California
Los Angeles
Visiting LA was an experience. It’s one of those places so vividly depicted in contemporary culture that it’s impossible to arrive without a head full of opinions and expectations. Hollywood, palm-lined boulevards, Beverly Hills mansions, Venice Beach skaters, Malibu sunsets, the endless traffic, and perhaps the most puzzling social fabric in the developed world. I was ready to be crushed under the weight of it all.
But after a couple of days wandering from Compton to Beverly Hills, I found the city surprisingly… normal (…).
Hollywood
We love to romanticize places around the world — Paris, the Great Pyramids, traditional streets of Kyoto etc. Those places grow in our imagination until they become something almost mythical. But when we finally go there, reality doesn’t always line up with our fantasy. Sometimes it’s underwhelming, sometimes jarring, sometimes just disappointing. There’s even a name for that feeling: Paris syndrome.
The term was coined by Japanese psychiatrist Hiroaki Ota in the 1980s to describe the severe culture shock some visitors experience when Paris doesn’t match the elegant, polished image they’ve seen in media (…).
Venice Beach
Ah, Venice Beach! Unlike for many who identify US with some more monumental and grand places, for me… this is my America. This is the world from the TV shows, games, and subcultures I grew up with — the ones that shaped me long before I ever set foot in this place for the first time.
I still have that vividly engraved image of Rodney Mullen pulling off his 360 triple kickflips and handstand combos along the unsuspecting crowds at the Venice boardwalk, all to a punk rock soundtrack by AFI. The outdoor culture, the street art, the performers, surfers heading to the waves, the people working out — and of course, the countless appearances in movies, TV shows, and video games from the 90s and early 2000s.
Venice Canals
Ah yes, the Venice Canals — those long-famous arteries of water winding between tightly packed houses along their banks. The boats, the calm reflections on the water, the quiet romance… and, hold on.
Are those surfboards? And why are the houses wooden? Aren’t they supposed to be Renaissance townhouses? And what’s with all those palm trees
Wait. Where am I again? This is not Venice, Italy, This is Venice Beach — California (…).
Santa Monica
I keep hearing how much everyone loves to be surrounded by beautiful things — so why are we so determined to strip everything around us of the character and personality that makes it unique?
Whenever you walk through an old European town, a hundred-year-old desert oasis, or places like Santa Monica Beach with its seaside wooden houses featured here, one thing becomes immediately clear. You can feel the individuality. The character. The soul of the people who live — or once lived — there. It’s written directly into the very tissue of the buildings themselves. No two are quite the same. They tell a story (…).
St. Monica Pier
Established in 1909, the Santa Monica Pier has long been a symbol of Los Angeles. Yet every time I look at it, I can’t shake the feeling that it’s a relic of a different era.
There’s no doubt it’s a fun, touristy place — built to be visited, wandered around, enjoyed. But it was erected at a time when “going to the beach” meant something else entirely.
It reminds me of a place near my hometown, once a puritan seaside resort. It also brings to mind the cities in the sky from BioShock Infinite — cheesy music drifting from old fairground organs (…).