Blogging from L.A.

I arrived in Los Angeles yesterday. Everything went smoothly—even at the airport—despite the fact that I prostrated myself before boarding and screamed, “God is great!” and “Bush is an idiot,” over and over again.

I left a frigid Milwaukee and arrived to a cloudless, warm L.A. winter’s day. Christmas/holiday spirit is alive and well in Milwaukee, but it seems muted here. It must be the weather and palm trees. The biggest Christmas-ee decoration I’ve seen yet is on Hollywood Blvd., where the Scientologists have erected a large and gaudy Winter Wonderland.

I’m staying with a friend just off Hollywood Blvd. Parts of Hollywood Blvd. are naturally flooded with tourists. But if you walk south, just after the sidewalk emblazoned with the names of famous entertainers ends and reverts back to normal sidewalk, you start to enter ethnic areas.

I found myself in Little Armenia; replete with businesses brandishing names ending in “ian” or “yan.” There were a fair number of diminutive Middle Eastern looking people who must have been either Armenian or Persian. Little Armenia also seems to overlap with Thai Town. The Thai influence is even more identifiable, with loads of Thai eateries, video stores, shops and—of course—short and bronzed Thai people walking about.

Before I came my friend told me that there were a lot of short people in L.A. I didn’t think much about the comment, but now that I’m here, I see that she’s right. It is obvious why: In L.A. there are large numbers of people from Mexico, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, (the Far East in general) Iran, etc.—places generally not known for having tall people. It’s particularly noticeable for somebody like me, coming from the Midwest where people are largely descended from northwestern Europe, and therefore taller. So, it’s nice not too feel too short here!

It’s true what they say about L.A. and especially Hollywood being filled with people who have dreams of stardom. I chatted with a guy at the gym and he said he came here from Chicago. He’s a massage therapist, “and I also do voices,” he said. Good luck with that. Later that night I was at a bar. The bartender mentioned in passing that he came out here because he acts. You and everybody else, buddy.

So far I am having a very nice time. Tomorrow I’m going to visit my relatives in Orange County and that should be fun. Monday I return to Milwaukee.