The Lonely (and sparse) Planet Guide to Los Angeles

DISCLAIMER!!!! I apologize for being days behind. While I am posting Thursday, I am writing for Tuesday...

So, pretending that today is actually Tuesday:

Today, I went to the Barnes and Noble at The Grove (which I had assumed would be a major location to check off in the guide book once I got it) to find my brand new 2010 Lonely Planet Guide to Los Angeles, that would be very clearly on display in the travel book section.

Boy was I wrong...

First of all, I found the travel section easily on the top floor (3) and there was a whole wall devoted to California. Despite my efforts, I couldn't find one goddamn Lonely Planet Guide to Los Angeles. There was the LP California Coast, LP San Francisco, LP California (State), but not one guidebook for LA. Not one. In fact I couldn't find any LA guide books until a helpful employee pointed me to a table for LA guidebooks. Once again... no LP book for LA. Finally, someone thinks to mention that on the first floor, RIGHT as you walk in, there is also a wall dedicated to Los Angeles travel books. Well, that made no sense. Why do we need a table AND a wall for the same thing, have different things on either one and then put them as far away from each other as possible. I venture back down to where I came in and there it was. I finally find that there isn't a book specific to Los Angeles, but rather Los Angeles & Southern California. This is not what I want, but I am so frustrated and late for a movie, that I just suck it up and buy it.

Los Angeles & Southern California (Regional Guide)

Excited for my brand new guidebook, I open it up, expecting to see big pretty pictures and colorful descriptions, only to find a book full of lists. Granted these lists have short descriptions, but those are pretty much dedicated to pertinent information, not the secrets of LA's most interesting locales.

It was then that I realized I wouldn't just be relaying my personal experience, but I would be adding the most important details to the guide: the flavor, the sauce, the secrets, the hits, the misses, the essence.

I hope you appreciate me!

The Summer Solstice

Today, I took a second to think about the fact that it's the longest day of the year when it occurred to me that this day also marked a year since I kicked bad drinking and bad men (no, you horny devils, this does not mean that I am now into bad girls, I'm just not into BAD men anymore). That is a story in itself that with some time and trust, perhaps I will share some of those sordid details with you (yes, I am a tease). But anyhow, I realized as the seasons changed, so did I. And since I did something big last year, why not do it again this year!

Since the last summer solstice (the SS), I spent quite a bit of the past year traveling the world (a solo trip to Spain, a romantic jaunt to France, lunch in Hyde Park, London and a wedding in Jamaica), visiting the greatest museums (oh the Pompideau) and the most historic monuments (seriously, when will La Segrada Familia ever be completed?), making a point to hit every site in the travel books, and yet have completely neglected so much about the very city I live in (Well, I did go to three museums in LA in the last year, but that is besides the point).

Being a New York native and a Los Angeles transplant, I have always said the difference between the two is that in NY you are inundated by so many options and have to pick and choose which path you carve for yourself. However, in Los Angeles, it's a blank canvas: you have access to all the different paints, but you have to make a choice if you want oils or pastels, trendy club kid or nature loving vegan. LA takes work.

The other thing about the land of the angels is that it's also the loneliest city in the world. It's like the painting, there's potential friends and love interests everywhere, but you have to go find them, test them on a canvas for a bit and then decide if you want to create your painting with them. Even once you get your amazing friends, your significant other and start your new family, it's somehow still lonely. Try getting to your friends: you sit in a car and drive for 20 minutes... alone. Try walking to the neighborhood cafe: you'll walk down a street and you'll be walking on that very sidewalk... alone.

LA gets a bad rap. People always say it takes two years to feel at home here. For some people it takes more. Some don't even make it that long to find out, but when it becomes home, it can really be your mix and match paradise, tailored specifically for you.

So with all this in mind, I came up with the idea for Lonely Los Angeles. I am going to be a tourist in my own city this summer. I am going to take the Lonely Planet Guide to Los Angeles and go through it as thoroughly as I possibly can before the weather gets bleak again (ie below 70 and sunny). I want to see the city for what it really is; see what a tourist sees in 5 days, that I've missed in 8 years. Maybe then, I won't just have an idea of who I am within this great world, but I'll know who I am within the city that has shaped my post-collegiate years. I hope you guys enjoy this journey with me and maybe even learn a few things about LA yourselves along the way.