September 27, 2017

Unusually intense iridescence over downtown L.A.  On the drive home from work, eight years ago.

Views From The 6th and 12th Floors

One from the window of my old loft in downtown Los Angeles, and another from the roof of the building.  It was situated just about square in the middle between the ritzy postmodern combined-use buildings to the west, the mission district/aka skid row to the east, the imposing government buildings to the north and the industrial warehouses to the south.  The building was 12 stories, almost a century old, and it was largely favored by the hip younger set that was sort of faux-yuppy, sort of maybe not.  There weren't enough parking spaces down in the basement to accommodate all the tenants' cars, so there was no assigned parking;  instead there were valets whose job it was to juggle the cars around as spaces became available as residents went out and came in.  But anyway, living right across Hill Street from Pershing Square (formerly notorious as a gay hangout), I was used to seeing considerable spillover population from skid row, which was just some blocks away.

And it's true, once you step far enough away -- or as I like to call it, "taking the God's-eye point of view" -- what at first looked like ugly tragedy turns out to be a beautiful dramedy.

Related Post:  2 Views

2 Views

Of downtown Los Angeles at night, from the roof of my building.

Neighborhood

My home is a one-room loft (spacious, but no built-in closets!) on the sixth floor of a 12-story building that dates back to the 1920's.  It's located smack in the middle of the busiest part of downtown Los Angeles, where improbable juxtapositions abound.  A few blocks west, there are the swanky postmodernist highrises with their sleek, streamlined silhouettes and razor-sharp edges;  an equal distance east, there is the blurry border of the grubby neighborhood sometimes known as 'skid row' (although gentrification has been steadily pushing it farther away in recent years, replacing the flophouses and pawnshops with coffee bars, ethnic restaurants and art galleries).  Half a mile north, there is the heart of the city's government and culture, including city hall, Disney Concert Hall and Little Tokyo.  Half a mile south is the warehouse district with its drab, anonymous concrete hangars.  I never go down that way if I can help it.

You wouldn't think people who live in highrise condo conversions in the midst of all this noise and density would keep dogs, but as it happens, dogs are very common in my building.  And not just little lapdogs, either -- boxers, huskies and other such good-sized breeds that require a lot of room and exercise are quite popular -- some people actually keep two or three dogs --  and I've gotten used to seeing dog slobber in the elevators.

[Speaking of elevators, the elevator banks are located in their own little lobbies that can be closed off from the hallways;  I actually find them to be an attractive feature, although I don't really see the need for them -- the doors are never shut anyway]

And the other day, there was this.

An angry message, but at least it starts with 'Dear'.

It's Raining

5th & BROADWAY, FROM MY 6th FLOOR WINDOW -- JUST NOW

Probably doesn't sound like much to most people, but in Los Angeles this is a fairly rare thing.  It rained most of the day today, and it's still raining now at 11:37 PM.

And I so LOVE the rain!