It's Official.
I'll never forget where it happened. I was sitting in my car on the 101 freeway, heading towards Silverlake. I had just passed the Capitol Records building in Hollywood and was enjoying a nice standstill in traffic, then it hit me. I live here. I live in Los Angeles.
I'm not just passing through and I'm not going to move next week. I expect it to be 75 degrees, no rain (except in February) every day. I say things like "the 101 to the 110 to the 10" without a second thought. There's a little rumble and I'm all "what was that, just like a 3.5 up north? Huh." I hadn't been to the beach in months because, heck, the beach is always there, isn't it? I had become...an Angeleno.
Now, what I do not recall, however, is when this epiphany took place. That being said, this month I celebrate 10 years of living in L.A. Or, has Jeremy Piven says in Grosse Point Blank "TEN YEARS!!! Ten. Yeeeears!!" Even after ten years, however, there are still many things I've managed not to do. Thus, I give you the grand list of...
Ten Things I've Never Done in L.A. But Will Try To Do in the Next Year
1. Attend either a USC or UCLA football game
2. Visit Watts Towers
3. Go inside the Gamble House in Pasadena
4. Go to Disneyland
5. Ski (or at least have a cocoa in a ski lodge) in Big Bear or Mammoth
6. Go to the beach at night
7. Attend taping of a sitcom and/or So You Think You Can Dance
8. Hike part of the Backbone Trail
9. Get laid
10. Determined by readers....you tell me!
And its partner list:
Ten Things I've Done in L.A. That Every Angeleno Should Do
1. Attend a Hollywood Bowl show with premiere parking and a front row, center box. {Thank you, Ginny Mancini!!}
2. Attend a weird-ass play at any of the countless 99-seat theaters around town. Bonus points if you go supporting your friend who is trying to become an "actor"
3. Somehow obtain a drive-on pass for a studio lot and feel the power
4. Become intimately familiar with a neighborhood other than the ones you live and work in {shout-out downtown L.A.!}
5. Go to a movie premiere as a fan and/or attend a "blind" movie screening
6. Any concert at the Greek, Troubadour, and Music Box at the Fonda
7. If you see a celebrity you are a genuine admirer of and the situation is right, approach them and say thank you {Cameron Crowe, you rock!}
8. Spend the day at the beach during "winter"
9. Go to any event that'll get you in that top reception room in the tower of L.A. City Hall
10. At some point go to a Dodgers game, a Kings game and a Clippers game {I hate the Lakers}
And finally:
Places I've Lived in L.A. And Some Memories Of
West L.A. (2 bedroom apartment / 1 roomie a.k.a. I've slept with a married man and he told his wife and she confronted me at Jerry's Famous Deli - help!)
Venice (beach bungalow wherein I killed a tree and almost did #9)
Redondo Beach (two bedroom beachfront apartment / 2 roomies a.k.a. I know he's sleeping with that tramp, I'm going to confront him at the bar where he works in my PJs!)
Long Beach (room in house next to freeway / 2 stranger roomies a.k.a. you used more paper towels than I did so I'm going to charge you extra on your rent, okay?)
Long Beach II (dorm / in charge of many honors program freshman wherein I met a great friend, Britton)
Cheviot Hills (guest house of mansion. 'Nuff said)
Palms (studio apartment a.k.a. home sweet blessed home with no roomies in sight)
I'm not just passing through and I'm not going to move next week. I expect it to be 75 degrees, no rain (except in February) every day. I say things like "the 101 to the 110 to the 10" without a second thought. There's a little rumble and I'm all "what was that, just like a 3.5 up north? Huh." I hadn't been to the beach in months because, heck, the beach is always there, isn't it? I had become...an Angeleno.
Now, what I do not recall, however, is when this epiphany took place. That being said, this month I celebrate 10 years of living in L.A. Or, has Jeremy Piven says in Grosse Point Blank "TEN YEARS!!! Ten. Yeeeears!!" Even after ten years, however, there are still many things I've managed not to do. Thus, I give you the grand list of...
Ten Things I've Never Done in L.A. But Will Try To Do in the Next Year
1. Attend either a USC or UCLA football game
2. Visit Watts Towers
3. Go inside the Gamble House in Pasadena
4. Go to Disneyland
5. Ski (or at least have a cocoa in a ski lodge) in Big Bear or Mammoth
6. Go to the beach at night
7. Attend taping of a sitcom and/or So You Think You Can Dance
8. Hike part of the Backbone Trail
9. Get laid
10. Determined by readers....you tell me!
And its partner list:
Ten Things I've Done in L.A. That Every Angeleno Should Do
1. Attend a Hollywood Bowl show with premiere parking and a front row, center box. {Thank you, Ginny Mancini!!}
2. Attend a weird-ass play at any of the countless 99-seat theaters around town. Bonus points if you go supporting your friend who is trying to become an "actor"
3. Somehow obtain a drive-on pass for a studio lot and feel the power
4. Become intimately familiar with a neighborhood other than the ones you live and work in {shout-out downtown L.A.!}
5. Go to a movie premiere as a fan and/or attend a "blind" movie screening
6. Any concert at the Greek, Troubadour, and Music Box at the Fonda
7. If you see a celebrity you are a genuine admirer of and the situation is right, approach them and say thank you {Cameron Crowe, you rock!}
8. Spend the day at the beach during "winter"
9. Go to any event that'll get you in that top reception room in the tower of L.A. City Hall
10. At some point go to a Dodgers game, a Kings game and a Clippers game {I hate the Lakers}
And finally:
Places I've Lived in L.A. And Some Memories Of
West L.A. (2 bedroom apartment / 1 roomie a.k.a. I've slept with a married man and he told his wife and she confronted me at Jerry's Famous Deli - help!)
Venice (beach bungalow wherein I killed a tree and almost did #9)
Redondo Beach (two bedroom beachfront apartment / 2 roomies a.k.a. I know he's sleeping with that tramp, I'm going to confront him at the bar where he works in my PJs!)
Long Beach (room in house next to freeway / 2 stranger roomies a.k.a. you used more paper towels than I did so I'm going to charge you extra on your rent, okay?)
Long Beach II (dorm / in charge of many honors program freshman wherein I met a great friend, Britton)
Cheviot Hills (guest house of mansion. 'Nuff said)
Palms (studio apartment a.k.a. home sweet blessed home with no roomies in sight)