My Life in LA, Part III, My Neighborhood

I have lived in my where I am for the past eleven years. Mann’s Chinese Theater (originally Grauman’s) , The Kodak Theater and the Walk of fame are a mile away in one direction with the Hollywood Bowl just a bit farther, the Sunset Strip and the spots where John Belushi and River Phoenix drew their last breath are a mile or so in the other. The houses that “Halloween” and “Nightmare on Elm Street” were filmed at are just a few blocks away (practically across the street from each other). The famous Route 66, though only a historic designation of Santa Monica Boulevard anymore, passes a block to the south on its final leg to the ocean. The building manager where I live quit his job because he got a better gig playing “Al” on “Home Improvement” (long before I moved in).

It’s a place like any other; people live and work, kids go to school, garbage is collected, shopkeepers display their wares and do psychic palm readings… Written, financed, produced, and distributed is entertainment that is experienced every minute of every day around the globe.

We live in Hollywood: ‘Tinsel Town’ La La Land, Hollyweird, Hollyhood…  All, and none, of what you’ve heard, is true. It is the center of the entertainment world, even though all but one of the major studio lots are located somewhere else. It’s a mecca of modern-day mythology. Dreams become concepts then images on a screen and eventually become real in the flesh; at least if you consider some out-of-work actor dressed as Superman or Chewbacca and taking pictures with tourists on Hollywood Boulevard ‘real’. Those lines of reality and fantasy are deliberately blurred a bit round these parts; it’s what we do.

 

Tourists

I can’t even tell you the number of times I have been walking down the street to have a car stop and ask me how to get to the Hollywood Sign. These are difficult directions to give because you can’t “go to” the Hollywood Sign, just to places where you can see it, and some better than others.

The truth is, secretly, I am a tourists too, along with many of the folks who have lived here for years. Even though we all follow the secret code of acting cool and detached, we get a kick out of seeing a celeb or driving past the tell-tale signs of a film location with its long line white trucks and trailors, road cones and the obligatory semi-retired LAPD motorcycle cop who has a screenplay of his own.

Everyone does.

Yes, everyone.

It’s interesting to wonder what band has their tour bus parked outside of Guitar Center today. It’s fun to be watching a movie and see a location that you know, or the reverse; to be watching life and see something from a movie you know. I love that when they pave Hollywood Boulevard they add crushed glass to the asphalt so that it sparkles. I enjoy seeing some of the most beautiful women I have ever seen buying eggs and frozen pizza at the store.

 I did not take this awesome picture, I don't know who did

All shallow pursuits I’ll grant you. Bookshelves and deep thoughts can be anywhere, but there’s only one place in the world quite like this.

Music Stores

As a teenager back in Upstate New York, when I first got my driver’s license there was no question about where my first solo flight would take me; I picked up a couple friends and we made the pilgrimage to ‘The Great, Great’, “House of Guitars” in Rochester, NY (Irondequoit really). Where I live now—on my block—there are six, seven, eight… nine music shops! This includes two major chains, two stores for companies that ‘have no stores’ (Carvin and Boogie), a quaint shop that only deals in wind instruments, a guitar repair shop and everything in between. Sadly, there used to be more, including a tux rental/dry cleaner that had a used record shop in the back past the pressing machines and a funky used equipment place that could have doubled as a museum.

There’s also the Sunset Grill right next to Guitar Center… yes, the Sunset Grill from the song.  The original has been torn down and rebuilt since Don Henley hung out there, but there are still music celebrities purported to be sighted there.

The Russians Are C… Oh Never Mind, They’re Already Here

The though there is a smattering of ethnic groups and a large Hispanic presence everywhere in LA, our neighborhood might be called Russia Town or Little Moscow but it doesn’t seem like the Russians care what it’s called. To them it’s just Hollywood, the place where they settled after the fall of the Soviet Union. They arrived at a time when everyone else was moving out of Hollywood. What did they care, they didn’t have to wait in line to get toilet paper anymore, it’s all good. The Russians may not have a strong allegiance to their mother country but they have a strong and tight community amongst themselves. The local park is always filled with old men playing chess and backgammon. Entire families will take up the better part of an apartment building.

