Eleven Thoughts on LA

Laurel and I have been in Los Angeles for a little over a week, joined, at various points, by my kids and her kids. Here’s my take so far on what we’ve seen and done:

1. It’s a real city. It’s grimy and glamorous, gritty and beautiful. Mostly though, it’s just interesting. Unlike NYC, where lots of wealth is concentrated in Manhattan so you frequently see one type of life there and another in much of the boroughs, here, it’s all packed together (except for a few residential neighborhoods). You can have a movie studio, a nail salon, an immigration lawyer’s office, a botox facility, a school and a really expensive clothing or jewelry store or car dealership all lined up on one block. One street had a Hindu temple, a mosque and an orthodox synagogue. Downtown, there were three blocks of just vape stores (also, Skid Row was rougher than anything I’ve seen in New York) followed by two blocks of toy stores. Maybe you get used to all of it if you live here, but so far, just looking out the window has been interesting. Laurel and I ended up ordering paper maps of LA just to get our bearings on what’s where (since GPS makes it harder to learn).

2. The signage is amazing. Lots of 50s either retro signage or still from the 50s (there’s a great diner called Norms around the corner from our house). But a diverse mix — like an Ed Ruscha painting. Same with the architecture. There’s definitely a Spanish theme. Definitely a modernist theme. But you also see French style chateaus and Dutch inspired homes and art deco and beach cottages all on one block. We even saw half a dozen types of architecture alone on the homes on the Venice Canals. It’s fascinating.

3. The food has been incredible, in large part because we’re too ignorant to resist driving 45 minutes or going to the east side or west side or whatever. People who live here settle into patterns of where they do and don’t go. We don’t know better so we just drive everywhere. As a result, we’ve had amazing food ranging from Mexican seafood in Silver Lake (Loreto) to Persian in Westwood (Taranj) to barbecue in K-Town (K Team BBQ) to In & Out by LAX to American downtown (Manuela) to Chinese in Temple City (Bistro Na’s) to pizza downtown (Pizzeria Bianco) to California Mexican in Venice (Chulita Venice) to Italian, diner food, seafood and Argentinian in West Hollywood (Chi Spacca, Jon & Vinny’s, Norms, Connie and Teds, Carlitos Gardel Argentinian Steakhouse) to sushi in Santa Monica (Yama Sushi Marketplace) to Indian bar food in Echo Park (Pija Palace) with Panamanian in Venice (Si! Mon), Italian in Larchmont (Antico Nuovo) and Middle Eastern in Hollywood (Saffy’s) still to come. We also had a fun Christmas day lunch at the Bel Air Hotel, even though the food wasn’t that good.

4. Went to see Metropolis II at LACMA (it’s like a miniature moving city with crazy architecture and cars and trains). Never disappoints. Always fun taking people there for the first time (Laurel and her kids hadn’t seen it before) because it’s just so fun, so interesting, so cool. Laurel, Abby and I also went to the Broad and it’s one of the best museums in the country, in part (this was Laurel’s observation) because since it’s just funded by one person, they’re not bound to the usual rules and norms and culture of a museum with a big board and competing priorities. With that said, it was very, very, very crowded. Go on a weekday if you can.

5. Went to the Intuit Dome where the Clippers play. Coolest arena I’ve ever been in. Views seem great from every seat. You use facial recognition to buy everything. Bathrooms are really nice. Kids got to sit on the floor and meet the players (Lyle dapped Zubac and Coffey). Food options could have been better and getting there was a grind, but overall, amazing architecture and a really fun place to watch a game. Going to the Lakers game on New Years Eve against Cleveland. Thought about going to the Rams game too, but NFL games aren’t that fun live and not even Lyle wanted to schlep to Inglewood to watch sports two nights in a row (so maybe we are becoming Angelinos). And — just realized the Rose Bowl (Oregon vs Ohio State) is here on Jan 1. Iconic stadium and event, so we’re going to that too.

6. I’m not a huge shopper but everyone else has been enjoying all the vintage stores in West Hollywood. Laurel’s son and I went to a cool record shop downtown and then to a great bookstore called The Last Bookstore (we bought so many books, they had to give us boxes instead of bags).

7. Took Lyle to play golf at a course called Rancho Park (near us in West LA). Was mainly a warmup for our trip to Torrey Pines on Tuesday (my driving to almost San Diego is going to be an adventure for everyone on the road). Then we have rounds later in the week at Rustic Canyon (Simi Valley area) and Angeles National Golf Course (looks like it’s in the valley past Burbank). Maybe I should learn how to play (or at least learn how to drive better).

8. We went to Universal Studios. It was a good time. It was crowded. We were lucky to have passes for the express line (the general admissions line for Mario Kart alone was 190 minutes). And it was a different experience than when the kids were little and amazed by all of it. But the Harry Potter rides and the Simpsons ride and the Mummy rides were all fun. I was less into the Transformers ride and Mario Kart (and felt bad for everyone who waited 190 minutes to go on it). But a theme park that’s a 22-minute drive from the house is still pretty cool.

9. The UCLA campus is beautiful. Took Laurel’s daughter to see it. School was out but we walked around — it was a small city. The architecture was gorgeous (Spanish especially). Dorms looked a lot nicer than what Abby is in. Sports facilities were impressive. Had really good Persian ice cream right off campus. Can see why any kid from California would choose to go there (and pay in-state tuition) over pretty much anywhere else.

10. I love the self-driving Waymos. I’ve only ever been in one in Phoenix, so I still get a real kick out of them. Plus so far, they’ve been efficient, cheaper than Ubers, and there was only one kinda near death experience (there was an ambulance coming and we made a left onto the same block and we cleared it but if the ambulance was going faster, it would have been close).

11. Between Laurel and me, we have a decent number of friends who live here. It’s an interesting debate on whether it’s better to live here or New York (or somewhere else). No one seems quite sure. Clear upsides and downsides to LA — weather, outdoor activities, more space, a ton to do but also traffic and the intellectual life seems less robust from what some of our friends say.

In a perfect world, it seems like living here in the winter is a great thing to do, especially if you can work from home and avoid a commute, your kids are out of the house so your life is not an endless carpool, and you’re not in the entertainment business so you’re not stuck in a one track world. Kind of requires threading a needle, but certainly seems like it’d a really nice way to live if you can somehow pull it off.

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