA is as I expected it would be: overwhelmingly large, concrete, treeless, filled with aspects of our culture I can barely handle, like fast food on every corner, the professionally beautiful (becoming one of my new favorite phrases), and cars cars cars. Flying over LA was dizzying. There are multiple city centers, a maze of concrete freeways, one series of asphalt grids after another... where are all those cars going? Ultimately, LA is a city that is going somewhere and nowhere fast. It is a city designed for cars, not people. On more than one occasion I mentioned walking somewhere and I was laughed at, in my face, not in a mean way, but in a way that highlighted the absurdity of my words. There seem to be few parks, the mountains are barely visable under the layers of smog, and money is the defining characteristic of each neighborhood: how much or how little. It is sad that money equals trees. These things I suppose I was expecting and so I wasn't all that overwhelmed by their actuality. The disorientation and mild panic I felt flying in was expected and so I was able to handle it.
What I wasn't expecting was fascination and enjoyment. LA is terrible, awesome,
diverse, inspiring, fascinating, complex, one of the great cities of the world. I was impressed. Getting over my frustration with the lack of planning (my fault since it was really my idea to come, but I had no idea a city demanded a car like that), we first went to the Hollywood Hills (or near it, I saw the big sign) with one of our gracious hosts for a Moveable Feast. The house was spectacular, the people engaging and open. As I came to realize over the course of my stay, it is the people that are the joy of this city. Perhaps it is just a reflection on the fine people that Adam knows in LA, but I was inspired by and felt at home with his friends. I wish I understood where the creativity goes in such a place. I feel a little bit like LA is giant black hole of creativity. Not everyone's efforts produce a new star or world or even get seen, but the place sucks creativity in and there is no visable sign that thousands, maybe millions, of intensely creative people live in one location.
Other highlights include the Getty Museum, an amazing place. I've never been somewhere in which the art is eclipsed by the architecture and the views. There are trees and lovely neighborhoods in LA, you just have to be incredibly wealthy to afford them. But trees are for everyone, dammit. Also, I loved the exhibit on LA at the Natural History Museum. That afternoon I got to meet Erin, who didn't seem fazed by our bunch at all. It was a short meeting due to plans in Irvine with Adam's parents. Even though Irvine is a black hole of all that is good in a community, I am grateful for the experience of Orange County and the tour of Irvine. I now get what suburban angst is all about. It's a horrible place. Do not let your loved ones go there.
There are other highlights too: the screenplay reading on Thursday night, watching Adam glow in his bantering, getting to swim, watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, brunch in Santa Monica.
LA is also a place that cannot sustain itself. It draws power and water from states far away. Nothing grows in LA. It is truly an urban landscape, with all the joys and complications that brings. It is truly unlike any place I have ever been. It is also not the place for me. Flying back to Oakland I realized how managable this landscape here is, how green it is in comparison. I understand now the Norcal/Socal rivalry. Norcal will always win for me. I need trees. I need wild in a way that CA cannot provide for me, however, I am grateful for where I am now in a way that I wasn't before my trip. I am committed to LA, only because Adam needs it. I am committed to spending more time there, time I know I will enjoy and be fed by and grow from, but LA is not for me. I don't want to be there person I would need to be or would become in order to survive there.
This is not as articulate as I would like it to be, but alas, there is so much in my head and in my spirit. Thank you to our hosts. Thank you for listening.
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no subject
Date: 2004-07-13 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-14 08:32 am (UTC)besides, howilearned and i just had a great time with you and adam. there wasn't that visitors-who've-overstayed-their-welcome thing. there was fun and good food and great museum's, dealing well with unexpected issues (like silence day) and of course... buffy. it was wonderful to hang with you and feel comfortable and connected.
no subject
Date: 2004-07-14 01:45 pm (UTC)And I had a very comfortable time with you and howilearned. A and I are considering our own silence day. I had a dream last night that Adam and I lived near you and your love, like around the corner or something. We were debating which house to have dinner at. Wishful thinking, or portent of things to come?
no subject
Date: 2004-07-15 09:10 am (UTC)and i think thats a wonderful dream. i really want things like that in my life. having lindsey and matty down the street really helps me, and makes me feel like i've built a community for myself here. adding you and adam to the mix is only of the good.