Clear as day

Los Ange­les is awe­some. And by that, I mean the more time you spend here, the less you think you’re over­whelmed by the size of every­thing here, and you just go, ‘Los Ange­les, you are awe­some’.

It becomes clear as day one moment, when you least expect it, when you’re stuck in traf­fic, fraz­zled by six lanes in either direc­tion, gummed up at an exit and won­der­ing which way to turn at a junction.

L.A. is big­ger than you think, greater as a city than you can imag­ine (espe­cially if you’re from Sin­ga­pore), smarter than you are, and more inter­est­ing than you have time to explore. And what about that off-leash dog-walking track in the Hol­ly­wood hills where you just begin to get an idea of how sprawl­ing the city is (and how unfit you are as you’re being walked by your friend’s dogs)?

Sure, there’s Hol­ly­wood Blvd and the Sun­set strip, and the amuse­ments at Uni­ver­sal Stu­dios, but when you’ve had the chance to acquaint your­self with this city long enough, you might have the chance of sep­a­rat­ing art from life, even if just briefly, before the town’s dichotomy between art and life fades and disappears.

Have some­thing inter­est­ing hap­pen to you, or do some­thing note­wor­thy here, and chances are your life is art. And life imi­tates art here with a vorac­ity you won’t find any­where else. The con­tem­po­rary con­sumes the clas­sics and becomes clas­sic in turn — think of one giant lava lamp, always mov­ing always morphing.

You’re at the 101 Cof­fee Shop, named for the 101 free­way off the shoul­der of the lane that turns into the motel that houses the diner, and you’re told, this is where they shot the film ‘Swingers’, but you only nod as you’re check­ing out the impos­si­bly good-looking din­ers and equally good look­ing servers. For exam­ple. Los Ange­les is full of these places. That’s the Capi­tol Records tower — they blew it up in some movie. And John Belushi died at the Chateau Mar­mont which is a great place for a late break­fast, if you can get a reservation.

Some movie always did some­thing to some­where in Los Angeles.

Then there are your friend’s dogs and tak­ing them out for a walk (more like a high-speed chase) in the hills, and you’re won­der­ing how come the dog­gies are so lucky as to have water stops every now and then. Peo­ple here put out water trays out­side their houses so that dog-walkers get to water their dogs! And as you make your way out of the park, one of the dogs lies down flat on her belly, telling you she’s totally knack­ered from the run. And you look at her and say, “Yup, I’m just about done too”.

I’m com­ing home in a bit.

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