In my three years at UCLA I had never been to West Hollywood – a place that is so close in distance yet so far in overall atmosphere from
Westwood – until last week. A few friends and I drove up there for a night out
at a club. West Hollywood is pretty known for its gay and lesbian population
and overall trendy/young/”hip” atmosphere. And it’s pretty obvious that the
people who live there fit that description (trendy, young, and hip) when you
enter that part of Santa Monica Blvd. All along the street are lined with specialty
restaurants, gay clubs, and yoga studios. The curbsides were pretty much all
parked up, often with stylish, and probably expensive, cars. (It took us a long
time to find a place to park. And even then we had to do valet parking.) There
is quite an extensive median in the street that lines the road with trees and
some very colorful abstract sculptures. It made me feel like I was in a very
artsy part of LA. The difference in view from driving along Wilshire when we
first left Westwood to driving along Santa Monica when we got to West Hollywood was
maybe like the difference between walking through the Court of Sciences in
South Campus and then making it to the Sculpture Garden in North Campus. One
seems a little more refined and defined, while the other is a little more
ambiguous and remarkable.
Even the people are noticeably different in the ways they
act and the things they wear. It seemed pretty clear to me that homosexual
people in West Hollywood are either a lot more prevalent or are just more
comfortable being open about it (or possibly both) than in other places I’ve
seen. It’s unfortunate that there are places, even in LA, that people can’t be
publicly affectionate with their significant other without getting nasty stares
or comments simply because they are part of a same-sex couple. But in West
Hollywood, this doesn’t seem to be an issue. The clothing people wear also
seemed to be kicked up a notch in the “bold, daring, and fashionable”
department. Overall, it just seems like a place where people are more likely to
be comfortable expressing their personalities in every way. I think in a way
this can relate to the Giddens reading from Geography 133. There is some amount
of risk in the decision to openly walk down the street holding the hand of your
partner, or wearing some otherwise outrageous outfit. But in this community,
people seem to trust that their differences are what make them feel like they
belong there and are connected to each other.
Looking at the Robert E. Park quotation (stating: “The City
is a mosaic of little worlds which touch but do not interpenetrate.”), I think
this example of the Santa Monica strip in West Hollywood shows concurrence. Once you’re
in West Hollywood, it’s quite apparent. This trendy little community draws a
lot of attention to itself. It is an area of entertainment and dining; an place
to go for a night out; even somewhere that draws the attention of celebrities.
There is a place called “Millions of Milkshakes,” which has seen its fair share
of celebrities who have come in, ordered a customized milkshake, and now have
milkshakes named after them. It’s practically a tourist spot. We made a stop
there. It was amazing and was a delicious end to an evening of awe and
observation.
No comments:
Post a Comment