We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program...
Monday, August 25, 2008
There's more Burma Boy to come but I have something else to say which hasn't been a common occurence lately.
Just back from a weekend in Chicago to visit two of my good friends from college and meet their babies. It was way too short but great nonetheless as I held my own with the babies (not always the case which is why it heeds mentioning) and picked up with my friends as though we'd seen each other yesterday.
But what truly bears mentioning is this: I miss a city. Yes - I miss THE city. (And if you have to ask which city....ummm hi...check out the name of my blog). But just...in general...I miss a city. LA just doesn't pass for a city. It's one big sprawling suburb after another, interconnected by highways and long ass streets that span miles and miles and miles. You could fit all of Chicago and New York in the "city" of LA and I think you'd still have room for Boston. Something about a street that packs houses and townhouses and apartments and brownstones one on top of each other, almost like sardines, just feels right to me. Building up makes sense. I like being that close to my neighbors and knowing the owners of the restaurants in my neighborhood. A "neighborhood" in LA spans blocks and blocks and yards and houses with a shop or a restaurant thrown in for good measure except for on the major streets where you will constantly see cars circling to get a closer parking spot. And on more than one occasion, I've witnessed a drive from Fred Segal on Melrose and Crescent Heights down the DVF at Melrose and La Cienega...That means nothing to you? Take a look:
View Larger Map
See what I meeeeeean??
In NYC or Chicago, or even Boston, the fun is in the walking, the perusing, the people watching on the streets. The stores are more boutique-y and less trendy, the sidewalks more user friendly. We walked a block and a half to dinner at a fabulous Italian trattoria last night, en route passing no less than 10 other options for eating and drinking and had the stores been open, I would have stopped in every single one. When I walk up my street, I see houses.
This is why I get excited going to Montana Avenue in Santa Monica or Abbott Kinney in Venice, a little bit on Larchmont (at least as far as the stores go) or 3rd street. But I couldn't make a day out of any of those places - a few hours and a meal, tops. And they always have to be a destination. I think that's what I miss the most. I like the whimsy of NYC and Chicago and Barcelona and Florence. The ability to walk out your door, head down the street, and just see where the day takes you.
In LA, it simply takes you to your car.
Posted byMeesh-elle my Belle at 10:07 PM
Labels: driving, LA rant, travels
well then move to booooooston! :)
seriously though, i know what you mean. im a city girl, but i live right outside the city which works good for me. the circling around for parking in boston? i could do without. but yes, the little trendy boutiques, the coffee shops, the parks... it's all really great.