Although CPT already services dog training clients from throughout the country in our Board Train Service Dog Program, our pet board train program, via FaceTime consultations, and via one-time fly-in consultations, over the past few years CPT has explored physical business expansion within various national and international locales. During January through October 2018 we investigated Philadelphia, PA; Eugene, OR; Portland, OR; Mount Hood, OR; Montreal, Canada; Toronto, Canada; Panama City, Panama; Coronado, Panama; and El Valle de Anton, Panama and in June opened our first satellite location in Eugene, Oregon. In November 2018 we continued our examination of prospective future satellite locations by taking a trip to Los Angeles, CA and the surrounding LA County area.
The City of Los Angeles, known to most simply as “LA,” is the seat of the County of Los Angeles. The City’s 80 districts and neighborhoods[1]contain an estimated 4.03 million inhabitants, making it the second most populous city in the USA, behind New York City (8.58 million) and ahead of Chicago (2.69 million), Houston (2.34 million), and Phoenix (1.68 million).[2]
The city resides in the Los Angeles Basin at the northern end of the San Fernando Valley. The Los Angeles Basin is surrounded in the north by the Santa Monica Mountains and the east by the San Gabriel Mountains. Less than an hour from downtown, even with traffic, both mountain ranges provide home to wildlife, including mountain lions, and extensive outdoor recreation opportunities.
The Santa Monica Mountains have a maximum height of 3,100 feet,[3]while Mount Baldy within the San Gabriel range has a maximum height slightly under 10,100 feet.[4] Mount Baldy’s frequently snow-capped peak is a common backdrop to photographs of the City.
The County of Los Angeles is the most populous county in the United States.[5] Approximately 10.2 million people reside in the County.[6] The County comprises 89 incorporated cities,[7]45 unincorporated communities, and 4,751 square miles of land and aquatic property,[8]making the County larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined.[9]
Some of the better-known cities include Beverly Hills, Burbank, Compton, Culver City, Glendale, Inglewood, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Pasadena, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, and Whittier. The County is a thriving economic engine. The GDP of Los Angeles County exceeds $700 billion,[10]which is larger than the economies of Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, or Sweden.[11]
Due to their name interchangeability many persons confuse Los Angeles the city with Los Angeles the county.
There are a number of reasons that CPT is considering expanding to Los Angeles.
First, the weather is incredible! The magnificent weather is a major reason that Angelenos withstand the traffic and high cost of housing. The average high temperature ranges from 67.7° in December to 84.4° in August.[12] The average lows range from 47.5° in December to 64.1° in August. Thus, the climate is very temperate, which is outstanding for outdoor enthusiasts.
Moreover, rain barely poses an inconvenience. From May through September LA has less than 1.5 rainy days per month. The most rain occurs in February, when it rains an average of 6.4 days of the month. In contrast, in Atlanta the month with the least rainy days is October, which has an average of 6.9 days of rain.[13] LA has an average of 35.7 rainy days per year, which deposit 14.93 inches of rain, whereas Atlanta has 113 rainy days per year that deposit 49.71 inches of precipitation. Furthermore, if someone likes it a little hotter, cooler, or breezier, there are a number of microclimates within the basin, in the hills, and along the coast that provide differences that should suit any preference.
Second, LA has numerous things to do, both indoors and outdoors. There are professional sports teams in every major sport and in lesser-known sports. For those preferring collegiate action, two major universities, UCLA and USC, plus plenty of smaller colleges offer frequent sporting events in a wide variety of athletic endeavors.
For plays and concerts the City and County feature many world-class theaters, concert halls, arenas, and amphitheaters, including the Los Angeles Music Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Dolby Theater, Staples Center, and the Hollywood Bowl. Moreover, UCLA and USC have outstanding film, theater, and music departments that schedule plays and musical programs.
There are plentiful world-class museums in art, natural history, ethnic culture, and multiple other subjects. Los Angeles County contains an astounding 841 museums and galleries.[14] Interestingly, the City of Los Angeles has more museums per capita than any city in the world.
For people who like to travel without getting in the car or an airplane, LA features multiple ethnic neighborhoods to explore culture and cuisine, such as Little Tokyo, Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Ethiopia, and Little Armenia. Outdoor enthusiasts will appreciate the mountains, rivers, lakes, and deserts either inside the city domain or fairly close to the city.
In addition, there are extensive beaches along the Pacific Ocean for sunbathing, swimming, surfing, or windsurfing. Furthermore, for those wishing a little cold weather, skiing and snowboarding are only 1.5 – 3 hours outside of Los Angeles.
Third, the city is beautiful. The omnipresent sunny days, mountain backdrop, and miles of coastline make for stunning scenery.
Fourth, the city has an inexpensive and efficient mass transportation system. The Metro Rail lines offer pricing of just $1.75 for a 2-hour trip of any length and a day pass costing just $7. The prices include complementary bus transfers. For those wishing to go from Santa Monica or North Hollywood to downtown the Metro rail and light rail lines provide a terrific solution. During our trip we took Metro rail whenever we could.
Fifth, the city offers marvelous educational opportunities. USC is adjacent to downtown and has 2 Metro stops. UCLA is in Westwood, a beautiful suburb that sits at the foot of the Santa Monica Mountains. The esteemed California Institute of Technology (CalTech) is nearby. In addition, the City hosts Cal State, Los Angeles; Cal State, Northridge; 9 community colleges; and numerous small private universities.
Sixth, the city offers a diverse and prosperous economy. LA remains the mecca of the entertainment industry. Yet, international import/export, aerospace, manufacturing, high technology, petroleum, fashion, finance, healthcare, transportation, and tourism are also well represented. Los Angeles is the largest manufacturing center in the USA. LA plants employ over 5000,000 persons who manufacture apparel, electronic products, metal products, food products, and furniture.[15]
Moreover, when it comes time to ship the goods the convenience of the County’s ports is a major plus. Los Angeles County ports ship more tonnage and value of goods than any other area of the USA.
Seventh, the city has oodles of wealthy people who own pets that need training. Los Angeles County had over 16,500 tax filers earn over $1 million in 2015.[16] And persons in the County not only earn money they also save money. Los Angeles County has more millionaire households than any county in the USA. In data compiled in 2006, LA County had 268,000 millionaire households[17]and I am sure the number is far higher today.
Eighth, Los Angeles has really cool people who are fit, active, intelligent, and knowledgeable. Moreover, they are open-minded, diverse, educated, and fun. My favorite years were when I resided in the San Francisco Bay Area. LA is very similar in many respects and has even better weather.
As much as Los Angeles offers many incomparable features, there are also major detractions.
First, the traffic is horrendous! Some statisticians consider LA’s traffic not only the worst in the country, but the worst in the world.[18][19] Moreover, sections of I-405 and CA-101 constitute 5 of the 8 worst “traffic hot spots” in the USA.[20] By the way, in the INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard, Atlanta has the 4thworst traffic in the USA and the 8thworst traffic in the world.
From personal experience, the bandwidth of LA’s traffic on major highways and roads extends throughout all daylight hours and into the early evening. Plus, the roads have many lights with turn lanes that protract the length of a trip. For instance, during Thanksgiving week, when traffic should be less due to the holiday, from 6 am until 7:30 pm a 7 – 10 mile trip frequently took anywhere from 35 – 60 minutes. Thus, there is a reason that LA is #1 on the ignominious traffic lists and Atlanta is “only” #4.
Second, home prices in LA are outrageous! According to the National Association of Realtors, the median price of a single-family home in Los Angeles is the 7thhighest of any metro area in the country.[21] The median single-family home in Los Angeles will set one back by $486K.
Yet, there are far worse. The median home in the San Jose metro area is $1.07 million, in San Francisco $815K, in Anaheim $750K, and Honolulu $746K. In contrast, the Atlanta metro area is 90thon the list, with a comparably paltry median home price of $183K.[22] In LA home prices vary widely by neighborhood. For instance, the median home value in Beverly Hills is $3.49 million.[23] Santa Monica is a little lower ($1.75 million),[24]as is Westwood ($1.26 million)[25]and Century City ($1.14 million).[26]
However, Compton is a relatively measly $398K,[27]and Watts is $380K.[28] Moreover, if one is willing to drive to distant suburbs, the median home price in Lancaster is $281K[29]and Palmdale is $312K.[30]
Likewise, rents are significantly higher than in Atlanta. The median 1-bedroom apartment rental in Los Angeles is $1,367 per month and the median 2-bedroom apartment costs $1,756,[31]which is less expensive than San Francisco ($2,471/$3,105), New York City ($2,119/$2,524), San Jose ($2,102/$2,634), and San Diego ($1,566/$2,032), but much more than Atlanta ($1,029/$1,189).[32] Obviously, people will pay a lot of money for great weather and bountiful attractions.
Third, the homeless population is seemingly everywhere. Approximately 25% of the USA’s total homeless population of 553,000 persons resides in either New York City or Los Angeles.[33] 76.5 thousand homeless stay in New York City and another 55.2 thousand in LA. The city with the third highest homeless population, Seattle, has a relatively miniscule 11.6 thousand homeless persons. In comparison, Atlanta “houses” only 3,000 homeless persons.[34]The ubiquitous homeless encampments, signs, begging, conversations with invisible people, yelling at sentient people, fights with one another, and stench is difficult to avoid.
Fourth, the air quality is negatively impacted by smog that results from the numerous automobiles that sit in traffic, the basin surrounded by mountain topography that restricts air movement, and the lack of rain that dries mountain brush, which creates available tinder for forest fires. The American Lung Association rates Los Angeles as having the worst ozone problem of any major US metropolitan area, the 4thworst year-round particle pollution, and the 7thworst short-term particle pollution.[35] In contrast, Atlanta did not make the worst 25 in any of the preceding lists. To view a comparison of LA vs. Atlanta air quality, please click the footnote at the end of this sentence.[36]
Fifth, the mass transportation system needs expansion. Although I listed the LA Metro system was as one of the positives, the system is also one of the negatives. Subway and light rail lines are inexpensive and efficient. However, they only traverse a minority of the places that persons will need to visit during work or social excursions.[37]
The rail hub is downtown. Therefore, if someone from North Hollywood, Santa Monica, East Los Angeles, Azusa, Redondo Beach, or Long Beach wishes to go downtown, then the system is excellent. Nevertheless, Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles are very spread out. Consequently, the rail system does not serve many large geographical gaps.
Moreover, because the subterranean ground is bedrock and full of methane pockets, it is very expensive to expand the underground subway. Yet, it is also very expensive to retrofit above ground light rail into a metropolis already saturated with houses, businesses, and cars.
