Wednesday, March 28, 2007

L.A. Vida...



Traveling to earth’s version of heaven and still getting homesick

At a house party, when someone throws on Sublime’s self-titled album 23 people stop their chatter and simultaneously break into, “We took this trip to Garden Grove, it smelled like Lou-dog inside the van, oh yea… this ain’t no funky reggae party…”

Having everything to lose but still pitching your heart like a softball towards the chica from Whittier

The clock striking 5:00 on a Friday evening

Watching Kirk Gibson pump a fist and round the bases as Los Angeles leaps all at once to the 2.1 Richter scale

Reminiscing over the little old lady from the apartments next door with your sisters ‘til 2AM

Looking at her baby’s eyes and seeing my ex-girl’s childhood as the reflection

Discovering Bob Marley

Like sex with a great woman, Bukowski status

Sitting in the Left Field Pavilions having caroused 60 ounces of Anchor Steam at 7:58PM on a hot Friday night in June

A crowd chanting, “O-ZO-MAT-LI, YA LLEGO, YA LLEGO!”

Driving by my old junior high and scoping out the spot where I got my first El Monte kiss

Running into Rodney on the Roq at Canter’s

Soundless words on my lips “Get up there # 6,” as I grip three different kinds of Karl Strauss brews, hold a ticket between my fingers and the Daily Racing Form rests in my back pocket

Crashing into salty Pacific Ocean waves with your eyes closed as wet sand squishes out between your toes as they try to grip the elusive ground

Ranking The Doors ahead of Zeppelin in your classic rock top 5 list

Reading J.D. Salinger

Racing down the 101 as warm wind pounds your face and J5 blasts through the Kenwood speakers. “I work the pen to make the ink transform on any particular surface the pen lands on…”

Sleeping shirtless, with the windows wide open as ambulances and trains provide the lullaby and still breaking a sweat

Grooving to soothing hip-hop on the 2nd floor on the first and third Friday of every month at the Firecracker in Chinatown. Ooooh weeee.

Driving through downtown L.A. 17 years later, a CHAKA piece still up

Business signs in espanol and palm trees, everywhere

The smell of chronic smoke at any given moment on any given street

Bumping Biggie on a Saturday morning while taking a shower

Bumping 2-Pac a little louder

Discovering a sushi spot and thinking to yourself, “This is the best sushi in all of L.A.,” finding another spot a month later and thinking the same thing. Having this happen to you three times before you discover Zip Fusion snuggled between East Los and downtown

Redefining 6 degrees of separation to 1 or 2 or 3 at worst

Knowing the funniest guy on radio doesn’t even have his own show, Ralph Garman

Taking public transportation for the fun of it and vowing to never do it again

Driving by any baseball diamond in May and finding 12 kids throwing, swinging, diving, catching, repeat

Remembering and actually having gone to Dublin’s on Sunset

King Taco anyone?

1 comment:

Fajita said...

Your love for our city is contagious... I feel prouder to be an Angelino every time I read a piece.