Tonight at 7 the busiest section of freeway in the US will be shutdown for the entire weekend and then some. What was once a situation that filled me with fear, has now become a moment of anticipation and excitement.
Nobody really knows what's going to happen this weekend or how people will react. Many people are being told to say at home, watch Netflix, drink inside with friends, and to not make any real plans. Los Angeles is the city with beaches, Hollywood, a vibrant (and dirty) downtown, foodies, and much more. If there's anything that a "true" LA person will tell you, it's that you shouldn't stay home on the weekends.
So many transplants, so many people who have lived here less than 5 years, exploration is the heart of LA. It's what causes the traffic to build up so quickly, frequently, and detrimentally. When real summer hits, and it finally has, Saturdays are filled with hundreds of thousands of people flocking westward to hit the beaches. Few other places in the continental United States off mile after mile of oceanside property, each one with something different to offer than the last.
From Santa Monica, to Hermosa, to Newport, there's so many places to go, to admire, to relax. It's the end results of what was already a stressful journey of the 10 and 405. Instead, the beachgoers will be beach-livers, and the travellers will have to find something to do in their 'burbs. Tom Hanks and Corey Feldman made the best of it, so can we?
This weekend they are showing Evil Dead 2 in Hollywood on the grass. Damn it, why now? This is exactly the kind of thing that would get me motivated to go to Hollywood, but no thanks. Instead, I'll enjoy the fruits of the 6-block radius surrounding my apartment. Margaritas on the porch will do me just fine.
I guess what I'm really curious about is how many people share that sentiment. Will LA, for one weekend, become Mardi Gras West? How many will flock to the streets, knowing that it could be a beautiful weekend, one not best spent inside?
I am sure it won't quite be like that, but could we get something close to that? I certainly hope so. Lord knows that this city, for all its activities, is void of charm. There's nothing charming about this city.
Don't get me wrong. I love that I can go see a UCB show for FREE. I love that I can be at the beach in 20 minutes or less. I love that I'm not living where I used to live, where they are having "the worst summer ever." But charming, this city is not.
Superficial and fake would probably better describe it. You can find genuine people, and I have, and I am grateful for that. But they are outnumbered. LA has millions of transplants, and usually the type of transplant they get is someone who is probably not widely missed by the town that they transplanted from.
"I want to be an actor and/or actress!"
"I want to be a hipster, even though I'm not a hipster, I swear, I'm not a hipster. You gonna drink that PBR?"
However for one weekend we are all in the same boat. We are all just rats trapped in a cage. For the first time it seems this city is pulling together, as if Battle: LA is actually happening, except that instead of aliens, we have construction workers tearing the roads apart. And hopefully, unlike Battle: LA, this doesn't completely suck.
Let's make the best of it, forget our differences, and for one weekend rather than being natives and transplants were all just commiserating rats.
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