los angeles, i'm yours.

So there's really no way around this, but goddamn, I love LA. I hate to love it, but I do with all my heart! Not just because of who's there, or our amazing sports teams (Laker & Dodger pride!) but because of the nature of the city itself. The way it's mean to outsiders but kind to the locals; the way it feeds the tourist machine but manages to maintain a mind of its own outside the capitalist machine. One of the best days I've ever had in my life was driving around downtown Los Angeles for hours endlessly, searching for a store that no longer existed; driving on streets I had never seen before, and driving all the way down the ones I did. Amazing. I don't know how to explain it if you've never lived there, but for me it's the most magical city in the world. It's a world of endless possibilities, of dreams both shattered and realized, of film and drama and love and heartbreak. It's over-hyped and glamorized and full of sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll. It will break you and it will crush you and it will make you that much stronger for surviving it all. I'm romanticizing, of course, but how can I not, when I love it? Love involves all of the emotions, which is exactly how I feel about my city. I hate the traffic but I love exploring; I get frustrated with the tourists but they provide for my well-being; I'm annoyed by celebrities but I want to work with them. It's a city of contradictions, but instead of trying to hide it, it embraces it! If only every city was so honest. It's such a huge, diverse city as well; I made a post on Facebook a few weeks ago asking my friends their favorite places in LA, here are some of their answers:

• Laurel Canyon
• Silver Lake
• Los Feliz
  
• Westwood/UCLA
• The GroveDowntown
• Santa Monica
• Burbank
• Malibu/Coral Canyon hike
• L.A. Live (Staples Center and Nokia Theater area)
• Topanga Canyon
• Venice Beach
• Hollywood
• West Hollywood
• All the Graffiti along the 101 or the River, really anywhere with amazing Graff
• LACMA
• The swings in Manhattan Beach.
• Sunset, Santa Monica, and Beverly
• Warner Bros. Studies
• The Ikeda World Peace Auditorium
• LA Zoo
• Pinks on La Brea.
• Olvera street/La Placita church
• Chinatown
• Bourgeois Pig
  

With such diversity, there's something for everyone! Personally, I love the Theater district in Downtown, Santa Monica, LACMA, and my absolute favorite, the Griffith Observatory. I got into an argument debate today with someone about my city; she was telling me (with such disdain in her voice) how she could never live in LA. Well, that's fine, but don't you dare make judgments about the city I love!

(this is to be the first of many "I ♥ LA" posts, haha)