The Million Dollar Hotel

A return from hiatus.
I moved.
That's the view from my roof.

I live in downtown Los Angeles now. This is a big deal for me. I've broken free of the mold I had created for myself within this city. I spent the summer house sitting for one of my good friends in Hollywood Hills. I enjoyed the time I spent with his dog, but I won't lie, there's something up there that I don't like. I can't quite put my finger on it, just an energy that I'm not crazy about. As the summer drew to a close and his tour was winding down, I began searching for a new place to call home.

This time instead of the four block radius I had confined myself to since I was 19, I decided to branch out. And thus, downtown. I'm now living in a 3700 square foot penthouse loft with two other people. I love it. It's a house on top of a building. My room is pink and black and I feel very at home here.

One of the things I love about living downtown is that it doesn't necessarily feel like LA. Which is ironic, because they're always filming SOMETHING. But that's exactly why. Downtown Los Angeles can be made to look like anything. My first week my street had surreptitiously overnight been transformed into San Francisco.
I found myself walking to the market next to trolleys.

Another morning I awoke with a start to discover that it sounded like someone was being shot outside my window. I apparently had neglected to see the FILMING NOTICE : SINGLE SHOT GUNFIRE 7AM-10PM slip that had been posted on our building's door the night before.

But none of my stories come close to trumping that of a friend who lives a few blocks away. Said friend woke one morning to find Armageddon outside his window. The street looked as though an atomic bomb had gone off. There was a huge crater in the earth and before he had the chance to figure out what was going on cars started exploding and flying into the air.
Shortly after this he saw the director.

Will Smith is soon to be saving the world post asteroid hit.
Or something like that, I dunno, they were filming a car scene for that movie outside my neighborhood market. It was a big ordeal just to get in to buy some milk.

So living downtown has provided me with a completely different view of this city. I'm sitting at my desk staring out the window at the Million Dollar Rosslyn Hotel. Home of one of my favorite movies "The Million Dollar Hotel". I recognized it the minute I saw it.

And then felt at home.