Furthermore, communities such as Beverly Hills have protested expansion of the Purple Line into their neighborhood. I guess they would rather sit in traffic. Buses serve almost everywhere that the rail system doesn’t. However, the buses grind to a halt in the same traffic as the millions of automobiles that travel daily on LA freeways and roads. Thus, if one lives near a Metro station and wishes to go downtown or another area served by Metro rail, then the mass transit system is a positive. Yet, if one lives in one of the many gaps, which is the case with the majority of LA County residents, then the system has little utility.
Because I understood the issue ahead of my trip, I made sure to reserve a hotel room proximal to a Metro rail station. Still, I had to take Uber for many of my excursions, as Metro rail was only a benefit when my destination was downtown, Hollywood, or somewhere along that path.
The main reason for the trip was to investigate LA as potential market for CPT expansion. Los Angeles has numerous pet dog trainers and pet dog training companies. Most of the companies are on the smaller side, employing less than 5 trainers. Group classes appear to be mostly 6 weeks in duration and range from $175 – $250. The going rate for in-home private lessons appears to range from $100 – $200 per hour, without accompanying travel fees. Board train prices range from $110 – $200 per day.
Thus, pricing is mildly higher to twice that of the rates common in the Atlanta market. Yet, real estate prices are also much more expensive, which means that leasing a facility in a higher-end community may be price prohibitive. However, building or renting in a lower-end section is not a wise option. The affluent demographic that CPT serves may be hesitant to commute to a facility in a higher-crime, lower cost section of Los Angeles, such as Watts or Compton.
Therefore, as an alternative to immediately opening a kennel or training center, initially focusing on in-home private lessons will be an excellent and inexpensive way to enter the LA market. Gaining familiarity amongst prospective clients and succeeding amidst the myriad of small competitors necessitates outstanding website search engine optimization that attracts attention in our geographic target markets. We will need to target clients geographically, as due to traffic and associated travel time we will be restricted in the number of appointments we can schedule per day, unless we can become sufficiently popular in a specified geography, whereby we limit travel distance.
Nevertheless, in the interim we can continue to service the Los Angeles market via board trains where clients ship their dog to CPT-Atlanta or CPT- Eugene, consultations where we temporarily fly to Los Angeles, and remote FaceTime consultations. Yet, a local presence in LA would a nice future step.
The remainder of this article will communicate a daily travel blog that focuses on the fun parts of the trip. We hope you enjoy the text and photographs as much as we enjoyed visiting Los Angeles.
Atlanta was cold and rainy for more than a week straight. However, Sunday proved to be a warm, sunny day in the high 60s. Nevertheless, I was eager to get away to LA, where the weather would be consistently warm and sunny.
The drive to the airport had typical Atlanta traffic, congested, but nothing like I was about to experience in Los Angeles. Because I planned the trip on short notice, the flight was near full and I could only obtain a middle seat, whereas I vastly prefer a less claustrophobic aisle seat. At least I booked a Comfort Plus seat that has extended width and leg room and extra padding.
During the flight I read a dense scientific article on Theory of Mind, watched the movie “The Breakfast Club,” and talked to the very attractive young woman who had the aisle seat I cherished. She designed fashion websites and she looked the part. She was certainly dressed much nicer than me, as I was just in warm-up pants and a t-shirt, my normal winter travel garb.
On travel days I dress for comfort, especially on long 4-hour plus flights. I never understood why any man other than the pilot would wear a suit jacket and tie on an airplane.
Once arriving it didn’t take long to exit the airplane and arrive at the baggage carousel. The wait for my luggage was a semi-reasonable 6 – 7 minutes. However, the wait for a taxi was an unreasonable 15 minutes. Then, it took about another 10 minutes just to exit the airport. LAX is the most traffic-congested airport I have ever seen, even worse than Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington, DC. The airport authority needs to widen the road and add some lanes.
Once finally exiting LAX the traffic to Santa Monica was not too bad. Fortunately, it was Sunday evening.
I booked a room at The Hampton Inn in Santa Monica. The hotel is 5 blocks from the Santa Monica Beach and 1 block from the Metro Expo Line. The room was comfortable, ergonomic, and included free breakfast, which is always a plus.
Santa Monica is an upscale beachfront city in the County of Los Angeles that is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the north by the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, on the northeast by the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, on the east by the West Los Angeles neighborhood, and on the south by the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles. The city of Santa Monica has a population of around 92,500 and is headquarters to many noteworthy businesses, including Hulu, Miramax, Lionsgate Films, RAND Corporation, FatBurger, Activision Blizzard, Activision, Treyarch, Naughty Dog, and Beachbody.[38]
Santa Monica is both a popular residential community and a popular tourist destination. The well-maintained, expansive beach, the beachfront recreational opportunities, and the amusements of Santa Monica Pier remain very attractive to natives and tourists alike. Moreover, the microclimate creates cooler days, warmer nights, and less smog than in the majority of the LA area.
Interestingly, many persons and the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce credit famous Hawaiian swimmer and surfer, Duke Kahanamoku, for inventing 2-person team beach volleyball in Santa Monica during the 1920s. Today, the sport has a home in Santa Monica, as there are numerous beach volleyball courts on the sand proximal to the boardwalk.
I am not generally an early riser. However, the 3-hour PST-EST time difference prompted an early rise. I awoke at 6 am to eat a nice buffet breakfast of scrambled eggs, hash browns, oatmeal, French toast, fruit, and orange juice, then did some CPT work while allowing time for the food to digest. Next, I ran 4 miles south along the boardwalk from Santa Monica Beach through Venice Beach. For me, I had a good time- 8:38 per mile. Sharing the boardwalk was a pleasant community of runners cyclists, walkers, inline skaters, and skateboarders, including a woman who skateboarded with a talented dog that had incredible balance.
I then returned to the room to shower to ready myself for what would be the Uber ride to nowhere. I planned to visit the Getty Center.
However, I never checked whether the museum was open on Monday, figuring that any major museum would be open 7 days per week. This experience will teach me not to assume. After a 7-mile ride to The Getty, which took one-hour due to the ultra-congested traffic on I-405, the guard at the museum gate informed the Uber driver and me that the museum is closed on Mondays. Consequently, we took a 50-minute Uber ride back to the hotel. Trying to benefit at least somewhat from the frustrating “ride to nowhere” I ventured to learn about Armenian immigration to California.
The driver, Arsen, is from Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, a western Asia country with a population of around 3 million people.[39] Armenia has a harsh modern history that includes a more than 400 year occupation by the Ottoman Empire starting in the 16thcentury and lasting through World War I, a genocide administered by the Turks that killed an estimated 6000,000 Armenians during World War I, an invasion by the Turkish army in 1920, annexation by the USSR in 1922, independence from Russia in 1991, the Nagorno-Karabakh War with Azerbaijan (1988 – 1994),[40]a transportation and economic blockade between Armenia and both Turkey and Azerbaijan that started during the Nagorno-Karabakh War and continues today to close the borders between Armenia and its neighboring countries, and conversion from an autocratic republic to a more democratic political system.
The brutal recent history has caused a diaspora of Armenians. Whereas 3 million Armenians still reside in the country, of which 1.08 million live in Yerevan, as many as 8 million persons of Armenian descent live elsewhere.[41]
Arsen stated that 1.5 million Armenians reside in the USA. Although that is a figure commonly quoted by US Armenians, the number is probably slightly less than 470,000.[42] The Los Angeles area contains the largest number of Armenian-Americans in the USA. 167,000 Armenian Americans reside in the Los Angeles area, of which a significant portion resides in the city of Glendale.[43] An estimated 27% of Glendale’s population of 201,000 may have Armenian ancestry. East Hollywood, which has a Little Armenia neighborhood, also has a significant Armenian population.
Arsen lives half the year in LA, where he drives for Uber and owns 3 taxis, but returns to Yerevan to live half the year. He prefers Los Angeles to Armenia; especially the consistently warm, clear weather. Still, he maintains an emotional attachment to his homeland, which spawns his frequent visits. He informed me that his children are very Americanized, especially his daughter, who is a graduate of UCLA undergrad and medical school.
After returning to the hotel I took a nap, did some work, and then headed one block to Fritto Mistofor some outstanding Italian food. I ordered a custom pasta dish with marinara sauce, peppers, onions, vegetables, and spicy sausage. Yummy! I highly recommend Fritto Misto to anyone visiting Santa Monica.
I then watched the end of the exciting Chiefs-Rams game. Monday Night Football was very pleasant on my room’s large, flat-screen TV and comparatively very early with the Pacific Coast time. Regardless, at the end of the game I dozed in bed for the remainder of the night. Travel and sitting in traffic had fatigued me.
I woke up early, felt fresh, wrote an article for the CPT website while I waited for the morning temperature to warm, and then ran 3 miles along the beach. The beach run has plenty to see: stores, outdoor gyms, runners, cyclists, skateboarders, dogs, skateboarding dogs, and pretty women in thong bikinis playing beach volleyball. The Santa Monica beach is definitely a nice place to run.
After showering, eating breakfast, and doing some more work I headed off to The Getty Center. This time it was open. More importantly, it was definitely worth the ride.
Upon arriving at The Getty Center I ate some excellent linguini and ratatouille at the café. Then, I headed into the museum. If the artwork in the museum was total crap, the museum would still be worth the trip simply to view the Richard Meier designed exterior architecture! The structure is nothing short of phenomenal!
The Getty Center campus resides in the Brentwood neighborhood, on 24 acres off, I-405, 900 feet above the road, atop a hill within the Santa Monica Mountains.[44] The mostly white concrete, steel, aluminum, and travertine buildings, of which there are 6 of them, have unique lines that juxtapose clean, modern architecture with modern and ancient outdoor sculpture, topiary, gardens, and fountains. The structure itself is a piece of art that rivals anything inside the edifice- and the art inside is worth the trip, too.
The Getty Center is funded by The Getty Trust.[45] Deceased oil magnate Jean Paul Getty (1892- 1976), who at one time was the richest man in the world, known for his frugality, work ethic, inflexible negotiating style, promiscuity, 5 marriages, numerous flings, alienation of family members, and refusing to pay his kidnapped grandson’s ransom, was certainly generous upon his death, both purposefully to the Los Angeles art community and inadvertently to family members, whom he did not wish to make wealthy.[46]
Getty was one of the world’s greatest art collectors.[47] In is estate plan he willed his collection plus a large trust to service the people of Los Angeles.[48] Consequently, the Trust could afford to build the marvelous structure and to provide free admission to all visitors.[49] The J. Paul Getty Trust was so well funded by Getty’s fortune and is so well managed that despite the $1.3 billion Getty Center construction costs the Trust maintains $6.9 billion in cash assets.[50]
The museum, which opened in 1997, hosts over 1.6 million visitors per year. No wonder. The inside is as beautiful as the outside. We hope you enjoy the diverse artwork of The Getty Center.
