This page is no longer active

Da Blog has moved to MorganWick.com. Please update your bookmarks, links, and RSS readers.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Random, poorly-remembered thoughts from my first day in LA

One thing has stood out about my trip to LA to hang out with my dad so far.

Early on, he talked about the air quality in the suburbs, and gave me the impression he could tell when the air was heavily polluted just by breathing it. I started thinking he was some sort of hippie "connection to nature" guy.

Yesterday I went on a sojourn to Hollywood and came back with a very scratchy throat, guzzling water like mad when I came back. How on Earth can natives live just ignoring such air?

My trip has mostly centered around two trips, the one above and one where I was basically driven around the Santa Monica area.

Housing prices are insane. When I lived in LA we lived in a decent sized apartment with two bedrooms in Venice proper. My dad lives further from the sea in a secluded, behind-a-larger-house, cramped, studio apartment, where I force him to sleep on the floor, for more than it cost to live in our previous apartment and for about $100/month more than it costs my mom and me to live in a two-bedroom in Seattle. He talked to me yesterday about the possibility that, if traffic worsens too much and too many condo projects in places like downtown are built and sold to rich people, poorer people could find themselves unable to live near work and unable to get there from anywhere else.

I might have firmer thoughts later in the week.

No comments: