“Yesterday, I met the real Los Angeles…”
I laugh at myself as I thumb through the pages of my travel journal and find this bit of drivel. Penned after I’d spent all of 48 hours in L.A., I find my hubris hilarious. In a mere two days, what could I have known about the real Los Angeles, a city covering an area of roughly 500 square miles, home to nearly 4 million residents from almost countless neighborhoods?
What I really wanted to say was, I suppose, that I learned the truth about L.A.
I made this discovery from the top of Mount Hollywood, an easy and busy mile-long hike from the Griffith Observatory parking lot. The hike to the top seems like a popular weekend activity; the trail was teeming with sweaty, shirtless studs and slender, fit women running or speed-hiking their way to the top. Even the less athletic were in the mix, hard bodies giving way to softer ones huffing and puffing slowly to the mountain’s apex. The weather was hot and before long, a thin layer of dry dust blanketed my boots.
The hike is scenic but not long, the gently climbing trail of tan-colored earth flanked by white, purple, and yellow wildflowers, desert shrubs, and golden grasses snaking slowly around the mountain and beckoning the hiker upwards. It took me roughly three-quarters of an hour to reach the summit. Breathless and hot when I arrived at the overlook, a small, fenced-in area with a few picnic tables, I was the happiest I’d been in days. A woman offered to take my picture, immortalizing the moment.
The 360 degree views of Los Angeles from the vantage point are stunning. For the first few moments I was speechless, struck dumb by the sheer and unexpected beauty around me.
Before I arrived, I thought L.A. was a dirty, smoggy city.
At the top of Mount Hollywood, many of my misconceptions about the city fell away, and I was left with a single truth: L.A. might sometimes be dirty and smoggy, but it’s also much more than that.
The city’s residents are also not as aloof as I’d expected. It was there, at the top of Mount Hollywood, that I met Jonathon, a handsome budding actor from a small town in Arkansas. We chatted for a while and he shared memories of his hometown and its sole movie theater, the only one within a 45-minute radius. I told him that would be a great story when he makes it big. He liked hearing that and gave me a warm, wide smile and a high-five.
Jonathon pointed out L.A.’s cities surrounding us: Beverly Hills and Hollywood ahead. Culver City beyond. Burbank to the rear. I took it all in, still incredulous that I was so, so wrong about Los Angeles.
When it was time for Jonathon to go, he rejoined his friends and they disappeared behind a craggy ridge of the mountain. I remained for a few minutes longer but I shortly began the trek back down the trail, taking my time to take lots of pictures.
The hike downhill was, naturally, much shorter and easier than the trek upward, and I practically skipped down the mountain, returning the smiles of other hikers making the ascent. I felt free and happy and alive and in love…with Los Angeles of all places. Who knew?
It’s easy to buy into all the negative notions about the city, but from the top of Mount Hollywood, I realized that Los Angeles is large, diverse, and full of beauty.
When I first saw that you did this hike, I thought it was the same one I did… I think I’ve done this before, but most recently, I took a hike up the mountain where the Hollywood sign is. LA is ridiculously smoggy, but it’s amazing what beautiful sunsets it can create.
Ekua–That was my one regret: not climbing Mount Hollywood during sunset. I can only imagine how beautiful it would have been. Maybe next time!
This is a great article that reminds me a lot of two places that I’ve been to. The first is Mount Dandenong to the east of Melbourne, Australia. It’s the place where Melbourne’s TV and radio is broadcast from so it’s towers can be seen from a lot of the city. But most importantly from the summit of Mount Dandenong you can see the whole city either during the day or at night. This wikipedia entry goes into Mount Dandenong in more detail. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Dandenong,_Victoria
The other place is the Centrepoint Tower in Sydney, Australia. On a clear day you can see all the way west from Sydney to the iconic Blue Mountains, named such because of the eucalyptus leaves in the trees that evaporates into the air to give the mountains a bluish hue. It’s a must see when you ever in Sydney and the wikipedia entry for it is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Tower.
Both of these places have left me with fond memories, Mount Dandenong as a small child and Centrepoint Tower otherwise known as Sydney Tower as a young adult. Reflecting on the two experiences and on yours as well, it reinforces to me the fact that us human beings are basically the same wherever you travel and find us. That is, that we all want to be happy, have creature comforts like a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs and so forth and not have anything unfortunate happen to us.
Matt, I so appreciate your ability to get to the heart of what it means to be human and you’re right. I think that’s one of the things I enjoy most about travel–meeting people all over the world and discovering that, fundamentally, they’re just like me.
You’ve got so much knowledge about Australia…thank you for sharing so much of it with me. 🙂
What a great recap. I love that feeling of freedom and happiness when I discover something that exceeds my expectations. There is no better feeling.
Rhona–
Thanks so much for your response. I’m still shocked that Mount Hollywood had such a profound effect on me. Definitely one of my top two fave LA experiences!