Elsewhere

There's something about a city other than the one you live in. For some reason I analyze them on a rigorous list of requirements chosen by me, and I judge them on their pros and cons. Los Angeles is very far from Toronto. Maybe not that far in the world, but five hours by plane is far enough. But what I mean by far is in a different sense. There's this substantial cultural shift from this city to that one. But what is it? What made the city so different in so many ways? The Gold Rush? The Film Industry? The Weather? The Surfers? In a city so far from what I've become used to around here, Los Angeles looks like some sort of frat house drunk utopian wonderland. Downtown looks more like a fortress than a vibrant city center. Public transportation is laughable in comparison, and the extent to which a car is necessary to get around is blatantly obvious after just a day or two.
L.A. did surprise me though. It was much cleaner, and was overgrown with vegetation and plants and landscaping to complement some very expensive properties. And even between the highways and on the lower class streets there were palm trees and flowers and such growing in appreciation of the perpetually good climate. People were friendly and laid back, and it was generally very beautiful.
What is fascinating however is what is in L.A. for a person like me.
"You're going on an architecture tour of L.A.? What's down there?"
Well, a lot of good architecture for one thing:
Arguably the most influential and most important house built in the last 30 years is Gehry's personal residence in Santa Monica.[1978]

The Cathedral of our Lady by Rafael Moneo.[2002]

The Schindler House [1922]

Charles and Ray Eames' Home.[1945]

Also there was:
SciArc
The Disney Concert Hall.
The LA River.
The office of Morphosis Architects.
The Office of Gehry Partners.
Ray Kappe's personal residence with a tour by Kappe himself.
And the sprawling $1B Getty Center

To name just a few of the things I crammed into four days.....[not to mention the site for my next project.]

L.A. was weird and wonderful. A voyeuristic dream of blondes and beaches. But absolutely not for me. I guess it was like Kitsilano with several billion dollars added to the mix. For a city seeming to be obsessed with the 'show' and having a pseudo-voyeuristic slant; after just a few short days I feel like I have seen all that L.A. has to offer, which is a lot by the way, but I'm not that interested. There is just no mystery left.