Los Angeles

I spent New Year's in Los Angeles, and as much as I would like to document things, I am still not in the habit of picking up the camera. Sitting in the car so much, nothing really struck me as worth pulling out the camera for anyhow. I made people drive me to all the more walkable neighborhoods that aren't beach boardwalks, so I could get out of the car and get a better feel for what it would be like to live there.

Walkability was essentially limited to one main strip in each neighborhood. There is little to no street grid network, though sidewalks abound. I think this every time I visit, but it's interesting that in such a pleasant, temperate environment that LA remains one of the least walked around places in the United States. Also interesting is that the attitude of people there is far more relaxed and casual than the East Coast - all the more the type who would want to mingle with neighbors. But few people walk from place to place - and walking from neighborhood to neighborhood is nearly impossible.

For anyone paying a visit to LA who would like to do more than sit in cars, I went to Silver Lake (on Sunset Blvd), Echo Park (on Sunset), Larchmont (on Larchmont Blvd), and Venice Beach (Abbott-Kinney). We tried to go to Griffith Park, but the gates were closed. We also spent a day on Catalina Island, which was much more walkable and sustainable due to the stringent rules established by the Wrigley Estate. I took some photos of the cacti in the Botanical Garden, some of which are endemic to the island.