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Published on 09/21/1998 All articles from this issue

L.A. vs. L.A. - How Silicon suburb stacks up to City of Angels

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By Edward A. Sanchez

Other Voices

This past summer, I spent approximately three months in Los Angeles doing an internship with a major magazine publisher. I must admit I was a bit daunted by the prospect of spending so much time in the urban, libertine mecca. Aside from several childhood trips to Disneyland and visiting San Diego a few times, Southern California was still a land of mystery to me.

From all the trash talk I'd heard in the Bay Area about the Southland, I thought that by the time I finished my internship, I'd be so horrified by the whole experience, that I'd run off and build a cabin in the remote woods of Idaho to spend the rest of my years clad in flannel running a Scenic Tours and four-by-four repair shop.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed certain aspects of metro Los Angeles. Granted, I was living in a fraternity house in the sheltered burg of Westwood, a stone's throw to the beaches of Santa Monica and a block from Beverly Hills.

Westwood is strikingly similar to Palo Alto or Los Altos in many respects. Dozens of restaurants and coffeehouses dot the area, and the residential area comprises neatly manicured cottages with BMWs and Expeditions in the garage. Whatever my craving was, at any time of day, it could be satisfied by one of the town's establishments, whether it was a vanilla shake at In-N-Out Burger, a shawarma platter at Falafel King, or an iced mocha at The Coffee Bean, Southern Cal's homegrown equivalent to Starbucks.

Fortunately, I was spared the bane of nearly all Angelenos: The dreaded commute. I simply took Wilshire straight to work. Crossing Rodeo Drive every day, I noticed that the majority of patrons of the famed promenade were tourists. Walk down Main or State street, and more likely than not, you'll run into your neighbor and a few friends and strike up a leisurely conversation over a latte.

Having spent three years of college in down-home Texas, I never considered Northern California to be an especially warm or friendly place. But compared to L.A., its positively gregarious. Walking down the street in most places in Southern California, if you smiled and nodded to someone, they'd either walk past you without a glance, or avoid you as though you were an anarchist peddling pamphlets. I suppose the endless throngs of people moving in every direction has a dulling effect on one's sense of neighborliness.

Also, the fashion sense of young adults seems caught in a 70s time warp around UCLA. Tie-dyes and flip-flops predominate. This may be more a matter of convenience than any carefully planned retro ensemble.

More likely than not, I'll return to this sprawling metropolis come January. More for the prospect of having my dream job at a car magazine than for any special affinity for the area. But I believe I could live comfortably and happily in this place, despite its admittedly numerous flaws.

Sanchez is a Los Altos native, Los Altos High School graduate and currently a graduate student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.