“Cities are distinguished by the catastrophic forms they presuppose and which are a vital part of their essential charm. New York is King Kong, or the blackout, or vertical bombardment: Towering Inferno. Los Angeles is the horizontal fault, California breaking off and sliding into the Pacific: Earthquake.”
- Jean Baudrillard

“Los Angeles is just New York lying down”
- Quentin Crisp

“I love Los Angeles. I love Hollywood. They’re beautiful. Everybody’s plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic.”
- Andy Warhol

“I’d move to Los Angeles if New Zealand and Australia were swallowed up by a tidal wave, if there was a bubonic plague in England and if the continent of Africa disappeared from some Martian attack.”
- Russell Crowe

I was in Los Angeles last week.

5 things I liked about it:

i) Cycling to dinner along Venice Beach
ii) Getting close to the corrugated iron Hollywood sign and having a helicopter usher me off the hill
iii) The winding hillside roads
iv) The skateboard/surf culture
v) Seeing David Beckham (see below)

5 things I disliked about it:

i) Lack of culture
ii) Everyone is in the movie/tv industry and from what I can tell their chat generally stinks
iii) Having to drive everywhere/traffic
iv) No centre, ie soulless
v) Feeling like I am always on the verge of a Curb Your Enthusiasm moment (see below)

I forgot to mention my friend Ricky, who was the most fantastic host. He has the right strategy in a place like LA -- work hard, keep a cat, don’t socialize, hit Facebook hard and keep NYC in the back of his mind. Bravo Ricky, I salute the life you’ve created out there for yourself.

Summing up, from Woody Allen: