On Monday, I'm getting on a plane with my two dogs and flying to New York for three months. Sure, I'll miss some things about my home, but there's some stuff I will definitely not miss about living in Los Angeles. I give you:1. Vapid, self-promoting actors. This is an actual conversation I overheard last night at Aroma Cafe in Studio City: "Are you going to come see my one-woman show next week?" "I can't, I have a relationship workshop in Malibu." "Bummer." "How was your audition?" "Oh I don't know, I'm too young to be playing a mom." Uh, no you're not. You're actually the exact right age to be playing a mom. You could be MY mom for God's sake. Shake the Botox out of your brain and wake the eff up, ladies.
2. Drunk driving. It seems like drunk driving is totally acceptable in Los Angeles. I can't tell you how many times a friend has told me "I don't even know how I got home last night." Or, "Oh my God, I got home and the left rear-view mirror of my car is gone! I don't remember hitting anything!" People in Los Angeles don't believe in public transportation (this includes taxis), and on any given night the roads are peppered with wasted people driving cars home from bars, or to bars, or wherever drunk drivers go when they're not getting arrested or killing people.
3. Sober driving. There's no two ways about it. Driving in Los Angeles sucks ass. It's ALWAYS rush hour. You think getting up at 6 a.m. will help you beat the rush? Wrong. Think it'll only take you a second to jump over the hill to Santa Monica on a Sunday afternoon? Wrong! More like a two-hour drive through fire-scorched mountainsides in 108-degree temperatures without air conditioning because your car might overheat from going up the big hill.
4. Earthquakes! All right, I may miss the small ones (they're actually kinda fun), but I will not miss the big ones. I was very close to the epicenter of the Northridge quake and it was frigging horrifying. I'm not going to miss sitting around wondering when I'm going to need to bust into my earthquake kit. Oh yes, I have one: backup dog food, water, human food, flashlights, batteries ... If you live in California, you have a disaster kit because, there's always some kind of disaster coming your way.
5. Raging fires. The Station Fire (as it is now called) that started this summer has been burning for weeks. Last night I was driving around and the ash was raining down like snow. All I can think about is all the poor little animals that can't escape, and the fires are always started by humans. Natural fires are extremely rare. Arsonists suck.
6. Rage, period. Sorry, dude in the "Bad Boyz" gas guzzler with the "piss on Ford" decal in your window who won't let me get over even though I'm driving a safe speed, leaving a proper following distance between me and the cars around me, and have been signaling for seven minutes. That's cool. Don't let me and my hybrid get over into your lane. I respect your totally unexplainable territorial dominance of the left lane. You go Alpha Male!
7. Hortense Alley. Hortense Alley is my own personal L.A. nemesis. It's an alley behind my apartment complex. Sometimes I brave the dark alley at night when walking my dog and have come across two guys giving each other blowjobs, old used panties, condoms, empty bags of drugs, stolen cars, and the like. They even found a dead body in the trunk of a car back there. I will not miss your charms, Hortense Alley.
8. Valet parking. I will not tip valets who get in my car, steal the change from my change holder, mess with my radio, readjust the seats and make me wait 20 minutes while they try to figure out where they parked my car, usually in a space that I could have parked it in myself.
9. Pee-covered street sofas. I don't know if it's just here, but Los Angeles is littered with old sofas that people have thrown out onto the sidewalk that smell like pee. I'm not sure if the sofa has been thrown out because it smells like pee, or if someone or something pees on it the minute it hits the street, but it seems to be a requirement that if you are throwing out a sofa or chair it must get covered in pee immediately. And no one ever calls the city (a free service) to come pick the sofa up so it sits there for weeks and weeks and weeks while more and more and more people pee on it.
10. The Lakers. I hate the Lakers. I hate people who love the Lakers and have Laker flags on their cars and worst of all when they have multiple Laker flags flying high on their cars. I wish the Lakers would lose every game. The only thing more annoying than the Lakers is a Lakers fan. I have news for you Laker fans: Kobe doesn't give a sh-t about you.
And with that, I leave you. Literally. I'm sure that in a week I'll be writing about all the things I miss about Los Angeles. I am, after all, a true-blue Southern California girl through and through.
But seriously -- suck it, Lakers.
To Do: Pack, pack, pack.












Comments:
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Friday 25 September
By jackie
those things all suck ass. Aroma conversations are brutal. Have fun in NYC, I'll be there sometime - maybe we can hang out THERE.