Upon completing my visit of The Getty Center I took an Uber back to Santa Monica. Again, my driver was Armenian and he had a daughter attending UCLA. I am noticing a trend.
On the ride home I also noticed a lot of smog or smoke from the Malibu forest fires. Either way, the haze over the air wasn’t clouds. Still, it is tough to stay indoors when the weather is this beautiful. Not rainy. Not too hot. Never too cold.
Once arriving back at the hotel I had some pizza for dinner, finished a website article on a CPT trained service dog, and then went to bed.
I woke up early to eat breakfast, which starts at 6 am. However, breakfast was not as good as the previous days. Instead of serving scrambled eggs the buffet offered omelettes with American cheese. America is a leader in business, industry, and scientific discovery. But, “American cheese” is an embarrassment. It is fake, processed, artery clogging goop that should never bear the name of this great country. Thus, my breakfast on Wednesday including everything described previously, less the eggs, as I refuse to eat that disgusting slime.
After breakfast I finished a CPT Service Dog Contract, went to the hotel gym to pump some iron, although at lighter weights than I am accustomed, since the dumbbells stopped at 50 pounds. Then I showered, contacted Uber, and headed off to The Broad.
The Broad is a very large contemporary art museum in downtown LA. Like the Getty, The Broad was built with funds from a wealthy philanthropist. Except in this case the man, billionaire Eli Broad, co-founder of the former Fortune 500 construction company KB Home and the former Fortune 500 asset management company SunAmerica, is still alive.
The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation funds educational opportunities for low-income kids, inner-city schools, scientific and medical research, and the arts.[51][52] The Foundation paid for the $140 million structure, which opened in September 2015.[53] Like The Getty, The Broad is free of charge to visitors.[54]
After my Uber driver (yes, he was Armenian) dropped me off at The Broad, I observed firsthand the law of supply and demand. Low price (or in this case no price) meant high demand for Broad tickets. Since I did not order tickets online I would have to wait in line for tickets. Unfortunately, the line was around the block. I am too impatient for long lines. Therefore, I made a quick change in plans.
First, I stopped off at a street vendor cart to order 2 hot dogs. To my surprise, these were more than hot dogs. They were huge and came with fresh grilled green peppers, hot peppers, and onions and tasty medium texture buns. They were by far the best hot dogs I have ever had in my life. Ummm! Scrumptious! I don’t care if there are healthier choices. I am glad I chose to live a little.
Next, after devouring the hot dogs in the little park that adjoined The Broad, I walked literally across the street to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). Since MOCA tickets cost $15 there was zero line. I could get right in. To me, time is money. Therefore, saving an hour or more in line was worth $15. As much as I wished to visit The Broad, I definitely made the correct decision.
MOCA consists of 3 museums, the main campus on Grand Avenue, across from The Broad, the Geffen Contemporary Museum in Little Tokyo, and the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood.[55] My $15 ticket allowed me to visit all 3, although I only had time to visit the main building and The Geffen. MOCA was established in 1979 and opened in 1983.
Interestingly Eli Broad was its first chairman and a major initial contributor financially and of displayed works.[56] Networks with the mega-wealthy have benefitted the museum’s growth. Over 90% of MOCA’s permanent collection is comprised of gifts from wealthy Los Angeles collectors.[57] The majority of the remaining 10% are gifts from contributing artists. In addition, there are a variety of temporary exhibits.
MOCA is a fairly small museum. Yet, the museum has a very pleasant ambience and houses a number of alluring permanent and temporary exhibitions. Below are some works from MOCA.
After visiting MOCA I walked toward Little Tokyo to visit The Geffen. During my walk I passed through many bellwether LA architectural structures, including the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Stanley Mosk Courthouse, LA Times Building, Los Angeles Police Headquarters, City Hall, and gates to Little Tokyo.
While walking along 1stStreet near Grand Park I also passed a large sidewalk homeless encampment that included more than 20 tents. The juxtaposition of opulence, glamorous people, and beautiful buildings with destitute people and dirty tents was disconcerting. I often have assertive answers on how to resolve political issues. I have no clear answer regarding the homeless problem. Nevertheless, looking along 1stStreet I concluded there has to be a better way.
The energy was salient once entering Little Tokyo- no homeless people, a lot of Asian people moving fast, and numerous busy Japanese restaurants. Little Tokyo is the largest “Japantown” in the United States.[58][59][60] Little Tokyo was first recognized in 1905 as a population and small business center for Japanese immigrants. The area prospered until 1942, when during World War II the location temporarily became known as “Bronzeville,” as Latino and African-American persons seeking employment in defense-related manufacturing plants inhabited the properties vacated by interned Japanese families.
During their time in “Bronzeville,” the Latino and black inhabitants experienced serious prejudice, which peaked in 1943 during the Zoot Suit Riots.[61] The riots started when American serviceman publicly attacked, stripped, and urinated on Latino persons wearing zoot suits,[62]which were a fashion style common to the Latino population and to a lesser extent the African-American male population.[63]
The conflict erupted to where thousands of soldiers, sailors, and white civilians physically battled Latinos and blacks. Meanwhile, the police ignored the violence or in some cases assisted the serviceman. The situation culminated with the arrest of over 500 Latinos and a statute from the Los Angeles City Council outlawing zoot suits.
Needless to say, the Latinos and African-Americans did not feel welcome. Therefore, when the defense jobs diminished after the war the Latinos and blacks dispersed from Little Tokyo. Upon the conclusion of World War 2, Japanese-Americans returning to Los Angeles tended to reside in neighboring areas, especially Boyle Heights, rather than go back to Little Tokyo.
However, concerted redevelopment efforts during the 1970s helped to repopulate Little Tokyo with Japanese residents and businesses. Today, Little Tokyo consists of a 5-block geography, with many of the buildings on 1stStreet comprised of original structures from before World War 2. The area includes the Little Tokyo Watchtower; the Friendship Knot sculpture; numerous noodle, ramen, yakiniku, and sushi restaurants; many small shops; 2 Japanese gardens; galleries; theaters; and several Buddhist temples.
While in Little Tokyo I made an impromptu visit to the Japanese-American National Museum. And I am glad I did!
The Japanese American National Museum opened in 1992 as the first museum of Japanese ancestry in the United States. The Museum is dedicated to sharing the history and experience of Japanese Americans.[64] Through its elaborate collection of chronologically arranged videos, photographs, documents, publications, and special exhibitions the Museum brilliantly communicates the history of Japanese people in America.
What makes the presentation special is the objectivity of the portrayal from the perspective of first generation and multi-generational Japanese immigrants. The exhibitions display the economic promise provided by the trip across the Pacific Ocean from Japan to America, but also the reprehensible cultural and legislated bigotry experienced by issei (first-generation Japanese-American immigrants), nissei (second generation immigrants whose parents were from Japan, but they were born in the USA), and sansei (third-generation immigrants, where grandparents were born in Japan, but they were born in the USA). To a lesser extent the exhibitions also educate visitors regarding cultural and legislated prejudice experienced by Chinese Americans.
In our public school system students learn information approved by state or local boards of education. Too often the information is patriotically sanitized so that impressionable children view the USA in an optimal light. Regardless of the educational cleansing chosen by boards of education, believing it is inappropriate to criticize American policy; there are aspects of US history for which the country should not be proud. The Japanese American National Museum powerfully educates visitors about repulsive parts of American history that are generally “swept under the rug.”
Examples include:
• Immigration controls, such as the National Origins Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act), which unreasonably restricted the number of Chinese and Japanese immigrants.[65][66] A semblance of the National Origins Act lasted until 1965, when the Hart-Cellar Act replaced the national origin quota system with a method that evaluated skills and family contacts with US citizens.[67]
• Prejudice that restricted class movement and kept Asian workers in low-paying, often dangerous jobs.
• The California Alien Land Law of 1913 (Webb-Haney Act), aimed at issei, which prohibited non-citizens from owning land in the state.[68] Grossly, other states soon afterward legislatively copied the prejudicial statutes of the Alien Land Law. The California law was not repealed until 1952,[69]
• Federal legislation, such as the Naturalization Act of 1790 and its Amendment in 1870, which prohibited Japanese Issei from achieving citizenship, whereas European immigrants were allowed to apply for citizenship.[70] Until as recently as 1952 and the passage of the McCarran-Walter Act Japanese immigrants not born in the USA could not become naturalized American citizens.[71][72][73]
• And the most disgusting of the examples, Executive Order 9066, which ordered the mass internment of more than 110,000 Japanese-American residents and citizens during World II, whereas residents and citizens of Italian and German ancestry did not suffer the same fate.[74][75] Moreover, the effects of Executive Order 9066 included not only incarceration without due process, but the loss of jobs, businesses, real property, savings, and possessions.[76]
In 1988, President Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which distributed $20,00 per person to over 80,000 interned Japanese-American citizens or their descendants, a total of over $1.6 billion.[77][78]Certainly, the Civil Liberties Act was a nice gesture. However, $20,000 does not come close to covering the true financial loss and emotional distress experienced by the incarcerated adults and their families, whose only “crime” was being members of the Japanese race.
I am a very stoic person. Very few things impact me emotionally. However, I was moved near tears while viewing the exhibitions in the Museum. Schools, newspapers, and books frequently discuss the inhuman acts of slavery. Yet, rarely do we hear or read anything about the atrocious treatment of America’s Japanese citizens, even though the acts of bigotry against the Japanese were much more recent than the 1865 passage of the 13thAmendment that outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude.
As Spanish-American philosopher and essayist George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The inappropriate treatment of the Japanese should not be repeated. I HIGHLYrecommend that every LA tourist and resident visit the Japanese American National Museum.
My destination was only a block away. The Geffen Contemporary Museum, which opened in 1983, after a Shinto purification ceremony common to the groundbreaking of many new buildings in Little Tokyo,[79]is a 40,000 square foot former police car warehouse converted into an exhibition space with the assistance of world-class architect Frank Gehry.[80]
In 2010, Vanity Fair labeled Gehry as the “most important architect of our age.”[81] And no wonder. For readers into architecture please check out this footnoted link from an article entitled, “31 Spectacular Buildings Designed by Frank Gehry.”[82] You will be astounded by the allure and creativity of Gehry’s unique designs.
