The Face of New Urbanism
I am a New Urbanist. There, I said it. It’s true, but I never set out to make a statement by my living situation. I simply needed a place to live, and after looking at shitty place after shitty place I just chose the place that didn’t suck as much as the others. That place happened to be a loft style place in the NoHo Arts District. Which, it turns out, is a major example of New Urbanism, Los Angeles Style.
For those who, like me until very recently, are ignorant of exactly what New Urbanism means, click here.
Sounds great, huh? I mean, living here means I’m all ecologically friendly and stuff. And, yeah- there’s a lot to be said for my neighborhood. It’s nice walking to EAT Restaurant, or any of the even-newer (or better, yet- older, like that Indian restaurant on Lankershim) places in the neighborhood. It’s nice being near a big park. It’s kind of cool, getting on the subway and ending up in Hollywood.
I’ve done that. Twice. Oh, and I went to Universal on the subway to meet my uncle for dinner, once.
I’ll also tell you, for all the eco-friendly glamour of living in a New Urbanist community there are a few pitfalls. First of all, it’s expensive to live here. Crazy expensive. Like, my loft could easy be a house the way things are priced in Los Angeles. The almost-nightly gunshots, and the every-night sirens and “ghetto birds” in the air get a bit tiring at times. Then there was this homeless lady on the corner, whenever I’d run by she’d try to spit on me. I never took it personally, though: she spit at everybody. I think the gentrification of the neighborhood eventually pushed her out. Is it weird that I miss her?
I have a diverse group of interesting neighbors, in my New Urbanist neighborhood. There’s the agent at Endeavor whose mail I keep getting, the actress in indie films, a bonafide rap artist on a major record label (he just moved to Beverly Hills last week), my neighbor the production designer for Hollywood, and me- struggling but awesome writer-director guy. And my buddy Brandon who does editing for us lives only 5 minutes away.
There’s also a few scary neighbors, like the Russian guys who don’t like it when I work out in the gym while they’re trying to sleep at 2 in the afternoon after a late night of gunplay and recreational drug abuse. Speaking of drug abuse, there’s a crackhouse only 2 blocks away.
And lastly, there’s a ton of spoiled young adults who live on trust funds and think the world revolves around them. I think I like them less than anyone.
Still, if you ignore the bad there is a lot to be said for this New Urbanist lifestyle. I enjoy walking to the bank and the grocery store. I love my impromptu jogs through the city (contrary to one’s preconceived notions, not all of said jogs are inspired by the local gangs). I like that I’m “in the middle” of things, here. It’s interesting. It can be exciting.
And of course, there’s that whole eco-friendly vibe.
Even though most of the people who live here have no clue about how green their lifestyle really truly is.
No commentsOne of those days
Ever have one of those days where you just don’t do a whole lot?
It’s pretty rare for me. I’m usually running on all cylinders. All the time. But not today.
Therefore, here’s my list of things of note that I did today:
- Smelled my girlfriend’s neck.
- Enjoyed a 100 calorie fat free jello™ brand chocolate pudding while wearing flip-flops.
- Took a picture of a bird on my balcony. I call it “North Hollywood Dove”. Others call it “Flying Rat” or “Pigeon”.
Here’s the picture*:
* Yes, I do believe this poor bird only has one leg. Therefore, let us call him “one-legged north hollywood dove”. And no, having one leg does not seem to have affected this stalwart feathered being one whit. I’ve always wanted to say ‘whit’. Now, I have.
Couch Cases- Now Online!
Visit www.couchcases.com for a preview of our show! Couch Cases is the first project from High Five and a Hug Productions, and I co-created and directed it.
No commentsOn Being Afraid
Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering - Yoda
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear… And when it is gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear is gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. - Frank Herbert, Dune
Al-Qaeda’s entire existence is based on fear. So are some of the actions of our own government. It’s easy to be afraid in a world where airplanes crash into buildings, stock and housing markets crash and burn, torture is allowed, and bombs fall on people. I don’t think too many people would try to dispute that the overall amount of fear in our world has increased in the past decade. And it’s certainly not limited to “Big Fear”, the kind perpetuated by terrorists and governments. On a personal level, it’s incredibly easy to act like a virus- replicating and spreading fear throughout our environment. It’s an ever-escalating cycle, and it affects every aspect of our lives.
I’ve dealt with a work situation that was fear-driven recently. The client felt that their previous agency had treated them terribly, so they approached every aspect of our interaction as if we were trying to take advantage of them. Being of a good nature (usually at least), I decided we should press on with the client and prove to them that we’re on their side by delivering incredible value and top-notch work, even allowing the client to add in features that were beyond the scope of their projects for free.
This didn’t work out very well. As often happens, the formerly abused became the abuser. No matter how low we cut our prices and how great our work was, this client was unable and unwilling to let go of their preconceived notion that they’d been taken advantage of, and their fear of a repeat situation permeated every aspect of our interaction. Things got so paranoid with this client that they accused us of working for the competition, and demanded that we don’t show our work off to others.
Finally, of course, we had to part ways. It’s a shame, because some of the work we’ve already completed for them is truly amazing stuff. I think that’s part of why we held on to them for as long as we did. We all like to show off our best work. Artists like the world to see their work, that’s our nature. But this client’s fear had completely overshadowed everything else in their lives. And the state of their organization reflects that fear.
I don’t want to become like them. I don’t want to shut good things out of my life because I am afraid. And I don’t want to perpetuate and replicate the fear of others. Dealing with that former client’s fear made me take a good hard look at myself. It made me wonder, if macro-level “Big Fear” can trickle down to the most mundane actions we take and color all that we do, perhaps the antidote is to take those mundane interactions and make them positive. Perhaps that could result in a sort of “bubble up” process, where little fears are eradicated, leading to larger fears being eliminated.
So, being me, I decided to try an experiment this morning.
When I first moved to the city, I’d go for a jog and say hello to people as I passed. Over time, I stopped doing this because of all the sour-faced thin-lipped non-reactions I’d get from passerby and fellow joggers. I learned that in the city, you don’t say hello. In the city, we act like “the other” doesn’t exist. Because “the other” is scary.
Well, that’s bullshit. So today, I went for a jog. And I said hello and smiled at 5 people. You know what? 2 of them looked at me in a surprised way, smiled back, and said hello. Sure, 3 of them were rude. But that’s OK. Baby steps.
Maybe if we all start to do one or two little things a day that replace fear with love- as corny as that may sound- our love will replicate and spread like a virus too. Maybe John Lennon was right. Maybe love is the answer. Perhaps love is the weapon that can overcome this culture of fear. I’m not advocating that we let other people take advantage of us. I’m only advocating that we don’t let the dark side win by ceding ground to it on a personal level. We can control how we interact with others.
It can’t hurt to try.
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