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Born and raised in Los Angeles. Lived in Downtown Los Angeles, Venice Beach, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey. Lived

Born and raised in Los Angeles. Lived in Downtown Los Angeles, Venice Beach, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey. Lived on a boat, in apartments, in houses. Commuted 2 hours one way, 1 hour the other, and then 10 minutes max each way. I love L.A. - every facet of it, top to bottom, rich to poor, chilled to stressed. But there are more L.A.'s than two. Los Angeles is a bona fide schizophrenic. If the layers of Los Angeles were onion layers, you'd need a thousand onions to demonstrate the complexity of this county, of this town. I appreciate the article, but I recommend taking a trip to the library and checking out a book from each decade going back to 1930, written by an Angeleino, preferably a few from different ethnic and social backgrounds (and genders), and then you will closer to unraveling this beautiful mess I call home.

remarkEon 11y ago
Do you have any recommendations for an overview of the architectural history of LA? Moving there this summer...every time I move to a new city I like to understand the how and why of the way it looks. I especially enjoyed this[0] piece that popped up on HN a few months ago. [0] http://blog.longreads.com/2015/03/23/the-last-freeway/ http://blog.longreads.com/2015/03/23/the-last-freeway/
- eltondegeneres 11y ago
  City of Quartz by Mike Davis. Probably the best social history of Los Angeles, and a major influence on the film this article takes its title from.
nosuchthing 11y ago
Aldous Huxley's essays on Los Angeles are easily the best pieces that still ring true to this day. [1] (Linking to Huxley's essay on the Southern California desert, as I find it the most thoughtful and universal reflection on how to live amongst any environment) https://danassays.wordpress.com/collected-essays-by-aldous-huxley/aldous-huxley-essays-the-desert-boundlessness-and-emptiness/ https://danassays.wordpress.com/collected-essays-by-aldous-h...
gammarator 11y ago
checking out a book from each decade going back to 1930 Even better is the anthology "Writing Los Angeles", which excerpts writings from the 1880s to 2000: http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Los-Angeles-Literary-Anthology/dp/1931082278 http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Los-Angeles-Literary-Anthology... It really brings out how the competing cultural narratives of LA as paradise and LA as near-apocalyptic wasteland have co-existed since the beginning.
calinet6 11y ago
I grew up both close enough and far enough that I always hated LA—hated going there, hated the traffic, the city busy-ness, the randomness and amorphousness that was both easy and difficult to describe. I hated it so much so that I began to love it. It reminded me of a person: human, flawed, honest, complex, paradoxical, somehow both ignorant and wise at the same time—and fundamentally alive and beautiful and generally happy in spite of it all. Some would say it lacks perspective, but I do think it has one. And it has such a personality, and knows itself. I've lived in cities without much of a personality, and I think knowing LA has helped me see that clearly. I miss it, for some reason I can't quite put my finger on.
- spotman 11y ago
  Your comment and the parent comment are exactly how I feel. I've now lived here for almost 15 years. I've traveled all over the world, and LA is still my favorite city of them all. It's a cruel mistress one day. And a wondrous utopia the next day. Never predictable. Home.

remarkEon 11y ago

Do you have any recommendations for an overview of the architectural history of LA? Moving there this summer...every time I move to a new city I like to understand the how and why of the way it looks. I especially enjoyed this[0] piece that popped up on HN a few months ago. [0] http://blog.longreads.com/2015/03/23/the-last-freeway/ http://blog.longreads.com/2015/03/23/the-last-freeway/

eltondegeneres 11y ago
City of Quartz by Mike Davis. Probably the best social history of Los Angeles, and a major influence on the film this article takes its title from.

nosuchthing 11y ago

Aldous Huxley's essays on Los Angeles are easily the best pieces that still ring true to this day. [1] (Linking to Huxley's essay on the Southern California desert, as I find it the most thoughtful and universal reflection on how to live amongst any environment) https://danassays.wordpress.com/collected-essays-by-aldous-huxley/aldous-huxley-essays-the-desert-boundlessness-and-emptiness/ https://danassays.wordpress.com/collected-essays-by-aldous-h...

gammarator 11y ago

checking out a book from each decade going back to 1930 Even better is the anthology "Writing Los Angeles", which excerpts writings from the 1880s to 2000: http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Los-Angeles-Literary-Anthology/dp/1931082278 http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Los-Angeles-Literary-Anthology... It really brings out how the competing cultural narratives of LA as paradise and LA as near-apocalyptic wasteland have co-existed since the beginning.

calinet6 11y ago

I grew up both close enough and far enough that I always hated LA—hated going there, hated the traffic, the city busy-ness, the randomness and amorphousness that was both easy and difficult to describe. I hated it so much so that I began to love it. It reminded me of a person: human, flawed, honest, complex, paradoxical, somehow both ignorant and wise at the same time—and fundamentally alive and beautiful and generally happy in spite of it all. Some would say it lacks perspective, but I do think it has one. And it has such a personality, and knows itself. I've lived in cities without much of a personality, and I think knowing LA has helped me see that clearly. I miss it, for some reason I can't quite put my finger on.

spotman 11y ago
Your comment and the parent comment are exactly how I feel. I've now lived here for almost 15 years. I've traveled all over the world, and LA is still my favorite city of them all. It's a cruel mistress one day. And a wondrous utopia the next day. Never predictable. Home.