Hi.

This is going to be a blog about the outdoors.  Kind of.

Life in Los Angeles seems to be defined by what is private.  If it’s not private, it’s indoors (your car, your apartment, class, work, etc.)  I have lived in Los Angeles my entire life and am not entirely sure where public places exist and if they do, what goes on there? Who is going to these places? 

As a kid, my brothers and I would walk to the park up the hill to play with the other kids from the neighborhood. It was a place to meet new kids and see what type of people I lived next too. As I’ve gotten older, the space between my house and school, or my house and anywhere is mediated by my car.  With my air conditioning, I don’t even breathe the air from outside.  My life as a kid seemed much more public, riding my bike to my friends house, taking the bus from school, picnics at the park.  Now, my life is largely experienced from my bed where I have easy access to the internet.

I want to use this blog to explore the public space outside of the enclosed areas I am so used to living in.  Going to Los Angeles parks, outdoor movie screenings or festivals, taking the bus home, talking to strangers on the street…observing and hopefully becoming part of these public environments that at this point are mostly foreign to me. To offer some form of consistency, the places I visit will contain some sort of review (what I liked, how easy was it to access, will I return?) I’m also going to drag a few of my friends along with me and see how they like it, which should be interesting since most of them are not from Los Angeles and could add an interesting perspective to my experiences. 

I also want to explore what is the phobia or the seeming unwillingness for people like me to just go for a walk in this city and see where I end up or who I meet.  I have spent time outside of Los Angeles in other cities where one of my favorite things to do was take the bus or subway, get off somewhere interesting, and then walk around for a few hours.  Los Angeles is not structured like most cities, but I wonder if that is the only reason for why you rarely see people walking on the streets.

I think my first post is going to be on Cinespia, and outdoor screening series that takes place and the Hollywood Forever cemetery. It fits my qualifications mainly because it takes place outdoors but is also one of those rare cinematic experiences where members of the audience picnic, meet, interact, while sitting on someone’s grave.  I think that’s what you do…

This blog is, essentially, a way for me to try and relive my childhood.  It’s sad. But it is also meant to be a way for me to explore the city that I have lived in for 20 years (but I don’t think the first few years count…)