It Just Got Strange...

So about a month ago I moved into this great studio in Silverlake and promptly lost my job. It’s really a dream apartment; right off Sunset, spacious, with an exposed brick wall (which is obviously very cool and totally why I took the place without asking if the toilet worked properly).  All my life I’ve wanted to be an “artist” in every sense of the word…from writing meaningful prose that people wind up studying in school on the moon in the future to wearing all black, being painfully thin but not as thin as my musician lover, of course.  The problem is I am really not any of those things. I love to write but constantly doubt my talent (which I’m told is actually what a lot of artists think of their skills, so maybe scratch that one), I am not even un-painfully thin, and I am completely single save for the occasional blind date or blind mistake.  However, I do think I have a real appreciation for artists, art, and all things interesting and weird. Moving to Silverlake was the first step in my plan to embrace an “artist’s lifestyle, “ if you will.  Losing the job that afforded me the time to actually write and be an artist was most definitely not part of this plan.  Ironically, losing my job gets me a little bit closer to actually fitting in over here.

No one in Silverlake works.  Okay that is a huge lie; everyone in Silverlake works, possibly harder than people in some other Los Angeles neighborhoods, but no one works a normal 9 to 5 job.  I discovered this when I walked outside to buy lunch the day I lost my job and felt like it was the opening scene in Beauty and the Beast (Disney, not Cocteau) when all of the villagers are out and about, except that everyone was wearing Opening Ceremony and only one guy was singing as he walked down the street playing a banjo. All of these "Silverlakers" looked fantastic as they ate equally fantastic looking sandwiches and salads and tacos, undoubtedly discussing obscure books and bands and art. I loved it. Unfortunately, I felt like a complete outsider and was too scared to go into Food Lab to get a Nicoise salad (these salads are delicious and I used to get them all the time at the less-intimidating West Hollywood Food Lab). I mean I was wearing sweatpants and flip flops. I think Havianas are against the rules over here. 

Anyway, it was that afternoon as I sat in my apartment shame-eating Kraft mac n' cheese and watching Khloe and Lamar on the E! Network (just don't even start watching because you will become addicted and Khloe Kardashian's voice will haunt your dreams) that I decided I needed to get my shit together and start acclimating to my new life. So this blog, which took me two hours to set up because I am terrible with technology (oh don't worry, more on that later), is sort of a public journal of my East LA adventure.  An online exploration of Silverlake, Los Feliz, and Echo Park (though I am still not quite sure where Echo Park actually is).  You, dear reader (okay, Mom), can use this as a sort of guide to all of the cool stuff there is over here; the information just comes from someone who is not very cool at all. But I do love to try new things: music, food, movies, museums and I guess, writing this blog. So enjoy!