The words themselves hold you in their palm tree sway, multiple syllables manipulating the tongue to produce that lovely sound: Los Angeles. Long before I’d seen it with my own eyes, TV shows and pop songs emanating from that magical place pierced my skull with lyrical sunbeams and unbroken vistas of possibility. But when punk rock came along, I decided New York was real and California was must therefore fake, populated by phonies and hippies and phony hippies. Circa 2000 I finally found myself in LA, piloting a rental car up the spaghetti roads of Beachwood Canyon to visit Kaz, my former Nightmare Lounge co-host who'd gotten work in LA and was staying with a friend in the Hollywood Hills. As I parked, the sunshine and lush topography overtook me, forcing me to rethink my unearned California hatred. By the end of my week-long visit I was besotted.
Almost every year since then (interrupted by the pandemic) I’ve been back to Southern California to visit friends, first joined by Sweet T. in 2006. A few years later when SiriusXM–my employer–opened a West Hollywood location, we seriously considered relocation. For reasons too long to list we couldn’t make it work. But the thought of living where winter’s been banished stuck with me, revived as recently as May of 2023 when my friend Andrew asked me to oversee his new Highland Park (AKA “Brooklyn West”) casual dining spot. While grateful for his belief in me, my lack of restaurant management experience and the ungodly cost of housing had me reluctantly turning down his offer (he’s since closed the restaurant). Still, I’d continue to half-joke with Sweet T. about someday retiring to a condo in Santa Monica, ala Whitey Bulger. Now, the dream is truly and finally dead, killed a week ago when the Palisades fire broke out.
The LA fires, front page news all week, continue to burn, new conflagrations occurring every day. The scale of devastation is difficult to comprehend. As of this writing, at least 24 people are dead and tens of thousands of residents are displaced. Entire neighborhoods in Pacific Palisades and Altadena are wiped out. Landmark structures–like the Reel Inn in Malibu, where I chatted with Sean Penn and Sweet T. spied Neil Young–are gone. Two days prior to the Palisades fire, our late February travel plans finalized, Sweet T. and I were getting excited about escaping winter, seeing friends and hitting our usual spots (the customary drive through Topanga Canyon to the Reel Inn was on our agenda). Tuesday, while watching the incredible reporting on KNBC-Los Angeles, all we could say over and over was OHMYGOD and IHOPEOURFRIENDSAREOK.
Our friends are okay, but they all know someone who isn’t. Co-workers who’ve lost their home. Friends who fled with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Others forced to leave because of the air quality. You don’t need me to tell you nothing will ever be the same in Los Angeles. Beyond the burn scars are the psychic ones, a massive collective trauma therapy can barely begin to address. Ironically, while we busy ourselves worrying about everything else under the sun, Global Warming–I refuse to call it “Climate Change” after discovering it was Republican pollster Frank Lutz who coined the term, to muddy the waters (if the climate changes it can always change BACK, right?!)–remains the true existential threat of our time. Scientists first warned us over 50 years ago but scientists are apparently elitists and who cares what THOSE eggheads say? Hint: not the incoming administration. Unlike them, Sweet T. and I finally woke up to reality, switching our LA plans to San Diego, with a day trip up the coast to visit friends, hopefully. California will bounce back from this and we need it to.
We're with you, Golden State.
Now here are some California-themed SYNTs from years past.
20140422 – Chris T. At The Melrose Trading Post Flea
20150210 – Let's Unravel Your Travel!
20150217 – Celluloid Heroes
20150224 – Back At The Melrose Trading Post Flea
20160216 – Rose Bowl Flea & Me
20170228 – (Back From) La La Land
20180327 – Goin' Back to Cali, Pt. 1
20180403 – Goin' Back to Cali, Pt. 2
20180410 – California Split
20200218 – San Diego Serenade
20200225 – Happiness Is Calling!
20210216 – The Last Good Time
20230523 – Sandy, Eh? Go!
2Pac ft. Dr. Dre – California Love