In comparison to the MOCA facility on Grand Avenue, The Geffen focuses on temporary exhibits and lesser known artists.[83] Compared to the Getty Center, Getty Villa, LACMA, and even MOCA- Grand Avenue, The Geffen is underwhelming. Still, it was worth the walk. In addition, I appreciated the library at The Geffen, since it provided me the opportunity to employ an electrical outlet to charge my phone while I read some art books.
Once my phone was charged my next mission was to satisfy hunger pangs. Fortunately, I had plentiful choice of restaurants as I walked back to 1stStreet. After viewing menus, prices, and crowds (enough customers to look like the food is good, but not so many that there would be a wait) I settled on Mr. Ramen. I ordered the yakitori bento box, which cost a reasonable $16.43 plus tip. The bento box was delicious and quite filling.
After having a charged phone and a full belly I was ready to head back to Santa Monica. However, this time, instead of using Uber I elected to introduce myself to the Metro. Excellent choice!
Instead of the approximately $20 – $40 with tip of an Uber ride, depending upon the time of day, the Metro cost only $1.75 all day. I had to walk about 3 blocks northwest on 1stStreet until I reached Hill Street and the Civic Center/Grand Park Station. I descended a long stairway, found a payment machine, used my MasterCard (the Metro doesn’t accept Amex), purchased a mandatory “Tap Card” for $2, and then loaded an additional $1.75 onto the card for my one-way fare.
The Tap Card is a hard plastic, reusable magnetic card that is tapped against a lighted sphere on the outside of entrance, exit, and transfer turnstiles. It is a nicer technology than a less durable paper card that is slid through a slot in the turnstile, as is the case in Atlanta’s MARTA system or Washington DC’s Metro.
The Civic Center/Grand Park Station accommodates Red Line trains that progress from Union Station (LA’s main train station) to North Hollywood and Purple Line trains that progress from Union Station to the corner of Wilshire and Western Boulevard.[84][85] The Purple Line will eventually expand down Wilshire, one of Los Angeles’s longest streets, through Beverly Hills. The ground level of the Civic Center/Grand Park Station also serves Silver Line buses that travel from Union Station through downtown, and then south to San Pedro in Orange County.
I took the Red Line 2 stops to the 7thStreet Metro Center Station, which is the second major Metro hub. The 7thStreet Metro Center, in the heart of downtown, serves Red Line, Purple Line, Expo Line, and Blue Line trains and Silver Line buses.[86] At 7thStreet I exited the Red Line train, tapped my card on a transfer turnstile, and then entered an Expo Line train destined westward toward Santa Monica.
The Expo Line train is a light rail train that predominantly travels above ground. It makes a lot of stops, which makes the train a bit slow. My stop, Downtown Santa Monica, at 4thStreet and Colorado Avenue, was the 18thand last stop on the Expo Line. At least it was only one block from my hotel. The total journey took about 1 hour. Although I wish the Expo Line were faster, the light rail train was quicker than waiting in traffic and was much less expensive than Uber. I highly recommend the Metro for anyone staying in Santa Monica who wishes to travel to/from downtown.
Thankfully, breakfast on Thursday was pure scrambled eggs, not those disgusting American cheese omelettes. “Thankfully” in this case is also a double entendre, as Thursday, November 22 was Thanksgiving Day.
Immediately after breakfast I stayed in the hotel room to do some work. At this time, perhaps because more people were hanging around due to a holiday schedule, I noticed the lack of soundproofing in the hotel.
I could hear hallway conversations and conversations in each adjoining room. Fortunately, my “neighbors” weren’t having intimate times or they were just quiet during passionate moments. Otherwise, I would have become very envious. Nevertheless, despite liking the hotel a great deal, I believe the quality of the experience for all guests would be improved with better soundproofing. After all, if I “got lucky” I wouldn’t want to make anyone in the adjoining rooms jealous.
After 2 hours elapsed, I ran 4 miles along the beach. Probably due to the soreness from a majority of the run occurring on concrete, my running times were getting progressively slower. Having to circumnavigate the holiday crowds likely also contributed to my slower time. Yet, the confluence of people brought some positive aspects. There were a greater number of athletic women in thong bikinis starting their late morning with a beach volleyball game.
After completing my run and showering I got dressed to share Thanksgiving with my cousin Kenin and his wife Monique. I will put in a little plug here for Kenin . Not that he needs it.
Kenin is the most successful person in the family. He is a prolific consultant, investment banker, financier, producer, executive, business turnaround expert, entrepreneur, author, and attorney[87]who mixes daily with well-known national and international leaders in business, industry, and politics. I am happy to meet a few millionaires, whereas Kenin regularly congregates socially and professionally with billionaires.
I was pleased Kenin invited me to join he and Monique for a Thanksgiving feast. Kenin and Monique have spent many years in southern California, but took a different journey to get there.
My cousin Kenin is a transplanted New Yorker from Brooklyn who has spent the last 30 years residing in Beverly Hills. Monique is a naturalized US citizen who was born in Vietnam and since the age of 7 has resided in San Diego and then Los Angeles. Monique communicated her fascinating peregrination to the USA, which included her father working as an intelligence officer for the South Vietnamese Army, after the war working as a laborer while undergoing forced “re-education,” in 1977 accessing contacts that helped he and the family to secretly emigrate to Hong Kong, and then after a few months leaving Hong Kong to arrive in California.
There have been many “pilgrims” in the USA. Persons from many nationalities have aspired to become US citizens to avoid persecution, squalor, or autocratic political systems. Regardless of their original nationality, I am always impressed by the passion behind their stories, especially if they achieved prosperity in the USA.
Thanksgiving was held at the home of Monique’s sister, Mimi, and Monique’s brother-in-law, Naveed. Mimi and Naveed live in a beautiful home in the San Joaquin Hills overlooking Newport Beach. The home is in Orange County, south of Los Angeles County, approximately a 50-minute drive with low holiday traffic from Santa Monica. It was felicitous that their home is large, since Thanksgiving included Monique’s entire family of 10 brothers and sisters, their nuclear families, her surviving parent, one neighbor, and me.
I grew up with 1 brother and when married stopped at 1 child. I always thought adding to the household would create crowded conditions and financial constraints. However, maybe I was in error.
I truly enjoyed Monique’s family, their camaraderie, the conspicuous joy of the get together, how much fun they had with one another, and how comfortable they made me feel as a guest. Moreover, financial constraints did not hinder family success. Monique’s siblings are predominantly doctors, researchers, and business owners and were educated at the finest schools in California’s university system.
I especially enjoyed speaking with Duke, Monique’s brother who owns a sports apparel manufacturing business with locations in Vietnam and the USA; her sister Min, a PhD and MD who like me is a UC Berkeley graduate; and her nephew Jaden, who is a nationally ranked high school wrestler.
The Thanksgiving feast consisted of 2 meals the family members cooperatively prepared. First, in buffet style, Mimi and the family served a Vietnamese late lunch that featured pho, fish cakes, noodles, prawns, sprouts, grilled meat, lime-cilantro salad, and other native delicacies. Then, at 7:30 pm they served a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner, whereby the totality of the day symbolized the family’s multi-cultural history.
The family was surprised that I readily consumed all the Vietnamese food, with chopsticks might I add. They said that generally only Vietnamese persons enjoy the more “hard core” food offered in the buffet.
Given the phenomenal LA weather, the company, and the food, I experienced the best Thanksgiving I have had in many years. I hated to leave. However, Kenin had to drive me back to the hotel so he could return home to make business calls to Dubai and India. After all, it wasn’t a holiday in his business partners’ countries.
The hotel breakfast again featured American cheese omelettes instead of basic scrambled eggs. Ughh! Still, the rest of the breakfast buffet was satisfying- potatoes, oatmeal, yogurt, fruit, and orange juice.
After breakfast I completed a workout at the hotel gym. The hotel gym is way less equipped than LA Fitness. Yet, one of the machines offered a versatile setup and I compensated for the low weight dumbbells by increasing repetitions.
Then, after showering, responding to emails, and finishing a CPT Service Dog Contract, I prepared for the day’s outing, which was a visit to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
LACMA is situated within a section of the city called “The Miracle Mile.” The Miracle Mile is about 7 long blocks north-south and 17 short blocks east-west, where the major east-west roads are 6thStreet, Wilshire Boulevard, and W. Olympic Boulevard and the major north-south roads are LaBrea Avenue, Hauser Boulevard, and Fairfax Avenue.[88] Inside Miracle Mile are Museum Row and 2 Historic Preservation Overlay Zones.[89]
Miracle Mile is an epitome of the development of Los Angeles County. Developer A. W. Ross envisioned converting the area’s rural agricultural fields, dairy farms, and increasingly abandoned oil derricks into a second commercial metropolis that would rival downtown Los Angeles.[90]
In the late 1930s, with the May Company and Desmond’s department stores as the anchors and a love for the automobile as the figurative engine, Ross began developing Wilshire Boulevard.[91] To facilitate traffic movement, Ross instituted the first left-turn lanes and timed traffic lights in the USA. In addition, to provide more lanes of traffic he insisted that all retail stores construct ample parking lots in lieu of metered on-street parking. Furthermore, to make locating stores easier for consumers he required that retail tenants display clear signage.
Architectural critics labeled Ross’s creation a “linear downtown.” Just as William Levitt’s Levittown became the harbinger of suburban subdivision communities, Wilshire Boulevard became the trendsetter for a new type of urban expansion that was dense in structure, focused on the automobile as the primary mode of transport, and mostly devoid of skyscrapers. The name “Miracle Mile” arose due to the commercial success of Ross’s vision.
Nevertheless in the 60s and 70s, the area suffered economic setbacks due to the continued expansion of the LA suburbs and the popularity of the suburban shopping mall. In response, Miracle Mile evolved from a retail destination into a museum and residential location. Where department stores once stood there is now Museum Row, which consists of LACMA, the LaBrea Tar Pits Museum, the Petersen Automotive Museum, the Architecture and Design Museum (A + D Museum), and the Craft and Folk Art Museum. In addition, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is completing construction within a renovation of the May Company department store that formerly was a focal point of Miracle Mile.
