City of Dirty, Bronze Stars

Los Angeles.  Meh.  In a couple of days I will spend about four hours in Los Angeles Airport, in transit to Disney World in Orlando, Florida.  I spent a couple of days in L.A.two year ago - well, Beverly Hills and Anaheim - and I really have no interest in venturing into the city again.

L.A. certainly doesn't live up to its hype.  But why should it?  The wannabes transition through it, much like I will be I suppose.  They just stay a bit longer.  And bleach their hair and teeth a bit brighter.  And get paid a lot of money to act like someone else.  Or get paid a lot of money to act like someone else and take their top off.  We all make our choices.

The whole city reminds me of a large suburban industrial estate, like anywhere you'll find in Australia, except the people are prettier and the cars are flashier than in Fyshwick.  L.A. doesn't have a homely feel to it; I guess because no-one really lives there. 

Its inhabitants are there to get famous, infamous or to make money off people who are already famous and/or infamous.  I imagine one can lead a fairly lonely, empty existence if that is your goal.  It's all about posturing, knowing who knows who in the zoo, and becoming the next Home Improvement girl or Kardashian layabout.  Like, you know, totally.

When I arrived there two years ago I had high expectations for my travels around glamourous Hollywood.  I wanted to see a glittering studio city town, paved in red carpet, movie stars, child actors who should be in school and Lindsay Lohan shooting up on Sunset Boulevard. 

Apart from the Lohan bit - she was due in Beverly Hills court house when I was there - the reality is somewhat different.  I remember getting off the hop on-hop off tour bus in a rundown street and being told it was Hollywood, and I was standing on its iconic Walk of Fame. 

I looked down at the dirty cracked pavement and saw a faded bronze star of some celebrity I had never heard of.  Tom Cruise or something?  A metaphor for the industry that holds 'em close then spits 'em back out and turns them into fanatical cult members.  Welcome to Hollywood.

Evidently the area has been largely refurbished over the past ten years, so one can only imagine the horridness of it all in the 90s.