Thursday, June 22, 2006

Salty and Sweet

Off to New York tomorrow to our little place in Queens.

For ten days.

There is something fun about this bicoastal life. Ever since we got the place in Queens, I’ve come to like Los Angeles a lot more. Probably because I know that at any time I can escape to another dimension.

Seems like the mind needs things to be mixed. The pretzel always tastes best right after the chocolate. The salty and the sweet go very well together.

What is sweet about New York and what is sweet about Los Angeles---well, it’s all very sweet. The people in New York are more interesting, more open, and can be instantly warm. The subway is a better way to get around. It’s a nighttime city. People are not embarrassed to go watch musicals. The feeling of the sea and the Hudson River is all around you. It’s a place of old friends and great art. And then, there’s Central Park, probably the most civilized outdoor space in the country. You can hop on a train at Penn Station or Grand Central and be deep in New England, or well on your way to the deep South in just a few hours. And, you can always go shopping in Paramus. This is all very sweet, very enlivening.

What is sweet about Los Angeles is the Mediterranean weather and having a yard that really is a garden where you can sit, at sunset, and have a Campari and soda and feel like you are the luckiest person alive. You can have a dog and just let it out in the yard. Your friends are all great hosts with special recipes for guacamole and Margaritas. Live oaks and sycamores have this magical way of letting you know that nature still exists amid the asphalt. In some neighborhoods, you can hear the coyotes yapping. You can go to great places like Mendocino, Napa, Palm Springs and Yosemite. And then, there’s the Arclight, the best movie theatre in the country, if not the world.

What is salty about New York is people are just more obviously sexual.

What is salty about Los Angeles is people are just more obviously into their hair.


What is neither sweet, nor salty, but merely unbelievable is the amount of square miles of hell between these two places.

3 comments:

Rebecca Waring said...

This is way funny!! I saw something on the tube last night that rated NYC people as some of the friendliest on earth. Their basis was things like would someone stop and help you if you dropped your stuff on the street or got lost, etc. NYC was way up there. They didn't mention DC but I bet it's at the bottom. LA would have been dead last when I was there but perhaps it has changed? The bottom of the list was Bombay, India - which is now called something else which I can't spell.

the last noel said...

Oh, I like how you succintly described the two cities. I'm still an LA guy all the way.

Todd HellsKitchen said...

Well, the part about the middle of the country reminds me why I should fly more! Right over their heads. But, for now, I ain't budgin'!

See ya soooooooon!