Unfortunately, I could not take the Metro to LACMA. Heavy rail subway transportation was late to arrive in Los Angeles. The first above-ground, light rail system, the Blue Line, did not open until 1990.[92][93] The light rail Expo Line across from my hotel opened recently in 2012. The first heavy rail, underground subway system, the Red Line, opened in 1993, only 25 years ago. In contrast, in New York City the first elevated rail line, which is now the IRT Ninth Avenue Line, opened in 1869 and the first underground line opened in 1905, 113 years ago![94][95]
The car culture was somewhat to blame for the late adoption of rail mass transit in Los Angeles. However, there were other complications, including difficulties tunneling through bedrock and a concern about explosions from trapped underground methane, which was an especially large concern in the LaBrea-Wilshire area formerly occupied by oil wells.
A 1985 explosion that destroyed a Ross Dress for Less and injured 23 people elevated concern.[96] The event prompted a legislated ban on tunneling in the area. However, arising from improvements in construction technology, increased traffic congestion, and an interest in reducing the environmental impact of traffic, the ban was removed in 2005.[97] In 2008, funding began for an extension of the Purple Line from its present terminus westward through 9 miles of Wilshire Boulevard, including Museum Row, Beverly Hills, and Westwood/UCLA.[98][99] The construction should be completed in 2023.
Nevertheless, 2018 is not 2023 and unlike HG Wells I do not own a time travel machine. Therefore, Friday was another Uber day. Interestingly, this morning my driver was not Armenian. He was Cuban, which was cool, because he obliged in helping me to practice my Spanish skills.
Once arriving at Miracle Mile I walked a few blocks on Fairfax Avenue to eat lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant,Pho Saigon Pearl. I was still in a Vietnamese culinary mood after Thanksgiving and the pho with brisket, tripe, and tendon was highly satisfying.
After eating lunch I walked back to Wilshire Boulevard to explore LACMA.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which opened in 1965, is the largest art museum in the western United States, with a collection of over 135,000 works.[100] LACMA is organized in a campus format comprised of 7 buildings: 1) the Ahmanson Building, which is the main building that houses the museum’s permanent collection, 2) the Hammer Building, which displays special exhibitions, 3) the Bing Theater, which presents public programs, 4) the Art of the Americas Building, which displays modern and contemporary art, 5) the Pavilion for Japanese Art, which exhibits art from Japan and other Asian cultures, 6) the Broad Contemporary Art Museum, which is a 3-story, 60,000 foot structure for the display of post-war contemporary art, and 7) the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion, which displays a rotating schedule of major exhibitions.
The first 3 buildings on the list opened in 1965. Then the campus expanded to add the 4thbuilding in 1986, the 5thbuilding in 1988, the 6thbuilding in 2008, and the 7thbuilding in 2010. LACMA has a mission to continue to expand and evolve to better present an “encyclopedic collection of art, special exhibitions, and music, film, and educational programs.” Over 1.5 million persons visit LACMA annually.
I am glad I made time to be one of the 1.5 million. I enjoyed each of the 7 buildings on campus. Yet, incontrovertibly, my favorite was the Ahmanson Building, which displayed numerous works from great masters, including Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Picasso, Matisse, Cezanne, Gauguin, Monet, Manet, Pissarro, Magritte, Degas, Cuyp, and Rodin, and noteworthy modern artists, including Warhol, Pollock, and Johns. There were multiple works from each of the listed masters, especially Picasso. The Picasso works displayed at LACMA were of significantly higher quality than any of the works I saw last summer at the Picasso Museum in Barcelona.
Another standout was the 3-D art exhibition in the Art of the Americas Building. Upon entering the exhibit hall, each visitor received 3-D and polarized glasses that the visitor was allowed to keep afterward. Pretty cool! The exhibition began with an explanation of 3-D effects and a chronology of 3-D technology that started with old-fashioned stereoscopes. Then, we reached the more modern section and were instructed to put on the glasses. I felt like Roddy Piper in the movie They Live. Once wearing the glasses the specialized art and movies in the building literally stood out. I have never before seen comparable 3-dimensional effects. Amazing!
After touring LACMA’s 7 buildings, many of which included multiple levels, I was again hungry. I love Ethiopian food. Since the Little Ethiopia section of LA was proximal to the museum I looked on my phone for the best reviewed restaurant and then took a walk.
Little Ethiopia is adjacent to the southwest corner of Miracle Mile. The Little Ethiopia neighborhood is south of San Vicente Boulevard and Olympic Boulevard and runs along the north-south route of Fairfax Boulevard. The section was once home to many Jewish people and businesses, but since 1990 evolved to a community with a high concentration of persons of Ethiopian and Eritrean descent. The City of Los Angeles officially named the section Little Ethiopia in 2004.[101]
Little Ethiopia is part of an overall large Ethiopian community in Los Angeles County. An estimated 60,000 Ethiopians reside in the County, which is the largest concentration of Ethiopians in the USA.[102]
I ate at Messob Restaurant, which ended up being a great choice, as I had one of the best Ethiopian meals I ever experienced. When I eat Ethiopian I usually order lamb tibs. However, this night I decided to go vegetarian. I ordered the Vegetarian Combo B from the menu. The vegetables were high-quality, tender, and cooked with just the right amount of spices. Plus, the injera bread was soft, spongy, and sopped up the various sauces without falling apart or becoming messy. This was a wonderful meal!
I then walked back to LACMA to hear a free jazz concert in the plaza. The jazz band was good, not great, but still pleasant. And I can’t argue about the ticket price. In addition, the LACMA outdoor plaza was a very relaxing venue to listen to jazz music. The concert was packed without packing the people like sardines, which provided energy without providing discomfort. All in all I had a very pleasant musical evening.
At the conclusion of the concert I contacted Uber for a ride back to Santa Monica. My driver was Paula, my first female Uber driver and my first Uber driver from Mexico. Paula and I hit it off and we started talking Spanish, her fluently and me muy despacio. When dropping me off she gave me a card so that I could contact her if I wanted to talk some more Spanish. I think she wanted more than talk. However, with the MeToo Movement, one can never tell anymore. The rules are different than a generation ago.
Regardless, by the time I arrived at the hotel I was too tired to talk or do much of anything else. Therefore, instead of calling Paula, I just went to bed- alone.
I started the day with breakfast, some CPT work, and then a 3-mile run along the beach. After my run I showered and decided to spend the day in Santa Monica.
If I elect to reside part-time in the LA-area Santa Monica will be a likely destination. The warm Pacific breeze reduces smog and daily temperature changes. Santa Monica mornings tend to be clear and warmer than much of the surrounding Los Angeles area and daytimes are cooler. I hate waking up to cold and I also dislike excessively hot midday temperatures. From my research, Santa Monica has almost year round spring weather, with barely any rain. Plus, the Metro is nearby to avoid traffic if I venture downtown to Staples Center or other event locations, the mountains are only 7 miles away, and the beach is right there.
Since I am contemplating a future relocation I need to learn more about the town. And there is no better way than walking.
Santa Monica consists of multiple neighborhoods,[103]including Santa Monica Pier and Ocean Avenue- a tourist section with plentiful hotels and expansive beaches; Downtown Santa Monica- known for its high-end shopping that attracts people from throughout the County; Main Street- an ethnic, surf, artsy residential, and small commercial section of the city; Mid-City- known for its high-end galleries, theaters, and restaurants; Montana Avenue- a residential section that includes boutique shops that cater to locals; Ocean Park Boulevard- an artsy area with galleries, boutique shops, the Santa Monica Airport, and the Museum of Flying; Pico Boulevard- a young and ethnically diverse area of the city; and Wilshire Boulevard- a lower-end shopping area than Downtown.
The cost of real estate will be a major factor in any decision. Looking at Trulia, which arranges homes by neighborhood, each area offered a wide range in housing prices, although with one exception the starting points were surprisingly high.
Downtown housing ranges from $186K to $11 million. $186K would buy me a 2 BR, 3BA, 1,352 sq. foot condo, which is a steal given that most of the other comparable listings offered similar sized properties for $1.1 million and a 1 BR, 1BA 693 square foot condo was listing for $690K. The $11 million home was 3 BR, 6BA and 8,228 square feet.[104] Pico also had one low cost option, a 2 BR, 2BA, 1,326 square foot condo for $172K. In comparison, another 2/2, 1,376 square foot property listed for $1.5 million, which tells me that the low priced properties are likely damaged, need significant work, and/or lie in lower income, higher crime areas.
If I want proximal ocean access, a 3 BR, 5BA 4,950 square foot penthouse by Ocean Avenue will set me back $16 million. The North of Montana neighborhood has some beautiful homes, but none come cheap. A 3BR/4.5BA, 4,043 square foot home with Spanish architecture lists for $4.5 million. A beautiful contemporary 5 BR/10BA, 10,114 square foot home with a yard, a rarity in most of Los Angeles, lists for $11 million.[105] Considering the above, if I am going to reside in Santa Monica, to warrant a relocation CPT will need to be very successful dog training in Los Angeles, even more successful than we have been dog training in Atlanta.
After checking out some residential neighborhoods I wandered upon the Third Street Promenade. The Third Street Promenade, within the Downtown neighborhood of Santa Monica, is one of Los Angeles County’s most popular upscale shopping destinations.[106] The Promenade is a 3-block pedestrian mall on 3rdStreet, between Broadway and Wilshire Boulevard, which opened in 1965.[107]
The promenade features high-end chain stores, boutiques, restaurants, 3 movie theaters, a twice per week farmers market, street performers, and a lot of beautiful people.[108] I found the street mall aesthetically pleasing and hopping. There were plentiful trees, artwork, chairs for sitting and people watching, musical instruments for people to randomly play, little parks in the center of the block for kids to play, creative toys and playground equipment within the parks, and, not to be repetitive, a lot of beautiful people.
I started walking northward from Broadway, grabbed a filling Middle-Eastern pita sandwich at Hummus Bar Express, and then continued northward toward Wilshire. Along the way I saw the most interesting Tesla showroom.
Generally, car dealerships are large, stand-alone buildings with an enormous showroom, a service center, and huge asphalt lots populated with hundreds of new and used vehicles. In contrast, the Third Street Promenade featured a glitzy, techno-designed Tesla showroom that fit comfortably within one side of the street mall. No service center. No parking lot with hundreds of vehicles. Just a brightly lit 3,000 square foot showroom with a few vehicles in the center, several salespeople walking the floor, and information on the walls.
Interesting fact: in 2016 Tesla’s showroom space was sold to a partnership of KLM Equities, Inc. and Harlington Realty for $15.6 million, which equates to $5,020 per square foot.[109] Wow! That is expensive real estate!
In 2006 the property sold to Tigris Group VII for $2.8 million- or $1,042 per square foot. Thus, Tigris made a tidy profit on their 10 years of ownership. Tesla started leasing the space in 2012.
