Wednesday, April 04, 2007

dispatch from lax

giantrobotstore
(giant robot store in LA)

the jeremy condos
(condominium complex called "The Jeremy" in LA)

Sitting in the LAX McDonald's eating a fruit and yogurt parfait. I had a great visit to LA, which did include a trip to the Giant Robot Store (photographic proof to follow). Two very brief observations of a more sensational nature about my LA experience:

1. Walking around in all the early April sunshine made me feel like I was being continually irrigated by this light mist of joy. It was all I could do to keep from skipping as I walked between buildings.

2. I had occasion while I was here to acquaint myself first-hand with the condo market in LA. I was reminded of this time I saw someone eating at a sushi restaurant for the first time who mistook wasabi for guacamole. At least judging from the look on their face, that of someone whose sinuses had just been completely and searingly cleared, perhaps permanently, makes me think the sensation was something like what I felt upon seeing the prices. It's one thing to hear a housing market is "very expensive," another to see it firsthand.

Incidentally, I also took a taxi from a taxi stand at one point on my trip. I walked to the first cab to get in, and was told that the last cab in line was actually the first. The way I was told was as if this was something they thought I ought to know, so I'm not sure if this is the common way for taxi stands to work in LA. If so, maybe it's a south of the equator thing--I didn't check whether the water spun the wrong way down my shower drain.

Update, next day: I do, truth be told, know both that LA is not actually south of the equator and that water does not spin the other way down the drain south of the equator.

6 comments:

Sarahliz said...

South of the equator? Awww crap, are you implying that the big one hit and LA is now an island floating off the coast of South America somewhere? Why does nobody tell me these things?

I hope your trip was enjoyable. Despite the jaw-dropping housing prices, it really is a city with a lot going for it.

Lucy said...

The grey, damp weather here at the moment is more like misery mist... I miss sunshine.

And that's not a generally south of the equator thing.

Anonymous said...

is LA in the NYC or Boston ballpark regarding housing prices?

Anonymous said...

From moving.com:

"Cambridge, Massachusetts $100,000
Los Angeles, California $53,506

The cost of living in Los Angeles, California is 46.5% lower than that of Cambridge, Massachusetts. A salary of $100,000 in Cambridge, Massachusetts has the same buying power that a salary of $53,506 has in Los Angeles, California."

Kieran said...

Water doesn't spin down drains in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere. In fact, it doesn't spin down a consistent direction in the northern hemisphere, either.

Anonymous said...

JF needs sleep. Food.
While we are at it, how are prices in Madison -- comparatively?