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Friday 25 September
By Patrick
Vapid, self-promoting actors should be changed to Vapid, self-promoting people.
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Friday 25 September
By Crisann
Driving in L.A. is tantamount to a life risking situation for sure. I actually know someone who drove to my house (unbeknownst to him) and lost his passenger side mirror in the process... OY. Go enjoy those NYC cabbies.
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Friday 25 September
By Susan from Saudi
New York is amazing, we all know that. But it's dirtier and more crowded than LA, has way less sun, more pretentious people (east coasters seem to emit more elitism), and rush hour is more like a block party.
BUT - saying that, because it's so crowded, there's no room on sidewalks or curbs for pee-soaked sofas.. and you'll get to go to Giants games!
Good luck with the move!
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Friday 25 September
By prufrock
Sorry, Ceej... I know it's your turf and all, but LA is one of my least favorite cities, and for most of the reasons you wrote. Here's a couple more:
• My first party out there, I was asked by five (5) different people--in the first sentence or so of meeting them-- what kind of car I drove. Really.
• It is impossible to find someone without some connection, no matter how small, to the business of entertainment. It's like Houston and oil, I guess.
• No seasons. Just one.
• Spendy, spendy, spendy. (Not that NYC isn't, if not more...)
Don't hate the hater.
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Friday 25 September
By muffybolding
HA! miss cj, this is AWESOME and HILARIOUS! i am so excited that you get to spend the winter in NYC -- but LA and all of its annoying horseshit is gonna miss you, sister! xoxo
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Friday 25 September
By Jen
Girl, you're coming to NY!!! Let me know - we gotta grab coffee or DRINKS (and then ride the subway drunkenly).
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Friday 25 September
By rob k
Good list. As someone who needs to leave the house at 2-3am on some mornings, negotiating through hazed clubbers on their way home is always a dicey and rather odd proposition.
Please be sure to tell us what you won't miss about NY when you're on your way back.
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Friday 25 September
By millfox
DEAD. ON. Hope to be joining you in the town of towns one day soon.
xoxoxo
Miller.
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Friday 25 September
By jcat197
Love the article CJ. I ill use it as a rough guide :)
I am so excited you are coming to NY on Monday! That gives us five weeks before Gerard and I head to LA for some lovely pee soaked ambience. Although I will say, 'round here they just pee on your stoop, no need for fancy couches.
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Friday 25 September
By Annie G
Kudos on all of it. I agree whole-heartedly and have added Hortense Alley to my list of peeves. What the heck, I got room.
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Friday 25 September
By Michael Staicer
Being an ex-New Yorker myself, I bet you will probably have a dozen reasons what you won't miss about NY after spending 3 months there. I'll be there a few times during your stay. If you give me a contact we may get to cross paths.
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Friday 25 September
By Kelectrolux
WTG CJ!! I hate LA traffic too. The drunks. The morons who think that the rules don't apply to them and won't let anyone cut in front of them like they own the friggen lane. The Lakers are just something I ignore. I couldnt care less about them. LOL about the pee covered sofas, move to Burbank. We don't have those. Anyway CJ that was a great article and I hate to think that you'll be gone for 3 whole months. Have a great time and don't forget to write!!!
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Friday 25 September
By heather
To Do: Walk down Hortense Alley. But seriously. Gotta see what all the fuss is about with my own eyes.
Have fun in NYC Ceeg. xo
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Friday 25 September
By Bonnie Jedell
I was thinking of spending 3 months in Los Angeles but now I don't know! The smelly sofas in the streets, that is really bad. New York City stinks of cigarette smoke I am not sure which is worse At least once a day a drunk driver hits a pedestrian usually a child.
Bonnie
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Saturday 26 September
By June
I moved from LA to North Carolina. Although I miss people who, you know, still believe in evolution? And I miss Aroma in general? Yeah, I don't miss those conversations. Or those "I live in Silverlake and I'm 50 hello here are my leopard pants" women.
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Saturday 26 September
By yah
Everyone I've met from LA, and I've met hundreds, is a tool. You'll have your share of jerks and tools in NY, but at least its in a decent ratio to other kinds of people.
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Saturday 26 September
By Vikings Tommy K
Love your comments, especially about the actors and driving and Lakers.
But what about Mosely your doggie friend? The beach? Original Pantry?
No shoveling snow or chipping ice off your windshield? Hurry back.
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Saturday 26 September
By Vikings Tommy K
?
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Saturday 26 September
By Sarah Smith
All true, and yet I'll take L.A. any day of the week over anywhere in Indiana.
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