I truly dislike L.A. I know there is a core constituency of that city that thinks it is something special. Sorry -- I don't see it. It is immensely inconvenient and remarkably unwelcoming to visitors. I'm sure there are some lovely areas by the beaches and some shiny neighborhoods in the rich areas and so forth, but the bulk of what I have seen is dumpy looking. And lord knows you better be ready to sit in your car for endless intervals.
A perfect example is LAX. I had to pick up Kate there and, apart from it being a zoo, which many airports are, it seems designed specifically to assure that you can't get where you need to go. I stopped to pick up my passenger and sure enough it turns out I was in no parking zone. But rather than simply signal me to move on, the lowlife parking cop wrote me a ticket. Now I have been thru my fair share of airports and I know that while the traffic cops can be hostile bastards, they don't drop the hammer on you immediately, presumably because they are aware how totally confusing airports are. Not in L.A. Before you even realize you are double parked you are written up for $70.
It gets worse. You have to pay the ticket in 21 days or the fees start. But at least they are nice enough to offer you a way to pay online, right? Yeah, except a week passes and they still have not logged your ticket into the system (even though they claim it will only take 24 hours). So you try to pay online everyday for a week and you can't. Then you finally call to find out what the hell is going on, and they ask for your ticket information, then they key it into the system on the spot and then tell you can go pay online now. So essentially you have just had to inform the city of L.A. that they gave you a parking ticket just be sure that you can pay it in time to not accumulate any fines. It's really just a bureaucratic version of "stop hitting yourself!"
Yes, I know: it's not about the rules it's about the revenue. But that episode pretty much defines the L.A. attitude for me. Whether it's not understanding the toll roads or a hotel that allows its parking lot to fill with non-guests so you have to pay for valet, you either know the tricks of L.A. life or you pay. No quarter is given.
There's a reason Joe Bob Briggs always referred to it as "El Lay." Because you're certain to get screwed.
And yet, an hour and a half south and you are into Orange County which is just splendid. The young folks I know there refer to it derisively as a "bubble," but they will come to appreciate bubbles. Everything is clean and fresh and new and the roads are wide and not too badly packed, except at the freeway entrances. You can roll down the coastal highway and find all sorts of character filled towns -- San Juan de Capistrano with it's mission and funky shops and restaurants along the railroad; San Clemente with its lovely beach and pier; Dana Point with it's active waterfront and high-end neighborhoods. If you wanted to, you could follow the highway even further south, down past Torrey Pines and La Jolla and into San Diego, a city which puts L.A. to shame.
I was in L.A. for work, but once the weekend hit I was off to Orange County for some delightful times with Kate and Anna. We stayed at the St.Regis which is usually one of the most beautiful resorts in the world, but unfortunately was under somewhat extreme construction -- check in was in a tent, the pool/spa was closed, they were down to a couple of restaurants, etc. Still, the room was beautiful, and we did have access to the seaside dining available to local members where we had a memorable night time meal with the ocean waves in the background.
Of course the highlight of the trip was a killer hike through Aliso and Wood Canyons County Park. I take the blame for it being killer. I misjudged the distance, and I misjudged the severity of the climb, despite the fact that the destination was called Top of the World. You would think that would have been a clue. The total hike was about ten miles, whereas I was expecting less than half that. There was mile stretch that was steep enough to require hand over hand up the rocks at some point. We made it to the highest point which was supposed to dump us out on the road, but we ended up in a school parking lot and had to ask some of the locals where we were. I think we actually started a fight between a couple when they disagreed about how we should get to where we wanted to go. I also think Kate entertained notions have killed me when I turned down a ride to our destination. Eventually making it to Top or the World, we were rewarded with amazing 360 degree views from the mountains to the sea. Also, we were blessed in that the rest of the way was downhill although it was very long, and for the last couple of miles I heard about my poor sense of distance with undisguised hostility.
I'm very happy I got to OC, since if I had to end my trip after L.A. it would have been infuriating. I'm good with Southern Cal, but there's going to have to be some kind of massive incentive for me to set foot in L.A. again. For me, SoCal begins south of L.A.
