My Los Angeles


When I moved back to Phoenix from Los Angeles, in 1989, my resume said that I had worked in Woodland Hills. If you're familiar with Los Angeles, especially the San Fernando Valley, you know that Woodland Hills, especially Warner Center, is a place worth bragging about. Unfortunately, if you're looking for a job in Phoenix, it means nothing to most people there. So I changed my resume to say Los Angeles.

Of course, if you know Los Angeles, you know that I didn't really live in Los Angeles. Well, technically I did, but if you say that you live in Los Angeles if you live in the Los Angeles area, you might as well be saying that you live somewhere on planet earth. When someone says that they lived in LA, I always ask "where?" You don't need to do that in Phoenix. If they say they lived in Phoenix, they mean Phoenix.

So, for people who aren't familiar with the greater Los Angeles area, I just say LA. But my Los Angeles, like everyone who has ever lived there, has some very sharp boundaries. My Los Angeles was centered in Woodland Hills and extended all of the way to Santa Barbara (not even in LA County!) to Hollywood. Anything beyond there, I may have known vaguely, but I always say, like on old maps "there be dragons there!" and I really don't know. Yeah, I've been to Anaheim, and Rancho Cucamonga, but only with my trusty map, a compass, and some breadcrumbs sprinkled on the ground so I can get home!

My Los Angeles is Calabasas, Malibu, Woodland Hills, Canoga Park, and Thousand Oaks. Yeah, you real Angelinos are shaking your head now. But since I live in Phoenix, most people just consider that whole area to be Los Angeles, and I try not to argue.

I have friends who live there, mostly the "Car Guys" - the ones who come here yearly to go to car auctions, like the Barrett-Jackson. They have full use of my house for the week or two yearly that they need to that stuff, and all I ask is to be invited to their places, just so I can see my Los Angeles again.

I love LA!

Image above: Topanga Canyon.
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