Small stories – my walk home in Los Angeles

We are on day 10 of a Level 4 lockdown in Auckland because of the outbreak of the Delta variant. By now, a Covid-19 lockdown is a familiar routine. Huddle down, set up the home office and sort out things to do to keep the mind occupied.

Treelined streets of Burbank

Walking seems to be an activity that calms everyone down, and I was thinking back to my walk home from work in Los Angeles.  Hardly anyone walks in LA – everyone drives, but I was wary of driving there. In fact, I was downright terrified. Negotiating the DMV to get my license, switching to Left Hand Drive, the traffic on the freeways, the crazy drivers and the drama and complications of insurance if you had an accident.

So I walked everywhere and took the Metro and buses. LA actually has a pretty good public transport system, although half the city doesn’t know about it. When I finally got a job, amazingly it was in nearby Burbank, only about 4kms from my home in North Hollywood. However, it was an awkward location as I lived in LA county, but Burbank is its own city, so the public transport didn’t link up.

Advertisement

The Upside down moon

See -it’s different!

I’m on the fourth month of my Los Angeles adventure and I have to admit it has been a bit of a roller-coaster ride. Change is hard, no matter who you are. Our brains simply don’t like it and they tend to freak out as soon as we leave the safe and secure zone of “but I’ve always done it this way!”

The process so far has been: “Ooh, ahh this is amazing” followed by “Oh my God, this place is insane, what am I doing here? then on to “I guess it’s not so bad, and the Mexican food is great.”

The time I won a green card and moved to Los Angeles

Los Angeles – city of dreams?

Los Angeles is a town where everyone is always pitching – their screenplay, tv show, movie, music – you name it, so here’s my pitch: a middle-aged New Zealand woman wins a green card and moves to Los Angeles to chase her dream of becoming a screenwriter.

Los Angeles – Museums

The Broad – Contemporary Art Gallery

Prepare to gasp when you reach the second-floor gallery of the Broad. I would go back to LA just to revisit it.

The Broad

The Broad (rhymes with road) is on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, down the road from the Walt Disney Concert Hall. It is a contemporary art museum and houses the collection of philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad. It is a stunning building, and if you love architecture and contemporary art, you have to visit. You’ll need about three to fours hours, and although it’s free you have to reserve tickets via the website or wait in the standby line outside. It took about 30 minutes when I was there, although I imagine it will take longer in busier periods. Be there for opening if you want to get into the installations as you can only book inside and they fill up fast as well. Tickets book up fast and are released on the first of every month at noon PT for the following month, so plan ahead.

Things to do and see in Los Angeles

This may not be the best time in history to be writing about travelling to the US, but my recent trip to Los Angeles was great – I had a fantastic holiday. I spent two weeks in LA and one week travelling around.

Before I left, heaps of people told me I’d only need two or three days in LA, as it turned out I ran out of time to do all the things I wanted to do. The biggest surprise was the outstanding art museums and architecture. LA is so much more than theme parks and Disneyland, although I had fun there too – so here is my list of things to do in LA.