FOR many the notion, "streetlife in L.A." is an oxymoron. Transplants comment often about how the sidewalks roll up so early here, or how we Angelenos will drive around the block to visit a friend, when really we could simply walk, or take six separate cars to one party when we could simply carpool in one.
Last week, we saw "D-Fens" trudging across a strange map of Los Angeles which in many ways bent both the city's geography and its story. As well, the narrative fed the prevailing lore that "nobody walks in L.A." Indeed, the idea of a lone man walking the corpus of the city was evidence alone that he was mad, or so thought the scrambled band of police officers tailing him.
Invented street life is another piece of L.A.'s odd story We have a lot of destination walks scattered around the Southland -- Third Street Promenade, City Walk, Americana and most recently L.A. Live As one of our guests, David Ulin, pointed out about the Grove, in the Fairfax District: "It's so strange that a place that people go to walk has a wall up against the real street, blocking its view of it."
All of it begging the question: "Why?"
I snapped these photos a few nights back at different ends of the city as I made my way from event to event and ultimately home. One is a "real" street and one is not. But even the "real" street doesn't look real. And I suppose that too is part of L.A.'s story.
photos: L.G.
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