Still, the Tesla profit was nothing compared to the real estate figures for the Apple Store on the Third Street Promenade. The 17,554 square foot Apple Store sold for $60 million in 2012 and $100 million ($5,700 per sq. foot) in 2014, which equates to a $40 million profit after just 2 years! I am in the wrong business. Pet dog and service dog training will never be as lucrative as commercial real estate sales and development.
Even more amazing for those into real estate, the Third Street Promenade rates are miniscule compared to Beverly Hills. In 2016, the 6,200 square foot, appointment-only, Bijan menswear and fragrance store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills sold for $122 million, which equates to $19,677 per square foot![110] To warrant such a price, Bijan must sell a lot of overpriced clothing and cologne.
Bijan Pakzad, although dead since 2011, certainly did well since emigrating from Tehran to the USA in 1973 and opening his boutique in 1976.[111][112]For those who like opulence, click the video in this footnote, which will show the glamor of Bijan’s showroom, cars, home, and garden, plus a brief interview with Bijan Pakzad.[113] The home and garden are particularly glamorous.
On a side note, I will admit Bijan’s designer men’s suits are conspicuously more pleasant to the eye than the typical male suit. No wonder so many rich and famous people made appointments.
The biography of Bijan provides a nice segue for what happened as I photographed the Third Street Promenade Tesla storefront. While snapping a photograph, a voice from behind me says, “Nice cars aren’t they?”
I turned around to see a well-dressed, handsome guy, who appeared in his late 20s. Unlike most males visiting the Promenade, who were dressed casually, this gentleman wore immaculate leather loafers, argyle crew socks, dress slacks, a button-down collared shirt, and a well-tailored sport jacket. He looked straight out of GQ.
We started talking about cars. The conversation then turned to where I was from and what I do for a living, whereby the conversation converted to dogs he owned or I owned. Then, the natural turn was to ask what he did for a living.
Seth Schafer of Christopher Schafer Clothier explained that he is a tailor of high-end custom men’s clothing, who owns an appointment-only shop on Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica. The business is a family business, with a location his father operates in Baltimore and the location Seth operates in Santa Monica. His father was trained in London and Seth was trained in London and Baltimore.
Seth explained that he people watches in one of the Promenade park chairs as people walk by the Tesla store, figuring that people interested in purchasing a Tesla likely have money, care about appearance, and are prospects for high-end custom clothing. He then starts conversing with the most appropriate people. I was flattered that Seth found I satisfied his demographic and psychographic profile. Moreover, I was impressed with the simple brilliance of his sales and marketing strategy.
I asked more about his business. Seth stated that his primary clientele are businessmen and males in upcoming weddings. He has clients come to the shop or he travels to the client (btw he will travel to Atlanta), takes measurements, displays material options, and then customs designs shirts, pants, jackets, and suits. He also sells socks, including argyle socks, and ties. A custom sport jacket starts at around $1500. Suits can go as high as $10,000 – $15,000.
Seth was certainly a testament to the quality of his work. For readers desiring sharp, comfortable, custom fitted clothing, from what I observed I can recommend Seth. He certainly provides a large step up from Men’s Wearhouse. And I like his marketing and sales savvy.
After conversing with Seth for about 45 minutes I continued my walk about Santa Monica. While walking I got hungry again. Therefore, I stopped into Umami Burgerfor a delicious umami burger with sweet potato fries. Umami Burger is a gourmet burger chain with locations in CA, FL, IL, NV, NY, and Japan. I hope a location soon opens in Atlanta. Their gourmet burgers are several steps up from fast food burgers. The burgers are thick, juicy, tasty, and topped with ingredients that further enhance the flavor of the meat, hence the name “Umami.” Umami’s burgers are definitely worth the price.
Once it got dark I returned to the hotel to watch college football. The games start 3 hours earlier on the West Coast, which takes a bit of acclimation. Actually, prioritizing college football took a bit of an adjustment, since when I lived in the Northeast the focus was on the Giants and Jets, not college games. However, after spending almost 30 years in Atlanta I now prefer college football over pro football. Consequently, I looked forward to watching Oklahoma vs. West Virginia in a key Big 12 matchup, Notre Dame at USC in a big intersectional rivalry, Utah State at Boise State on the blue field, and LSU at Texas A & M in an SEC night game.
Upon the completion of the games I went for some late night slices at Joe’s Pizza, a no-frills, New York style pizzeria on Broadway, near Ocean Avenue. The slices were ready quickly, delicious, and very reasonably priced, especially for the Los Angeles area. In addition, Joe’s has late night (until 3 am) hours on weekends to handle post-dinner hunger pangs. Mangia!
Like many of the other days, I started the morning with breakfast, some CPT work, and then a 4-mile run through Santa Monica Beach and Venice Beach. The temperature during my morning runs is exactly to my liking- low to mid 60s. More serious runners prefer it cooler. However, I like to start in shorts and a tank top without needing much warm-up. Plus, the beach scenery is very pleasant.
After showering, I headed across the street to the Metro. I added $7 to my existing TAP card so that I had a day pass to cover all my planned activities. First, I stopped at the University of Southern California (USC) campus. UCLA, in Westwood, does not yet have a rail stop. However, USC has 2 rail stops on the Metro Expo line.
USC, founded in 1880, is the oldest private research university in the state of California.[114] The University of Southern California educates 20,000 undergraduate and 27,500 undergraduate and professional students, including 11,300 from outside the United States.[115] Moreover, USC received over $764 million of sponsored research dollars in the 2016 – 2017 fiscal year.
The school is highly competitive. For Fall 2018, USC admitted only 12.9% of over 64,000 freshman applicants. Admitted students had a mean high school GPA of 3.79, a median SAT of 1435, and included 265 National Merit Scholars. Impressively, USC has retained over 96% of each class enrolled since Fall 2013.[116]
A full-time staff of 4,360 and a part-time staff of over 15,200 work to educate USC’s undergraduate, graduate, PhD, and professional students. The professorial staff includes 5 Nobel laureates, as well as recipients of the MacArthur Genius Award, Guggenheim Award, National Medal of the Arts, National Humanities Medal, National Medal of Science, National Medal of Technology and Innovation, and Pultizer Prize.[117]
In addition to its large undergraduate program, USC has a medical school, a school of pharmacy, a school of dentistry, professional schools in physical and occupational therapy, 3 teaching hospitals, a school of engineering, a school of communications and journalism, a school of cinematic arts, a school of dance, a school of music, an architectural school, a business school, and a law school. The university has an endowment of over $5.1 billion, which helped to provide $570 million of financial aid in the 2017 academic year. There are over 375,000 living Trojan alumni, which is a lot of educated people. Alumni include 22 billionaires,[118]9 Rhodes Scholars, and 10 Marshall Scholars.
Yet, as respected as the university is for its academic programs, USC may be even more revered for its athletic programs. USC has won 107 NCAA team titles, which ranks third behind only Stanford and UCLA. The men’s outdoor track and field team has won 26 of those titles and the men’s tennis team 21 titles. USC athletes have won 404 individual NCAA championships, which ranks second behind only Stanford. USC athletes have won 122 championships in men’s swimming and diving and 120 in men’s outdoor track and field.[119]
Through 2014, USC athletes have won 309 Olympic medals, including 144 gold medals, which is more than any other university[120][121]and a significant portion of the USA’s cumulative amount of 2,521 total medals and 1,023 gold medals. Amazingly, if USC were a country, the institution would rank behind only 13 foreign countries in cumulative total medals and gold medals.
Still, despite the success in Olympic sports, athletically USC is best known for its football program. USC has won 9 NCAA national championships, which is tied for 6thwith Michigan and behind only Notre Dame (13), Princeton (15), Alabama (15), and Yale (18).[122] Seven USC Trojans have won the prestigious Heisman trophy, including Mike Garrett, O.J. Simpson, Charles White, Marcus Allen, Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, and Reggie Bush.[123] Yet, the most famous USC football player may be offensive tackle Marion Morrison, better known as actor John Wayne.[124] USC has placed 510 football athletes into the NFL, which is second behind only Notre Dame (567). The USC football athletes have played in 234 pro bowls and 12 are in the NFL Hall of Fame.[125]
What a beautiful campus! USC is likely the second or third most beautiful campus I have visited, behind only Princeton and possibly Stanford. The architecture is stunning and the grounds are verdant, thanks to the incredible, fecund southern California weather. The campus is further adorned by statues, sculpture, fountains, and plaques, which guide visitors through the campus and describe USC’s history. To read more about USC’s very interesting history, click the footnote attached to this sentence.[126]
After walking through the campus and taking photos I grabbed some Vietnamese food at Saola by Hannah An, a restaurant by the corner of Hoover and Jefferson streets on the north side of the campus. The food was good, but not great. However, I had little choice in restaurants, as many were closed due to the long Thanksgiving holiday.
I then walked along the east side of campus. Upon reaching the Expo-Vermont station I headed east on the Expo Line until I reached the 7thStreet Metro station, where I changed trains to a Red Line north to Hollywood. My destination was the Universal City/Studio City station and Universal Studios.
Upon arriving at the station, I had to take 2 escalators to reach the street level and then take an elevated walking bridge across Lankershim Boulevard to reach the free tram that takes passengers up steep Universal Hollywood Drive to Universal Studios Hollywood. The tram ride to the gates of Universal Studios Theme Park is about 5 minutes.
Almost immediately upon arrival I said to myself, “This isn’t for me.” First, there were large crowds. Second, I had to pass through a lot of loud, glitzy stores before reaching the ticket area- stores that obviously existed for the sole purpose of overcharging tourists. Third, there was security before reaching the ticket booth. Some people feel safer with security. I feel annoyed that I have to place all metal and my cell phone in a plastic dish that then travels on an x-ray conveyor while I separately walk when called through a metal detector. Fourth, the ticket prices were through the roof.
The park closed at 7 pm. It was already 4 pm. And the lowest cost ticket was $124![127][128] Granted, the ticket included rides, attractions, and a studio tour. However, I had no interest in rides or attractions. All I wanted was the studio tour.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a discounted ticket for late arrival or a discounted ticket for persons wishing solely to see the studio tour. I have appeared in movies, handled animals in movies, and trained animals for movies. Therefore, a studio tour was not worth $124. I held my ground, said a figurative “no thanks,” left the park, took the tram back to the rail station, and then contacted Uber for a trip to Griffith Park.
