Monday, October 05, 2009

Los Angeles: the report.

Part 1.

We left at a ridiculous hour, because I didn't want us to spend part of one of our days traveling, and true to that desire, we arrived at LAX at about 8:30 a.m., got our car--a stylish Suzuki something or other, black--and drove confidently down Sepulveda to Hermosa Beach, where we got a burrito at Java Man and then went to the beach.

Exhausted and exhilarated. I loved this beach because it seemed to me, in the seventies, that it was countercultural in a way that the two beaches closer to me, Torrance and Redondo, were not. I probably went there like three times, but it is utterly vivid to me. Its symbolic value is somehow huge. Some of what I loved about it has changed, but not all.

You can see the Palos Verdes Peninsula, where I went to high school, in the distance. To the north, Manhattan Beach, El Segundo (where my dad worked), then LAX and parts north (more about this later). I know: those of you who grew up there, you know this. Those of you who live there, you know this. But I lived there for four years, and made only the sketchiest mental map of the place--the place broadly construed, the Greater Los Angeles area. I think of each trip as penciling in a few more details.

We came back down to this beach each day at one point or another, in our little meterological, demographic, naturalistic and oceanographic studies. We learned a lot:


9 comments:

  1. Nice pictures! Welcome back to LA.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the pics. Nostalgic wonderland. I can't wait to read more.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Excellent pictures. Can I go to LA now?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful. The beach is so far away from here. You made it seem close.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ah!

    I may have to bookmark this very instructional report for the days when October is more seriously than not.

    ReplyDelete
  6. l.o.v.e. the pictures. n.e.e.d. the beach and the ocean and the warmth and the difference.

    ReplyDelete
  7. listened to Blue yesterday, and heard California and hoped you had it on your i-pod when you were there. Did you kiss a sunset pig?

    ReplyDelete
  8. I just read Bright Shiny Morning and it made me want to visit LA... Lovin the pics

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love Hermosa Beach and I miss L.A. What about LL L.A. Also, I've been reading some Raymond Chandler lately, and that makes me really miss L.A.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails