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This is where Elliott Smith died. Strange, coming from the place where he lived a good portion of his life, Portland, it’s easy to picture why he died here. Portland is rainy, dark, cold, yes- but alive. Even though the outside isn’t very habitable or inviting- the people are very much alive- through music, art and passion- they keep going despite the rain. Los Angeles, on the other hand is very much opposite. It’s sunny here- every day. It’s pretty warm for December, 65 degrees. The streets are lined with palm trees and the sun sets over the ocean, illuminating the whole sky- all the way to the purple mountains they never show you in the movies. I think the reason you never see the mountains in the movies is because it makes LA look too natural. Think about it- what movie have you seen that is depicted in Los Angeles that actually shows the huge snow-capped mountains in the distance? None I can think of.
My lover and I are staying here for 11 more days. We’re staying at his parent’s apartment, right by the hindu temple. It’s a pretty convenient location- there’s a CVS, Trader Joe’s, major bus lines, movie theatre, etc all in within walking distance. Of course, walking is a bit of a problem as I have a stress fracture on my fifth metatarsal of my right foot that I attained while walking miles in San Francisco in rubber flip flops and sliding down some stairs. I’m a little predispositioned to foot problems as when I was born my feet were curled inwards like tommy pickles on Rugrats and I had to get them put in casts until I was 2. We got to San Francisco on Tuesday, I fractured my foot on Wednesday, we left on Saturday.. so for the duration of our time in SF, I could barely walk. I managed to wrap it up in an elastic bandage and do reasonably well though. San francisco is a really nice city, if only it were quieter, less populated and less expensive. I loved Golden Gate Park and Haight Ashbury, I think that when we get back from Europe we’ll be living a bit north of SF.
Los Angeles is extreme. There are people patrolling around in their Lexus SUV’s, Porsche sportscars, wearing designer jeans and makeup during the day (as a dancer, I can’t fathom wearing full face makeup if you’re not getting paid for it), while there are also extremely poor people wearing baggy tattered clothes patrolling their neighborhoods in gangs, living in broken down apartments with graffiti on every possible surface, doing speed in their garages, selling drugs to kids. It’s crazy, los angeles is insane. I could NEVER live here. The only good parts are Venice Beach, Santa Monica beach, and the Hare Krishna neighborhood (they have amazing indian food). Other than that, there is no point of visiting. Oh yeah, and Culver Hill is pretty cool too. We climbed this hill/mountain thing yesterday and from the top we could see the ocean, the mountains and all of Los Angeles. Looking from the North side of the hill, it went like this : Ocean, Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Culver City, West Hollywood, Downtown Los Angeles, Mountains. It was really beautiful. It makes me want to go fly in a hot air balloon.
Tomorrow we’re going to the Un-Urban cafe and doing an open-mike night. We’re leaving for Sarasota December 23ish. I miss Siesta Key. Once my foot is completely healed, I’m going to audition at a club here called 4play, hopefully it will be lucrative there.
