Los Angeles

Los Angeles, "the city of angels" is a city that is often misunderstood especially when you view it from a distance. You have to look at Los Angeles under a microscope rather than from afar. Only then does its beauty become visible and once you begin to examine the “details” of Los Angeles, this incredible city really comes to life.

Los Angeles to me is the following: its can do attitude, the inspiring creativity of passionate artists and the cutting edge work of brilliant scientists and engineers, a unique cultural diversity where you often have the largest populations living outside of their home countries, it is classy, it has character, the weather is generally mild year round with a wonderful diversity of micro-climates, it is hanging out with creative people and tapping into their networks, it is the exploration of the intriguing recent history of how "this" all came to be and it is my own family roots - starting with with my great great grandfather who is buried at Forest Lawn, my grandfather who was raised here and my father who was born in Glendale.

There is so much more: Los Angeles is an endless lineup of cultural activities and events every day of the week anytime of the year, late night forays to comedy clubs on Sunset, a drive along Mulholland overlooking "everything", a walk down the "hollywood" part of Hollywood Blvd, drives up to the Angeles National forest, a drive into the Hollywood Hills, exploring"ethnic" communities, concerts in outdoor venues on warm evenings, world class museums, gardens overflowing with sub tropical diversity, overworked actors struggling to get by, friends who get up at 3am to avoid traffic and drive to work and then drive back at 3pm, friends who work insane hours and then blow off steam by racing motorcycles on the freeways or in the hills extremely late at night, the mundane suburbia and sprawl of the "valley".

It is extreme wealth, it is extreme poverty, it is homelessness, it is amazing restaurants, it is hole in the wall restaurants, celebrity signed photos hanging on the walls at places as ordinary as your neighborhood car-wash, it is fashion, it is casual, it is the outdoors - from surf and sand to mountains and snow, it is the LA River, it is theme parks, it is studios, it is hiking in Griffith Park, it is roof top hangouts where there is nothing better to do than throw back a stiff drink on warm evenings with friends, it is wide boulevards, it is easily crossing major streets on foot in downtown at times with surprisingly few cars considering this is the nation's second largest city, outdoor shopping centers, the automobile, SigAlert, the metro, LAPD, the "power" of the freeways that are uniquely LA, the wonderful feeling of being in a 24/7 carpool lane passing hundreds of nearly parked cars in the other lanes, the happy feeling of driving the "right way" on a freeway when the other side is stacked up, it is the personal satisfaction of knowing how to get around town, it is invitations to private parties where the apparent goal is to feel exclusive and observe others wanting to feel the same way, it is touring friends from out of town and being a part of changing their perceptions of Los Angeles.

And, however, it is a city contrary to what you hear - where you can truly feel a part of a community - and something greater than yourself if you put the effort in and want something badly enough. The diversity of what there is to see and experience here and the desire to explore - creates an adrenaline inducing buzz every time I am in town.