Saturday, November 26, 2005

The Old West

Thena and I drove to Griffith Park on Thursday night to see the light show. It was kind of an anemic Disneyland ride, but I guess the fact that it's an LA tradition makes it worth it? Actually, what made the trip worth it was seeing three coyotes scampering near the 134 exit and Los Feliz. It's easy to forget that Los Angeles is part of "the West," as in "The Old West"-- or "The Old, Old West" if you get right down to it. I think The Big Lebowski did a great job of conveying the connection between present day LA and the frontier west. Somehow I could sense that the same streets that The Dude drove his old beater down were once dusty paths cut through the wilds of California. Much of this town is entranced by the spell of Hollywood, but if you went back a bit further in the history of this town, you'd find stories of a hardier stock of survivors. Maybe if people identified less with the Samuel Goldwyns and Marilyn Monroes of the past and more with the pioneers of earlier generations, the culture of the town would not be so disposable.

3 Comments:

Blogger Jody and Martin said...

I'm a huge fan of the Christmas lights that the DWP put up in Griffith Park every year. For a couple of years, I lived in Glendale and used to drive through Griffith Park on my way to work in Hollywood. It was a lot of fun to see the progression of the lights being put up during the weeks before Thanksgiving weekend.

4:00 PM  
Blogger South Pas Blogs said...

I like the idea of driving through Griffith Park to get to Hollywood...

10:56 PM  
Blogger South Pas Blogs said...

Kolby, I drove out to Death Valley a few weekends ago. It does still feel like the Old West out there. I checked out your website; looks like you do a bit of traveling yourself.

8:37 AM  

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