my thoughts on LA.

for such a fantasyland, LA, simply put, is uncreative and uninspired. beautiful women are cookie cutter, cars are cookie cutter. but this is not your typical, expected east coast, west coast argument. i do love the eastern board but i recognize its flaws. the fact cannot be denied that the city of angels has some sort of cosmic pull that draws wayward midwesterners and starry eyed hollywood hopefuls into its spinning orbit. its kinetic, maybe magnetic, its something.

much like the popular high school girl with hershey kiss titis and a red jetta, everyone has something to say about LA—myself included. this soured preoccupation is nothing more than an illusion because secretly, we all closed our eyes and wished for perfect cleavage and jingling car keys. maybe a trip to LA satisfies our American desire to manifest the land, to head west, to seal our destiny. that hypothesis is possible but highly unlikely. but something that’s unclear to me makes me like the city.

when there, i found myself unexcited by the scenery & uninspired to venture out to landmarks. reason being, you cannot wander the streets of LA. you must know where you’re going, the best way to get there, & the most effective way of avoiding traffic. this eliminates city wandering & any chance at happening upon a small store or restaurant or gallery or something.

the city, unfortunately, does not belong to the populous. unlike other cities where the wealthy are stacked atop one another in high-rise apartments, the wealthy own sprawling properties. this changes the dynamics of a city—that is, physical space translates into social dominance. the social landscape of the city is not focused on the center but on the outskirts. this inverted equation made for a curious experience. plus, people who live 45 minutes away from downtown LA claim to be from LA. in a word, that claim is fraudulent. you call it urban sprawl & i’ll call it disorganization. and where is the human feel, the social cohesive, that something?

quite frankly, i left my heart in san francisco.