Yesterday, while driving to work, two different songs came on the radio that resonated with me: Small Town by John Mellencamp and Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey. “Well I was born in a small town …” and “Just a small town girl – Livin’ in a lonely world” resonated with me. Both of those lines are me … however … when I looked onto the horizon I saw one of my favorite views of my commute on the 134 East (aka Ventura Freeway/Highway – now another song can be running through your head!) – the Colorado Street Bridge and ravine. Something old – a bridge built in the early 1900’s – with something new – miles and lanes of cars sporting the latest in chrome and steel. In my rearview mirror, I saw the LA skyline – somewhat in a haze due to some nice city-living smog. At that moment, I had a bit of a “world’s collide” moment as I realized that as much as I felt like that “small town girl” that Steve Perry crooned about, I am definitely not in her zip code anymore!
Growing up in Small Town, USA (Gardner, IL – at time, population 1400), my concept of “city” was Chicago. As I had many relatives who lived there, I was not a stranger to riding The El or walking along State Street – especially at Christmas time. I always enjoyed my visits; I have fond memories of The Brookfield Zoo and watching the Cubs play. However, after each visit and well before the sunset, we always got back into the car and headed back to the farm. Interestingly enough, I never really dreamed of living in a city while I was a child. I always had small town aspirations. I thought my life would be in common with John Mellencamp’s musings – “I would live and die in a small town.” And then fate stepped in! When I graduated college, I could not find a teaching job in a small town or a big city in Illinois so I ventured West, landing in my first taste of “city living” in Bakersfield. I experienced, for the first time, living in close proximity to a neighbor – mere feet between us instead of miles. On the upside, I learned many conveniences came with city living that included supermarkets instead of grocery stores … stores open 24 hours or until very late in the evening …more restaurants serving foods of all types of creations and concoctions … City life does bring easy access to almost everything under the sun! There is a price for this convenience; however, that comes in the form of traffic, pollution, and crowding.
While living in a city, I still found times and places that definitely felt “small town”. Working in small school districts, living in older neighborhoods, forming bonds with friends and coworkers – just to name a few. After a while, Bakersfield actually started to feel like a small town – perhaps because of these aforementioned reasons. And then fate stepped in once again and I decided to make the move to LA.
I am approaching two years in living in the LA area. Our moving truck pulled in mid December 2013, and here we still are (minus one move from one part of the city to another). When I was that “small town girl”, I never in a million years would have imagined myself living and working in LA. From what I had seen on TV growing up, there did not seem to be anything but freeways, concrete, and pollution (which yes, there is some of all of that!). In high school, I remember I had a classmate who had dreamed of going to LA and she and her mother actually vacationed over here during one of our breaks. As she retold her stories about her mom driving in LA and the people’s reaction, I remember being slightly horrified – although I never said out loud – and wondered who would choose to live there?! Well, 30 years later, I have the answer – ME!
I must admit – I love LA! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtDhtadoeUk – yes … yes … now that song is running through your head!) My own children think I am crazy for the move here! I am minutes away from Hollywood and there are several evenings that we have had dinner or gone to an event somewhere near Hollywood and Vine and we walked along the stars, each time discovering someone’s star that we didn’t remember seeing before. We have walked along beaches many times, sampling the food and shopping in Venice or Santa Monica. Speaking of shopping – why yes … there is plenty of that to be had here as well. Currently, we are four blocks away from the Galleria and the Americana.
Yes, there are times I still feel like a “small town girl” … maybe I always will because small town living was all I knew growing up. I just am not looking for any midnight trains going anywhere from city life anytime soon!
Venice Beach – Photo credit goes to Thomas G. Robinson
LA Skyline from Mulholland Drive – Photo Credit: Thomas G. Robinson
Two freeways diverged ... 