Griffith Park, located south of Burbank, west of Glendale, and northeast of Hollywood, in the east end of the Santa Monica Mountains, is the largest municipal park in Los Angeles, the second largest municipal park in California, behind only Mission Trails Preserve in San Diego, and the 11thlargest municipal park in the USA.[129] The park contains over 4,210 acres, the Autry Museum of the American West, the iconic Bronson Caves, which were used in many movie scenes, the Greek Theatre, a Merry-Go-Round, the famous Griffith Observatory, the famous Hollywood sign, the LA Equestrian Center, the Los Angeles Zoo, pony rides, a golf course, tennis courts, a swimming pool, picnicking areas, horseback riding, a playground, soccer fields, hiking and running trails, and thousands of natural mountain acres that are home to deer, opossum, skunk, gray fox, coyote, bobcat, and mountain lions.[130]
The park was founded in 1896 after wealthy Welsh-American mining industrialist Griffith J. Griffith donated 3,015 acres to the City of Los Angeles for use as a public park.[131] Griffith wished to make Los Angeles a “happy, cleaner, and finer city.”[132]
Although he was very altruistic in relation to the City, Griffith’s life contained notable controversy. In 1903, while in a paranoid, inebriated state he shot and nearly killed his wife, Christina, who ultimately lost an eye from the bullet wound. After serving 2 years in San Quentin Prison, Griffith returned to public life. In 1906, he attempted to donate funds to construct an amphitheater, observatory, and planetarium within the Park. However, the City Park Commission initially declined Griffith’s offer due to his moral turpitude. The Commission’s recalcitrance faded after Griffith’s death in 1919, when the money was deeded within a trust fund that was part of Griffith’s will.[133]
In addition to Griffith’s donations other donors have contributed adjacent land, the City has purchased land to extend the Park, and proximal private land was converted to public domain. Consequently, Griffith Park has expanded from its original 3,015 acre size to a total of 4,210 acres.[134]
I initially planned to hike the trails, hoping to run into a mountain lion- from a distance. However, when I arrived it was already getting dark. Therefore, I instead walked from the main parking lot to Griffith Observatory.
Griffith Observatory is on top of a large hill within the park. The Observatory provides visitors the opportunity to peer through telescopes, view educational astronomy exhibits, listen to special presentations, purchase tickets to Planetarium shows, and observe tremendous views of downtown LA, LA suburbs, and the famous Hollywood sign.[135] Admission to the Observatory and the exhibits is free. Only the Samuel Oschin Planetarium, located within the Observatory, has a ticket fee, which ranges between $3 – $7.[136]
The Observatory was well worth the Uber trip and the walk up the steep hill. The views were outstanding! And I enjoyed the astronomy exhibits, which I found very interesting both visually and from an educational perspective.
I then walked down the hill to the main parking lot. Along the way I saw several large predators. Unfortunately, they were not mountain lions. However, I got within 20 feet of several coyotes that during the nighttime pranced down the mountains to calmly raid dropped food from a picnic area. The coyotes were obviously well conditioned to humans, as they showed no apprehension of the many people walking past. Due to their lack of concern I was able to snap some nice photos. This was the closest I have ever been to a wild coyote without it running away.
After snapping coyote photos I went to access Uber. However, I couldn’t get a T-Mobile signal in the Griffith Park parking lot. And my phone was near dead. Snapping photos and using GPS apps quickly drains an iPhone battery. Therefore, without a way to contact Uber, I waited at a bus stop for a DASH bus.
DASH stands for Downtown Area Short Hop. The bus costs $.50, requests exact change, and wouldn’t accept my MTA TAP card. I didn’t have change and the drivers don’t provide change. Therefore, I contributed a dollar. There are 30 DASH routes that function as local feeders into the larger MTA system.[137] The Observatory route took riders to the Metro Red Line station at Vermont/Sunset, in the Little Armenia neighborhood.[138]
Once at the station I elected to get something to eat before starting my Metro ride back to Santa Monica. I couldn’t find any proximal Armenian restaurants, not even a Zankou Chicken. However, about a block away I found perhaps the best Thai food I have ever eaten.
Yai’s on Vermont was busy- and in a few minutes I would taste why diners flocked to the restaurant. The menu is very broad, which gives persons a large choice of Thai delicacies.[139]Although some Yelp reviewers complained about the service, I was welcomed promptly and the waitress agreed to find a socket at the back counter where I could charge my phone. I ordered the papaya salad and green curry with chicken. The papaya salad was spicy hot, but also very flavorful. The green curry also had the right balance of spice and flavor. In addition, Yai provided large portions. All this food and my bill including the tip was less than $30. Awesome! I left highly satisfied and ready to take the Metro back to Santa Monica.
After breakfast I hit the weight room, ate a banana that I brought up to my room from the breakfast buffet, and then showered to prepare for the day’s excursion. I took an Uber north up the Pacific Coast Highway to Pacific Palisades. Unlike rides into Los Angeles, there was hardly any traffic going north along the coastline toward Pacific Palisades and Malibu. This was a very pleasant drive- very different than riding along I-405, which is bumper-to-bumper most of the day and into the mid-evening.
Pacific Palisades is a neighborhood north of Santa Monica, south of Malibu, and west of Brentwood. The neighborhood is one of the least densely populated in the City of Los Angeles and has gorgeous beaches, including popular Will Rogers State Beach, and stunning hilltop coastal homes.[140] Although the area has less than 27,000 residents, it contains many notable people who call Pacific Palisades home, including Ben Affleck, Judd Apatow, Dan Aykroyd, Kobe Bryant, Chevy Chase, Billy Crystal, Jamie Lee Curtis, Matt Damon, Larry David, Tom Hanks, Goldie Hawn, Anthony Hopkins, Diane Keaton, Nicole Kidman, Sugar Ray Leonard, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Randy Newman, Stevie Nicks, Bob Saget, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steven Spielberg, and Hilary Swank.[141]
I can say firsthand that if I had the money I would love to live in Pacific Palisades. The area is quiet, visually stunning, next to the beach and the mountains, close to highways to travel downtown, and only 10 – 20 minutes from the Santa Monica metro station.
My destination was The Getty Villa, which is situated in the Castellammare area of Pacific Palisades, at the foot of the Santa Monica Mountains. The drive was simple. We took the Pacific Coast Highway north until we hit Getty Villa Drive.
Back in 1968, J. Paul Getty announced plans to construct a villa proximal to his Pacific Palisades home, where the villa’s design would replicate the ancient Villa de Papiri, a posh Roman estate in Herculaneum, destroyed in 79 A.D. after the eruption of Vesuvius. Getty planned to use the villa to display his increasing collection of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan art.[142]
The construction was a collaborative effort between the architectural firm of Langdon & Wilson,[143]which also designed the Bank of America Building[144]on Wilshire Boulevard and the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, CA,[145]and archaeologist Norman Neuerberg, who assisted with the historical accuracy and interpretation of the villa design.[146] The Getty Villa opened to the public in 1974. Sadly, unless you were a grandson who held a grudge, Getty died soon after in 1976, without ever seeing the completed construction.
The Villa sits on 64 natural hilltop acres adjacent to the 11,000 acre Topanga State Park. The property contains, 48,000 square feet of gallery space, divided into 29 galleries that exhibit over 1,200 pieces of ancient art from the museum’s total collection of 44,000 pieces; 55,000 square feet of immaculate gardens, divided into 4 separate gardens, that display over 300 flowering plants, 2 reflecting pools, and 2 fountains; a 10,000 square foot, 250-seat indoor auditorium; a 13,000 square foot, 450-seat outdoor amphitheater; a café; a museum store; an 11,000 square foot ranch house used as curator offices, which are comprised of Getty’s former residence; and 45,000 square feet of additional office space used for conservation, laboratory work, meetings, and administration.[147]
The Getty Villa serves a mission as a museum, educational center, research laboratory, and theater dedicated to the study of ancient art and culture. Since the philanthropic Getty Trust funds the museum’s operations, tickets are free.
The Getty Villa is a sharp contrast to The Getty Center. Whereas the Getty Center architecture is clean, sleek, and modern, the Getty Villa architecture is elaborate, antique, and sapiently integrates the natural landscape via indoor courtyards, outdoor gardens, and the adjacent woods and hills.
Both properties are magnificent. However, due to its naturalness, the Getty Villa may be the most relaxing museum I have ever visited. The art was voluminous and impressive. Yet, the overall blissful feeling of nature was even more salient than the vast collection of drawings, paintings, tapestry, metalwork, pottery, sculpture, and statues. Walking through the Villa was like walking in a figurative, pristine Garden of Eden, where the world has no evil and beauty and serenity are omnipresent.
From the moment I had an excellent burger in the cafeteria throughout my visit to The Getty Villa I felt that my blood pressure and breathing was lowered, despite my awe and excitement at the opportunity to view the pulchritudinous art and gardens. In my opinion, despite The Getty Center receiving more national and international attention, The Getty Villa provides a more optimal atmosphere and a better selection of art, especially if one appreciates sculpture and statues.
Upon the conclusion of my Villa visit I planned to hike and/or trail run in the Santa Monica Mountains. My Google Maps app showed there is a trailhead directly behind the Villa property. To access a road that would take me to the trail I started walking down Getty Villa Drive. Then, a guard stopped me to tell me that I wasn’t allowed to walk down the street.
Rules required that I be inside a vehicle. I saw a sign earlier that said “no pedestrian traffic,” but like most signs that disallow me from doing what I want to do I ignored it. Regardless, the walking route would have been arduous, as I would need to walk all the way down the long Drive, reach the Pacific Coast Highway, walk north, access Los Liones Drive east, and then circumnavigate outside the gates of the entire Villa property until I reached the trailhead.
To my surprise the guard offered me a perfect solution. He said, “I will have one of our cars drive you.” 5 minutes later, a very nice woman approached in a jeep. She drove me on a restricted road that took us behind the museum. We traveled past the office, storage, and research part of the property that included J. P. Getty’s old house and then passed through the rear security gate that was exclusively for employee traffic. About 100 feet past the gate was the entrance to the Paseo Miramar Trail, which is a major trail within Topanga State Park.[148]
Topanga State Park is part of the 156,671-acre Santa Monica Mountain National Recreation Area (SMMNRA).[149] Over 1,000 plant species and 500 animal species are contained within the Mediterranean climate ecosystem of SMMNRA.[150] SMMRA acreage includes more than 33 parks and beaches, the most notable of which are Will Rogers State Beach, Griffith Park, Will Rogers State Historical Park, Toyon National Park, Point Mugu State Park, Malibu Creek State Park, and Topanga State Park.[151]
Topanga State Park comprises 11,000 acres and 36 miles of trails located completely within the City of Los Angeles. Many consider Topanga State Park the largest natural park in the world contained completely within the urban boundaries of a major city.[152]The Park is bordered on the east by Rustic Canyon, on the west by Topanga Canyon, and on the south by Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, and famous Mulholland Drive.[153]
Paseo Miramar Trail is a 3.3-mile, moderate-level trail that climbs from the foot of the mountains to an elevation 1,300 feet above the starting point.[154][155] Along the way there are numerous vistas until one reaches the top near a cabin, where there are several alternate trails to choose within the overall trail system.
