Los Angeles <3
Nothing To Say But I Love You
Growing up in Connecticut I was obsessed with the idea of LA. I cut out pictures of Paris and Nicole walking down Melrose with massive bags from KITSON and glued them to my walls. When I was 13 I visited the city properly for the first time and under the stipulations that my aunt would take me to Skybar at the Mondrian Hotel because that’s where Lindsay Lohan liked to hang out. I ordered 4 Virgin Mojitos poolside wearing a white tank-kini and a pair of Chanel sunglasses I emptied my life savings to own, carefully scanning the crowd determined to bump into Hillary Duff or any cast member of The OC. I had peaked.
Like all relationships, my ties to the city have evolved over the years, humanizing Los Angeles into a place that many friends who have become family call home. Up until October of this year my office has been a house in Beachwood Canyon. A beautiful neighborhood on the outskirts of the Hollywood Hills where I was lucky enough to stay for extended periods of time. At dinner parties, when people ask ‘if you could live aaaannnnyywhere in the world where would it be?’ I bounce back with- I <3 NY. But for the last three years I have had intrusive thoughts about building a life in Los Angeles. Could I be one of those people walking around Silverlake with a big bouquet of Zinnias from the farmers market, monologuing about traffic and making hiking Runyon a personality trait? The answer is…One Hundred Percent Yes.
Last Monday afternoon I arrived in LA around 2PM. As an over productive, chronically online millennial- the first week of the new year is for intermittent fasting, color coding your closet and going to the gym, the last place I wanted to be was 3000 miles from home…but, alas- work calls. The second I got off the plane I was reminded how good a few days on the West Coast are for my soul. I took an Uber to the west side, sent my best friend Michael a selfie in front of the Venice Sign with the caption ‘California Girls….’ and went to Erewhon, all blissfully unaware that when I boarded my plane Thursday morning the pulse of Los Angeles would have changed forever.
It was the shortest trip I had ever taken to California but the hours creeped on, just like the cloud of smoke hovering over the city. Text message after, text message from people I love confirming they had been evacuated along with family and friends who have lost everything. It will never make sense. How can life change in such an instant? It’s not right and it’s certainly not fair. There’s a part of me that has to believe that in some way, a vein of good will come from this, but in this current moment that does not feel possible. For right now all I can do is pray for the beautiful, resilient city of Los Angeles and all of the people who call it home. I love you.
Cat Chen has put together a beautiful list of GoFundMe’s for Neighbors In Need around LA. If you have the means, your donations mean the world.
Stay Safe,
Grace