Into the Valley, Riding the Bus

Living in Los Angeles without a car is like being a fish without fins, or so I was told. In fact, it's more like being a fish who has to take the bus. That's right, contrary to popular belief, it is indeed possible to take the bus in LA, not only that, it's possible to get to work on time too. Plus, if you're me, you get to spend some of your bus stop time gazing at the stars on the Hollywood Boulevard side-walk. Buster Keaton lives on for me each morning between 8:30 and 8:40 a.m.

I have a few more myths to refute about this whole bus business. First of all, there's no way a bus could ever get up to and stay at 50 miles per hour on a Los Angeles freeway. No way, no how, sorry Sandra Bullock but in real life you would have been toast.

Secondly, while our beloved T in Boston, begun in 1897, is still the peak of American public transportation, Los Angeles has finally opened a subway of its own. The new red line operates between Downtown LA and Hollywood. But while the T is almost universal in its popularity, it is unlikely that many of the image-conscious (yes, that myth is true) will leave their sport utility vehicles at home during peak commuting hours.

Unfortunately for me, a proud Valley-dweller, it won't be until the end of the summer (the optimistic forecast) that the line is extended across the Hollywood Hills. Besides that however, living in the Valley is no drawback. While it may be a social faux pas to mention my address at parties, the spaciousness, easy access to the local park, library and YMCA (not to mention low rent) make me glad I'm not living in a noisy, crowded apartment ensconced in some flashy zip code which would not deign to have a bus stop between their palm trees.

I'm not exaggerating here, these Los Angelinos are not your run-of-the-mill Californians. Being from San Francisco I thought I had seen all the weirdness the West Coast had to offer, but let me tell you, the SF dragfest has nothing on the women I saw strolling along Rodeo and Wilshire.

As if that wasn't enough, I saw something that really chilled my bones: two guys in their twenties working an intersection on Beverly. The signs around their necks read, "English Majors, will read poetry for food." No doubt actors out of work, they were a grim reminder that the rising economic tide has not lifted all boats, and that no college-degree holder should be over-confident about post-graduate successes. Not everyone, after all, makes it in Hollywood.

But even Los Angeles, with all its other-worldly glitz and shabby 1920s glamour has some characteristics of Smalltown, U.S.A. Witnessing the hundreds who turned out to watch the fireworks in the stands of Valley College stadium made this cynical place seem a little more apple-pie American. That was until I was informed that both CBS and Paramount were charging admission for their fireworks in other parts of LA. Another reminder that entertainment doesn't come cheap, even on a National Holiday. Maybe Los Angeles is America though, and the archetypes are just that--out-dated non-existent memories of things past. Los Angeles is, after all, one great big suburb dotted with strip malls and fast food chains--the rapidly evolving face of our country. Even those landmarks of luxury, Malibu, Santa Monica and Hollywood, are merely high class shopping centers with franchises that cater to the very rich. Restoration Hardware, Anthropologie, Pottery Barn and French Connection are just fancified version of their originals--TrueValue Hardware, Costco World Market and the Gap. You can't fool me Los Angeles, I know better. If this is where America is heading, count me out.

It will be relieving to get back to the rarefied air of Cambridge. I've even been tempted by the smog to head into the Oxygen Bar in West Hollywood. The ivory tower isn't looking so bad compared to the entertainment industry.

Then again, I only have until the end of the summer to finish the screenplay I'm working on. I'm sure it's going to be a big hit. Have I told you what it's about?

Meredith B. Osborn '02, a social studies concentrator in Leverett House, is an intern at the Feminist Majority Foundation