Los Angeles (Day 9): Home again!!!

So finally after nine days of driving, walking, busing, and exploring, I've made it back to my home in Los Angeles. Like always, it's nice to be home after a vacation. Anyway, I thought I would compile a reflective list of the places I went and the things I saw!

• Portland Oregon:
• Memorable experience: Rocco's Pizza in the wonderfully eclectic neighborhood of where downtown transitions into residential
• Like LA: Laid-back residents who can be extremely approachable and friendly!
• Unlike LA: You can actually see the hills surrounding the city
• Future visits?: I could see spending a solid week up here.
  
• Vancouver, British Columbia
• Memorable experience: Biking Stanley Park!!!
  
• Like LA: Bustling and crazy night-life scene that attracts a young crowd.
  
• Unlike LA: You can actually walk to places you'd like to go to.
  
• Future visits?: It'd be a great place to spend a summer doing an internship in (not that I could see myself doing an internship ever... :) )
• Seattle, Washington
• Memorable experience: Volunteer Park / Capitol Hill
  
• Like LA: It's easy to get lost in the tourist traps that lurk in major areas through this city.
  
• Unlike LA: Downtown actually meets the Puget sound, creating a beautiful city center right on the waterfront.
  
• Future visits?: Again, maybe a week sometime.
• San Francisco, California
• Memorable experience: Haight-Ashbury / Golden Gate Park
  
• Like LA: Another California city with a "California" reputation, a laid-back artistic community and a large business and professional population.
  
• Unlike LA: I can walk around in the summer without getting sweaty.
  
• Future visits?: This would be a cool place to maybe work in a hostel during some future summer. Just a random thought

Anyway, thanks for reading all these postings of my road trip. I'll continue to post for the rest of my summer (which comes to a screeching halt this Monday), and then decide whether I want to (or have time for) a personal blog and a professional blog. We'll see!

Seattle (Day 5): Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

So who else remembers growing up with the computer game (and television show) Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, a game in which you would use clues to determine the geographic location of a major theft (the object of which typically involved something literally "un-stealable", like a building, a lake, or a park). Anyway, it sure looks like one of Carmen's henchmen has stolen and transported Los Angeles' Walt Disney Concert Hall, and plopped it down right next to the Seattle Space Needle, only to have it melt a little in the summer sun. Well, it turns out that this awfully familiar looking architecture, the Experience Music Project, was in fact designed by the same architect (hmm....since I'm feeling kind of saucy, let's do this...for a free coffee, my treat, be the first to post a reply naming the architect). Anyway, EMP was fairly disappointing, albeit another tourist trap of sorts that only succeeded in it's exhibits of Northwest music, the history of electric guitars, and a memorial to Jimi Hendrix. Honestly, it wasn't all that impressive, and I couldn't possibly envision going to it more than once (unlike a certain museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. where I could fantasize about attending every year and enjoy it fully each time!!!).

A Surprise Visit

So today, I got to hang out with my friend Dennis, who was my freshman year roommate at Wheaton College. Dennis has been out in Los Angeles this week visiting the UCLA business school, which I am hoping he will decide to attend. Anyway, it was great to spend the evening catching up, exchanging stories, sharing memories, and then taking in a Dodgers game. Luckily, the Mets defeated the Dodgers 4-1, thanks mostly to a Carlos Beltran home-run in the 8th inning. Anyway, we had a fantastic time! And now only two more days until my road trip begins!!

The Skirball Center

In one of my favorite films, Field of Dreams, Ray Liotta's character ("Shoeless Joe" Jackson) asks Kevin Costner, "Is this heaven?", mistakenly referring to Costner's Iowa corn field. A similar situation occurred today as I walked into the Skirball Cultural Center, a historically Jewish cultural center located atop the Sepulveda Pass (which connects the Valley with the rest of Los Angeles). A building made of what appears to be approximately 95% concrete would initially seem to be nothing but foreboding, but in this case, I was stunned by the way the center actually seemed to create space and light in the midst of the concrete jungle that is Los Angeles. As many may know, my friend and colleague Rustum will be getting married at the beautiful Skirball Center tomorrow, and they could have chosen no more glorious place to have a wedding. The ceremony will take place in an open air patio, over which the sun will be setting during that time of day. Following the ceremony, a reception will take place in a courtyard with a reflecting pool and an amazing view of the surrounding hills as the evening proceeds into night. This evening was great as I had the privilege of meeting literally dozens of his friends and family who had traveled countless miles to be here for the wedding. It was a great evening of laughter, smiles, and stories, which I was able to enjoy from many who've known my friend over the years! Anyway, off to bed....tomorrow is quickly approaching!

L.A. Neighborhoods: Leimert Park

It's summer, school is out, the temperatures are in the 90s, and I get to do one of the things I love doing the most: exploring the city of Los Angeles and its many different neighborhoods that compose the core of what it means to be an Angeleno.
This evening, I took a short drive down Crenshaw Blvd. to where it crosses King Blvd. Nestled snugly within the confines of what is pejoratively known as "South Central", the community known as Leimert Park exhibits a regional character that is rarely found in other LA neighborhoods I've been in. As I cross 43rd St. and the smell of Phillip's BBQ reaches my nose, I immediately pull over and get in line for an amazing beef rib dinner, complete with macaroni salad and cole slaw. Wow...amazing. Afterward, I walked over to the park (the actual Leimert Park) and sat in the waning hours of sunlight as a djembe ensemble echoed their rhythms and beats in the evening air. As I sat, I observed the sights and sounds of mothers walking their children through the park, bystanders joining in the music of the drummers with dance, at least two entrepreneurs hawking the latest bootleg CDs and DVDs, all with the droning hum and bustle of the busy Crenshaw Blvd. in the background. The park, the neighborhood, remind me that Los Angeles is a city of communities, rather than a city of isolated individuals as it generally feigns itself to be. Yet this is not the first time I've been to Leimert Park. I actually considered moving into this neighborhood three years ago, and if ever forced to move, I would definitely consider it again.