In Los Angeles

There are a lot of cars in Los Angeles.  And a lot of people.  And there are a lot of people driving cars in Los Angeles.  There are a lot of things to do and see in Los Angeles.  And a lot of people doing and seeing them.  We were in Los Angeles driving our car and doing things and seeing things for nineteen days.  But that is not why we went there.  We didn't go to L.A. to drive around and do things.  We went there to hang out with Jason and Ana and experience what their life was like for a little while.  And we did that.  We felt a little bit of what it is like to live where they live and do what they do.  But we drove around and did stuff too.

We went to the Huntington Botanical Gardens and Art Collection in Pasadena

and saw beautiful famous paintings

and incredible assortments and arrangements of plants. 

There were photo opportunities at every step and so much to see that when closing time came we had to run to find the Blue Boy before we were kicked out.

Afterwards we ate at a build your own pizza place the kids really like called Blaze.

We went to Chinatown and saw things we did not understand.

We went to Olvera Street in the historic El Pueblo district and saw stalls packed with colorful things to buy.  We went to Avila Adobe, the oldest house in L.A., and read about the history of the city.  We drank Mexican juice and sat on the square and listened to the flutes in the band play Simon and Garfunkel.

We walked downtown and ate at the Nickel Diner.

We went into The Last Bookstore and spent a sleepy afternoon reading in the L.A. library.

We went to Los Feliz and ate at Fred 62 and saw Whiplash at Jason and Ana's favorite old teeny tiny movie theater and went into a bookstore with a tree growing in the middle of it.

We went to the recently gentrified Grand Central Market and ate at Eggslut and then went across the street and climbed the stairs next to the Angels Flight up to the little park where they filmed 500 Days of Summer, but you couldn't go sit on the famous bench because there was a fence to keep people out.

We drove to Malibu and went to beautiful Point Dume State Beach.  Ana and I sat on the beach talking while Jason and Gary went in the freezing cold water and surfed.  Jason on a board, Gary not.  Neither one had a wet suit.  Both survived.

And there were a lot of cars.  And a lot of people.  And a lot of people driving cars.  And it seemed like everything took just a little bit longer and was just a little bit harder and just a little bit more tiring because of all the cars.  And all the people.  And because at the back of your mind you knew that when you got home you would have to find a parking spot.  We learned a lot about parking spots.

We learned about red curbs and green curbs and when it was okay to park by the meters and when you had to move your car so they could clean the street.  We learned that the two lane street next to Jason's building was called the 'river' and the four lane street a block away was called the 'ocean'.  We learned that it was okay to park across the river and less okay if you had to park way across the ocean.  We learned about 'forever' spots where you could leave your car for days and about 'sharks' circling the blocks looking for open spaces.  We learned about wives taking out their lawn chairs to sit on the street and save spots for their husbands when they were on their way home from work.  We watched Jason look out his windows checking for spots when his girlfriend was on her way home.  If he saw a good one we saw him go outside and stand in it until she got there.

And all of this was good.  And all of this was interesting and new and different.  And all of this gave us a little better feel for L.A. and what it is.  And there were even better things.

Like the look of pure joy on Jason's face when he got out of the ocean at Point Dume.  Like sitting on the ancient red leather couch in the lobby of Jason's building after too many days of doing too many things and Jason coming to sit by me and both of us sitting quietly next to each other working on our computers.  Like the kids cooking their famous 'taco Tuesday' tacos for us.  Like my new favorite candy that Ana bought for us to try.  A candy that reminded her of her childhood growing up half in Mexico and half in Texas, and reminded me of the caramel frosting on the birthday cakes my mom made for me every year when I was growing up.  A candy called jamoncillo.

Like the night Jason was sad and I started playing his piano and then he joined me and then everyone was singing Hawaiian hymns and he wasn't sad anymore.  Like sitting by the open windows of the apartment every night watching the life of the street three stories below.  Like how it rained in L.A. where it never rains and Jason grabbed his bucket and put on his raincoat and went out in the rain to wash his car parked there on the street.  Like celebrating Jason's birthday with him for the first time in a very long time.  Like standing in the street in front of the apartment building on our last day there saving a prime parking spot while Gary ran to get the car.  How I stood there in the street as if it was something I did all the time and how brave I felt when I saw a shark circling and I stood my ground and how suddenly I felt like I was part of it all.

We didn't come to Los Angeles to go sight-seeing.  We came to Los Angeles to experience it.  We didn't come on the adventure to go sight-seeing.  We came on the adventure to collect experiences.  On one of our first nights in L.A. we parked the car and then found a better spot and reparked the car and everyone got out and then Gary got back in and adjusted the car some more so that it wouldn't be in a red zone or a green zone and we wouldn't get a ticket and everyone was standing on the sidewalk shivering in the dark in Westlake and Jason looked at me and said 'mom, you gave up your house for this', and in my mind I was thinking, strange as it may seem, that this is exactly what we gave up our house for.

The reason we came to Los Angeles

There will probably be some sight-seeing too.