Things I Love About Los Angeles By analise.dubner  [218 more lists]

I live in Silver Lake. There is no better part of LA. And frankly, all you westsiders who "won't go east of La Brea"? Good. Stay over there. Silver Lake has ... wait for it... a lake. That's right mo-fos, we have our own lake. Plus two Cheese Stores. Two.

If you already live here, odds are you either work in the Industry or are friends with people who do. Now, I have to say, the latter is absolutely the way to go. You don't have to deal with Agents or any of the people willing to smile at you only if you can do something for them. You get all the benefits and none of the bullshit. You get invited by said friends to screenings, Premieres and other completely awesome things (like getting to stand on a fake overpass and watch the Freeway Chase in Matrix 2 filmed). You get to talk to folks about the shows they are working on, you get to hear gossip about insane Producers and every once in a blue moon, you get to ride on a Studio Jet to Vegas. All without having to kiss anyone's ass. So, yeah. Adjacent is the place for me.

I love the desert. Having one of the cooler ones be only a few hours outside LA is awesome. And having the Mojave National Preserve, which is more awesome by far than Joshua Tree (read: no one there), is perfect. A Joshua tree forest larger than the one in Joshua, caverns, canyons and mountains to climb along with a set of massive Sand Dunes make the Preserve one of my favorite things about living here.

If I wanted to, I could get in my car/bike and be hiking in 5 minutes. What's not to love about that? Or the fact that you can mix and match trails to get a totally different hike each and every time. My fave is Bronson to the top of Mt Hollywood. You can power up the hill, take in the 360 view of the metropolis and be back home before lunch. Or, just walk down to the Observatory and have a coffee and sandwich at the cafe.

I love this crazy street. It never fails to deliver something awesome. Maybe it's a guy dressed in a suit of cans preaching the word of Jesus, or maybe you get to see Darth Vader walking to work with his backpack on, cape kind of fluttering out from under his Jansport. You also get the herds of tourists wandering along the sidewalk staring at the Stars, fanny packs and all. You can almost see their thought process... THIS is Hollywood? And I just want to lean out the window as I drive by and tell them that they should have seen it 10 years ago, when walking on that very sidewalk meant having to step over a sleeping bum or two. I admit that I never actually GO to Hollywood. I just drive down the street on my way to somewhere else, and usually cursing angrily at the ridiculously bad drivers noodling all over the street, but seriously.... the sight of Catwoman and Elmo having a deep, heartfelt conversation on the corner of Las Palmas will always make me smile.