what anand tucker loves about l.a.
So Allie pointed me to an article written by Anand Tucker, who directed Steve Martin's Shopgirl. [Incidentally, I've been waiting years to see this movie, and of course would have loved to go on opening day in L.A., but alas I will be in Coral Gables, Florida!] She told me that the things he loves I would probably love about L.A. If you haven't heard, I'm far from in love with anything in L.A. apart from the weather and architecture. Well, I don't quite agree with Allie about the list of loves. There are some interesting things about his list, though.
9) Silver Lake. We shot large parts of Shopgirl here, and it's cool. It's old. You can walk down the steps where Laurel and Hardy dropped the piano. They have a fantastic street festival at Sunset Junction, which was happening on my first very jet-lagged visit here on a recce in 2003. I saw Sonic Youth play majestically and hauntingly live. I have never seen so much black leather, black hair, black makeup and just generally gothy black stuff in such a confined space ever before or since.
No shit Silver Lake is cool and old. Hence my attraction to it. I don't see many goths though. Perhaps the goths were imported for Sunset Junction.
10) Downtown. There is a stretch of disused theatres in downtown which are so grand and majestic and, well, European, that it was one of the first things that made me see L.A. in a different light. It harked back to golden days of elegiac elegance which I am not sure today's modern, informal (which I also quite like) world of the glitzy Hollywood showbiz life can match. But this is also one of the poorest, most run-down areas of L.A. To fully understand why, you need to read...[City of Quartz]
Ok, where are these European streets in downtown? I need to find them and soak it in. IKEA has been my European haven while here. Seriously.
And I'll pass on a popular book about the development of Los Angeles in favor of my advisor (Greg Hise)'s Magnetic Los Angeles.
So this didn't give me really anything to get excited over apart from those downtown streets. I'm still waiting.
I should probably rent L.A. Story again though.
posted by Ridiculous Authenticity @ 7:59 PM
1 Comments:
I love the history of LA. It seeps through the pores of this city. C'mon, the other week I was in the bar that they filmed Swingers in - the Derby in Los Feliz. I could go to the In N' Out Burger by Radford from The Big Lebowski, I could head down to Long Beach, the jump off point to Mexico in The Golden Gizmo.
Say what you will about LA, but it has character, and always did. I hate the phonyness prevalent in today's LA but c'mon, the irony in itself is worth the price of admission. Hollywood is now selling the world an image of itself and it's rich and glamorous Hollywood lifestyle, but anyone who actually lives in LA can see that the Hollywood lifestyle is a farce. If you walk down Hollywood Blvd, the only thing you'll find is tattoo parlors, bong stores, slutty lingerie shops, and museums for the glamorous history of Hollywood. And in between all of this filth are some of the world's most beautiful and elaborately constructed theaters in the world that don't play any midnight shows. It's actually easier to find a 24 hour Yoga place or Gym than it is to see a midnight movie! God I love this city.
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