6 yr L.A.nniversary

Six years ago in January I boarded a plane with everything I could carry and moved here to Los Angeles. Before take off my plane had to be de-iced, it was that cold and also a very scary thought.  The sun hadn't shined for weeks.  Landing here in the land of sunshine, 40 degree winters, smelling sweet like flowers was Minnesota's bizarro world for sure. (Never mind the evil reference) Moving here was the second most daring thing I have done in my life. I like to celebrate that fact. On this day six years ago I was daring. 


I took that picture of snow heavy hydrangea outside of my apartment in South Minneapolis 2 days before I left

So to celebrate the one of three times I have actually been daring I planned to ride the rails with friends stopping at places I love in this city. Taking a page out of the MetroRiders meet up group (I went on their (500) days of summer tour read here)

Stop 1: Square One- (which is always the best place to start)

I never liked breakfast until I was in my mid-twenties, I have a theory on why that is, mainly summed up in one word, beer. I don't think I needed grease in the mornings before I started drinking.  There are a lot of breakfast places in L.A., but Square One is my favorite. And as the hipsters would say:

"Um... they have Intelligentsia need I say more"

I like them because they will put my Benedict on a hash brown cake and I get to stare at the Scientology center and make up stories about the lives of scientologists. (musical perhaps?) Hollandaise sauce and imagination how much more do you need from breakfast? Other than the GF L.A.nniversary cupcakes a friend made for me for post breakfast dessert.

Stop 2: Angel's flight
Well, there is one thing you will learn being an Angeleno is that Angel's Flight is closed for repairs more than it is open for a 25 cent ride. I even checked their twitter and it lied. It said that it was open. When we got there, there was a lone guy painting the car orange and black. He said that we wouldn't be riding that day.  So we walked the stairs to the park and stumbled upon a boy band posing for a photo shoot. So we decided to do our own, centered around the bench used in (500) days of summer. We looked amazing, but perhaps a little Emo.

We passed through Grand Central Market took a gander at the chicken feet for sale on our way to the Bradbury Building. Amazing architecture, but really hard to photograph.

Stop 3: Naked in Los Angeles
Where I had the sweetest lemonade I have ever had, it made my face change shape. So I probably looked more like the Weegee photographs than I wanted to.

Stop 4: Not saying
Because it is my favorite bar in L.A. It is a hidden bar and I am often one of the few people there and I like it that way. I like that when I go there I can actually hear what people are saying and that I can have conversations and $5 sake and $7 Korean short ribs for dinner.  I love that they have a patio nestled between two old buildings, the sky strung with fairylights and that on my way to the bathroom I am greeted by a man's head on a plate.

There I have given you enough hints, if you figure it out, it is not like I told you.

A lot of friends joined and left during the day.  It was nice to spend my day celebrating my daringness with people I love.

I have learned that L.A.nniversary celebrations are pretty common. I guess a testament that being here, staying here, is quite a feat.  And to the person who told me that L.A. would chew me up and spit me out I would like to say that still after 6 years, I guess I am not all that tasty.