I ran most of the way up, other than to stop to take photographs from the beautiful vistas. I snapped photos of Downtown LA, Brentwood, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, many multi-million dollar homes, and the coastline. Once reaching the cabin, I ran all the way down, which was much easier.
However, I must have made a wrong turn on the way down. I started on the Paseo Miramar/Los Leones Canyon trailhead on Los Liones Drive, but ended up on Paseo Miramar Road, within a suburban hilltop neighborhood of very high-priced homes. The error was fine with me. I enjoyed looking closely at the homes. I would love to live in this neighborhood, despite the fire risk.
Following my GPS instructions I walked down Paseo Miramar until I reached Sunset Boulevard. Sunset Boulevard is noteworthy for its 22-mile length from the Pacific Coast Highway to Downtown LA, while it winds along the eastern boundary of the Santa Monica Mountains. Sunset Boulevard is famous for its strip, nightlife, and placement in many television shows and songs.
While walking on Paseo Miramar I observed a middle-aged woman being dragged down the road by a large Golden Retriever. Her leash was wrapped tightly around her hand, whereupon she had no biomechanical leverage to manage the dog. Just as saliently, she grimaced in fear whenever her dog came within a hundred yards of a neighbor dog.
I approached her, said “hello,” introduced myself, informed her of my occupation, and communicated some tips to help her with her dog. She was highly appreciative and asked to see the CPT website. I informed her that I consult anywhere in the USA and Canada, either in-person or via FaceTime and that via board training CPT has trained pet dogs and service dogs from throughout the country. I told her that although CPT does most of its dog training in Atlanta, we will personally conduct dog training in Los Angeles or dog training in Pacific Palisades. She seemed interested. We will see if she calls or emails. I look forward to obtaining more California clients.
Once getting near the bottom of Paseo Miramar I contacted Uber for a ride back to Santa Monica. I enjoyed my hike and trail run, but now I needed to hurry to shower and then take another Uber to Beverly Hills.
Tony Beverly Hills is an independent city sandwiched between the LA neighborhoods of West Hollywood on the east and Westwood on the west. Beverly Hills has evolved from its early history in the mid 1800s when the area was predominantly sheep and cattle ranches and farmland for harvesting lima beans.[156] The location formerly became known as Beverly Hills in 1906 after frustrated oil prospectors who bought the farmland instead started developing subdivisions.[157]
Initially, Beverly Hills was an all-white planned community with covenants that restricted blacks and Jews from owning or renting property within the city domain. However, gracefully (note sarcasm), the covenants allowed the forbidden people to reside within a home if they were servants. Beverly Hills became an independent city in 1914. In the 1920s, with the covenants still intact, celebrities from the entertainment industry, including Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Will Rogers, and Rudolph Valentino, started building mansions in Beverly Hills.
In the 1940s, several prominent black singers and actresses, including Academy Award winner from Gone With the Wind, Hattie McDaniel, and the NAACP successfully challenged the covenants in federal court. To further shut the door on bigoted covenant policies, in 1948, in the case of Shelley v. Kraemer, which originated in St. Louis, the United States Supreme Court ruled that racially-restrictive housing covenants were unenforceable.[158]
Ironically, today, 26% of the almost 35,000 person population of Beverly Hills is comprised of Persian Jews, which is the second largest Persian Jewish population in the USA, behind only Great Neck, NY.[159] In addition, Beverly Hills has elected an Iranian-born, Persian Jewish mayor.[160]
Beverly Hills remains a common location for the homes of the rich and famous. In addition to celebrity homes, other notable landmarks include the Rodeo Drive shopping district, the Beverly Hills Hotel, and Beverly Hills High School, made famous by the Fox TV show Beverly Hills 90210.
I had dinner plans to meet my cousin Kenin at Villa Allorio, an Italian restaurant at the corner of North Cannon Drive and Dayton Way in Beverly Hills. I had sautéed broccoli and a pasta dish with a tomato-pumpkin sauce. The vegetable and pasta were good, but disappointing. Given that the restaurant was in Beverly Hills and the chef well-respected, I was expecting to be blown away. I have had better food at Provino’s in Roswell and certainly at multiple restaurants in Manhattan’s Little Italy.
After dinner Kenin gave me a brief tour of Beverly Hills. We walked down famous Rodeo Drive, where Christmas music played over loudspeakers and numerous high-end stores dotted the street, and we walked down many of the side streets, where I observed several Bentley’s, Ferraris, and other cars exclusive to the very upper-class. There were also numerous women dressed to the nines eating at various restaurants. The women were on average more fashion conscious than the men. Yet, there were far more men in slacks and jackets and wearing Rolexes than I would commonly see dining in downtown Atlanta or Buckhead. Beverly Hills was a little too ostentatious for my taste. Even if I could afford to shop on Rodeo Drive I would be more likely to order from Amazon.
At the end of my tour I said goodbye to Kenin, walked around a bit on my own, and then contacted Uber for a return trip to Santa Monica. Santa Monica is more my style- nicely opulent where appropriate, without excess or pretentiousness.
I run to maintain body weight and for cardiorespiratory health. I do not run because I enjoy it, although I obtain a feeling of exhilaration upon the completion of a run. Because I am an ambivalent runner I relish a perfect temperature. Not too hot nor too cold. To my satisfaction, the temperature each day at Santa Monica Beach was just right. I will take Santa Monica weather over Atlanta weather almost any day of the year. Therefore, I will certainly miss Santa Monica, as I know my running diligence will become intermittent once returning to Atlanta, Georgia.
A run and breakfast highlighted my last Santa Monica morning. Then, after answering CPT emails I packed my clothes and headed to the ground floor to contact Uber for a ride to LAX.
LAX was disappointing during my arrival flight. My bag took a relatively long time to arrive at the carousel. I had to wait 15 minutes for a taxi. And the traffic to exit the airport was abominable.
However, as bad as LAX was for my arrival flight LAX was just as outstanding for my departure flight. There was very little traffic into the Delta terminal, which enabled the Uber driver to smoothly park alongside a skycap.
There was no line for the skycap, who quickly and pleasantly tagged my bag. When traveling more than few days I prefer a bag plus a carry-on. That way I have ample choice of workout and touring clothing and never need to do laundry. Moreover, with my Delta Amex Platinum card checked bags are free. So, why not check a bag?
I miss the skycaps at the Atlanta-Hartsfield Delta terminal. Recent construction has caused all fliers to check bags inside amidst long lines. I much prefer skycaps, even if I feel obligated to tip them a few bucks. Therefore, I appreciated the rapid skycap service at LAX.
Security was less than 3 minutes, without TSA Precheck. Atlanta’s security lines move faster than a few years ago. Yet, the typical wait is 15 – 20 minutes in the standard security lines and I have had longer than 3-minute waits with Precheck. LAX security was very fast and relaxed, which is a nice combination.
In addition, the airport has plenty of options for food. I selected Jersey Mike’s. A large roast beef with provolone sub would keep me occupied after I boarded the plane and waited for takeoff.
The only negative was that while waiting at the gate the plugs did not work to provide power to my electronics. Unfortunately, non-functioning plugs is a problem that occurs too frequently at airports.
Boarding went fast, as Delta added more tiers. However, Delta should discourage people from lining up ridiculously early if they have a later tier. We don’t see the 9thbatter in order waiting in the on-deck circle during a baseball game. Neither should we see people in basic economy/Zone 4 lining up when the announcement is for “people with small children, passengers requiring special assistance, and military personnel” or “now we’d like to welcome our Diamond Medallion members and people seated in First Class.” Rank has its privileges, even in a communist system. My guess is that member of the Politburo boarded before the common proletariats. Therefore, wait in a chair Zone 4 people. Chill. Your turn will arrive.
The flight was pleasant, departed on time, and arrived on time. During the flight I watched a movie, “Molly’s Game,” starring Jessica Chastain. Molly’s Game is the adapted true story of Molly Bloom a summa cum laude college graduate and former Olympic-hopeful skier who elected to divert from the straight and narrow to host high-stakes poker games in Los Angeles and New York. Her games featured Academy Award winning actors, all-star athletes, and mega-wealthy business people- players who thought a $10,000 opening bid and a million dollar hand were chump change. The games prospered amongst the East and West coast affluent. She worked hard, earned a lot, and lived in opulence.
Then, it all came tumbling down when an inadvertent connection to the Russian mob and a federal investigation into the bankruptcy of one of her clients accused of running a Ponzi scheme prompted indictment from the federal gendarmes. Ultimately, after partially cooperating by revealing names she believed the government already knew, Bloom cut a deal where an initial threat of 10 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine was reduced to probation, a $200,000 fine, and 200 hours of community service. She then wrote a memoir about her time on top and her ordeal in the criminal “justice” system.
The Aaron Sorkin film is an adapted screenplay from Bloom’s memoir. The movie moves fast and Chastain’s performance is outstanding. Molly’s Game is an excellent movie for an airplane or to watch at home via Comcast On-Demand.
Moreover, it got me thinking. Why are Molly’s poker games that took advantage of the gambling addictions of the wealthy illegal, when state governments are allowed to legally mesmerize poor schlumps into believing they will win the lottery? Are federal and state gambling statutes a well-intentioned effort to enforce morality? Or are gambling statutes a corrupt way to legislate an elimination of competition?
After the completion of the movie I read some journal articles until the flight arrived. As always, I walked through Hartsfield-Jackson Airport to baggage claim instead of taking the tram. I like to obtain some exercise after sitting for 4.5 hours. Once reaching the carousel my luggage was waiting. I then put my duffel bag over my shoulder, rolled my carry-on, and headed to the Park n’Ticket van.
I am loyal to Park n’Ticket because they are close to the airport. Plus, I am in their rewards program. Yet, I frequently get annoyed that they have longer wait times for vans than the other off-airport parking alternatives. Yet, this time the van was waiting for me. Outstanding! After the long flight I wanted to get home, grab something to eat, watch some TV, and then head to bed to again satisfy clients wishing dog training in Atlanta. Still, I look forward to potentially setting up operations in LA so that I can also dog train in Los Angeles.
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[65]https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act
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