Moving Thoughts
It's not exactly the case that I took moving for granted, but it was with no small degree of confusion that I went through my room yesterday, pulling books almost at random off of the shelves before piling in a bunch of shirts on hangars into the back of a car already loaded with two cats, moving blankets, more clothes, old school papers, and whatever other assorted items I'd managed to pull together. But to be honest about it, in the midst of helping Kirsten move out from North Carolina, I had taken the process a bit for granted. After all, I'd been in Los Angeles. I'd grown up here, knew the freeways, the beaches, the art museums. I'd read histories of Los Angeles and could pick out the lines of folding and faulting that put the LA Basin together. It was Kirsten, I thought, who'd have the tough time of it. It was going to be easy for me.
Not so much the case, it turned out.
It might have been some time last night as I circled the neighborhood in widening circles while trying to find a parking place (Yeats' falcon turning and turning in widening gyres) that the fact of my moving hit me. In the end, it's for the best, but it was shocking to realize just how different parts of Los Angeles are. Even more than that, it really drove home what a rarefied experience the Westside of Los Angeles is, and how utterly non-typical it is of the larger urban experience.
The easiest comparisons are those of ethnicity, of language, of socioeconomic status, perhaps of crime (always a sketchy rubric, that). But more compelling to me are issues of space, of architecture, of planning. I wish I knew more about the history of the neighborhood, but looking at a map of the area, a couple of things jump out. The first is the shift right around Hoover Blvd - east of Hoover, the main axes of movement are at an angle; to the west, streets are gridded along the north/south and east/west axes so familiar to American cities west of the Mississippi. I remember reading - I think it was DJ Waldie - that the reason behind the shift is that the original Spanish pueblo of Los Angeles was laid out at an angle to the rising sun, so that all buildings might share more equitably in the sun's light. That would pin this area as one of those developed in early Angeleno property speculation. It is, however, east of the intersection at Fairfax and Wilshire with its Macy's that ushered in the era of department stores outside the ambit of downtown. What I'm trying to suggest is that this area - its plan of streets and its street widths - was laid down prior to the era of the ubiquitous auto. As a result, the streets are more narrow, parking is atrocious, lots are smaller, and the area is far more densely populated that the Westside with its suburban heritage.
Funny thing, to spend your life thinking you've grown up in a city when you've really just been living in a suburb.
Haven't begun biking yet; haven't really begun much of anything yet, but the city hums its hundred songs just beyond our windows.
Not so much the case, it turned out.
It might have been some time last night as I circled the neighborhood in widening circles while trying to find a parking place (Yeats' falcon turning and turning in widening gyres) that the fact of my moving hit me. In the end, it's for the best, but it was shocking to realize just how different parts of Los Angeles are. Even more than that, it really drove home what a rarefied experience the Westside of Los Angeles is, and how utterly non-typical it is of the larger urban experience.
The easiest comparisons are those of ethnicity, of language, of socioeconomic status, perhaps of crime (always a sketchy rubric, that). But more compelling to me are issues of space, of architecture, of planning. I wish I knew more about the history of the neighborhood, but looking at a map of the area, a couple of things jump out. The first is the shift right around Hoover Blvd - east of Hoover, the main axes of movement are at an angle; to the west, streets are gridded along the north/south and east/west axes so familiar to American cities west of the Mississippi. I remember reading - I think it was DJ Waldie - that the reason behind the shift is that the original Spanish pueblo of Los Angeles was laid out at an angle to the rising sun, so that all buildings might share more equitably in the sun's light. That would pin this area as one of those developed in early Angeleno property speculation. It is, however, east of the intersection at Fairfax and Wilshire with its Macy's that ushered in the era of department stores outside the ambit of downtown. What I'm trying to suggest is that this area - its plan of streets and its street widths - was laid down prior to the era of the ubiquitous auto. As a result, the streets are more narrow, parking is atrocious, lots are smaller, and the area is far more densely populated that the Westside with its suburban heritage.
Funny thing, to spend your life thinking you've grown up in a city when you've really just been living in a suburb.
Haven't begun biking yet; haven't really begun much of anything yet, but the city hums its hundred songs just beyond our windows.
Comments
I'm glad your move forced some new observation. Interesting note about the neighborhood's hypothesized origins.