Perhaps living under communism for years creates a general distrust but I have to say, I’ve never found them to be particularly friendly, especially the older ones, even for a big city. I once walked into a Russian Bakery just to experience the flavors of my neighborhood. Immediately, I felt eyes upon me like I was a skinny guy walking into a biker bar wearing a grey suit, high water pants and a red bow tie.

Not only was it obvious that I was an outsider (even before I spoke), it was clear I was not exactly welcome. I never went back. Another time I saw a nicely dressed old man pissing in the street like it was nothing.

On the East side of Hollywood is Thai Town and Little Armenia. Little Ethiopia is not far to the south and even closer is a rather large orthodox Jewish community.

Crime

Crime in Hollywood seems to be more myth and reality in the minds of those who don’t live here. Folks from my wife’s conservative hometown, just an hour or so away, react with horror when they learn we live where we do. Perhaps they think we have to dodge bullets on our way to the store and pass through lines of prostitutes to get to our front door. Like anywhere in LA, manicured suburban lawns, twenty million dollar mansions, and run down apartment buildings on the LAPDs frequent flyer program are all a stone’s throw from one another. Crime is a reality everywhere, yet I have only been robbed once in my time here and that was by someone I knew (or so I thought). By contrast, my house in Rochester, NY was robbed (by intruders) twice in my first five years there.

Drugs

As everyone knows, it’s nearly as easy to find meth in rural Iowa as I would presume it to be here in Hollywood. One difference worth noting is that social attitudes about marijuana are considerably more relaxed in Southern California. So far, we are still in prohibition and people are arrested for possession all the time, but from what I’ve seen the taboo stigma the pot has in the East is much diminished here when it exists at all.

Prostitution

Things have been cleaned up considerably in the last ten years but I’m sure with a keen eye one could find a ‘date’ if one looked hard enough. Here’s a general rule one might find handy around here: If you want a girl prostitute, Sunset Boulevard is a safe bet. If you’re on Santa Monica Boulevard chances are you going to get a boy prostitute (no matter how much like a girl or a woman he looks).

Clubs

There are more clubs, strip clubs and bars in Hollywood than you can shake a stick at. Since, outside playing music, I don’t do very much of that brand of stick shaking (blame age, prudishness and, most importantly, broke-ishness) you’ll have to consult someone else’s blog for that intel. It is interesting that, when I am coming home at 2AM from a music gig outside of Hollywood, instead of finding quiet streets, I find a rush hour that rivals a Friday at 5:30PM.

Restaurants

Because it so competitive, it’s not hard to find great food for very little money and anything in the world is available if you know how to find it; from vegan to steakhouse, from Thai food to Tunisian, from five star restaurants to two dollar burger taco stands and nearly any national franchise you can imagine. Some our favs just in our hood, Moun of Tunis (Tunisian complete with belly dancers), Canter’s Deli (a deli/diner that makes you feel like you just went back to the seventies when most of their present servers were hired), Zankou Chicken (Mediterranean rotisserie), Toi (“Rockin’ Thai”), El Compadre (Mexican), Pinks Hots, Inn-N-Out (burgers), Fatburger, Gate of India, Sunset Thai, Palms (Thai).

Expense

It’s not cheap living here, but it’s not Manhattan either. Rent for a two bedroom in a decent building runs from $1,300 to $2,000. A gallon of organic milk will run you almost $7 and it costs a couple to a few hundred bucks a year just to register a modest car. Gas is at its priciest here, around 20 cents higher than the national average. Salaries are generally higher too though so there’s just more money going through my fingers it seems.

Home Sweet Home

We like it here. Sure it’s not perfect but where is? There’s a nice park across the street with tennis courts and nice farmer’s market every Monday. I’m six miles from where I work, I’m right near a bigger park less than a mile away where I run and walk up a 1,300Ft mountain several times a week. We’re minutes from the beach. It’s pretty neat to me that people come from around the world to buy souvenirs, take pictures, to live and follow their dreams where I live. And that right there is probably my favorite part of living where I do; I know that I am in the company of dreamers.