Los Angeles. Love/Hate Relationship. SPECIAL SERIES: A Tale of Two Cities. 2021. Part 1.

Midtown Atlanta

I am making this a "sub-series" within the series on my Love/Hate  series  of Los Angeles. 

I descended back into the City of Angels on December 29 after being in Atlanta since December 1. While Los Angeles went further and further into lockdown, I was able to eat indoors in restaurants, and go to bars, go to the gyms indoors and sit in a hot tub or sauna while in Georgia. I couldn't go to the movies, a museum or theatre. There were restrictions in medical offices, some greater than here, which I learned as I took my father to a number of appointments. Some schools were completely open, others hybrids, others yet online only. I went and looked at properties to purchase with an agent, albeit socially distancing and with masks on. I attended open houses with limits on numbers of people in the property, social distancing and again masks. But all in all, life was as normal as it could be with a pandemic never seen in our history. On occasion, I found places I entered in places around Georgia, usually outside Atlanta, although gay bars also often fell into this category, that were a a bit laissez faire and I would elect to either just move myself to a place where I felt comfortable or else leave the establishment. New cases in Georgia averaged about 2% higher than California the entire time I was there. But Atlanta metro had case counts when you took the counties that make up the region (Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, DeKalb, Clayton, Cherokee) that were lower than those that were skyrocketing in Los Angeles County (with a population larger than Georgia). If you consider the fact that the unemployment rate in Atlanta is half of that in Los Angeles (which is probably not just COVID related but a factor), the impacts lockdowns have on people's mental health, increases in addiction, physical violence and myriads of other issues, you easily can argue that the risks outweigh the benefits.

Robert at Ponce City Mkt, ATL

Due to a delayed flight out of Atlanta, I ended up flying into Burbank which is unusual for me. It's a very small airport. I remembered the baggage claim was outside and quick and that had not changed. The last time I had been there was so long ago, however, there was not yet Lyft/Uber. Ironically, I was briefly a Lyft driver and drove people to that airport (I don't recall picking anyone up there). But I didn't know where the pick was and was searching for it and called the driver. He proclaimed "I am waiting for you." I responded "Great. Where are you? I don't know where to meet you?" He was helpful in his response "I will leave."  Welcome home...  

Debris on street and sidewalk DTLA

I got in the car and he said "you live in Hollywood?" I replied " I am in Downtown LA." He took off at speeds and with turns so fast and furious I decided maybe my LA death wasn't to be Mulholland Drive but the Hollywood Freeway. Really, I was going to be cheapened to death on a freeway in LA? How common and boring... I looked outside and the sky was odd, strange colors. I commented "looks  like the 'Walking Dead'" and he grunted. There was an irony in the comment as I had been staying with my parents where large parts of the show is filmed. I would say I just prayed for my life but I am not sure I did. I think I was more in remorse of landing at all. The only excitement was that at least I would finally be with my husband and girls (cats) again whom I had neglected for too long.

As we came into Downtown, I noticed it seemed less illuminated (perhaps because I just left somewhere far more "open" for the last month). Graffiti seems to be blossoming everywhere. The homeless pandemic (which I've created a nonprofit dedicated to addressing Los Angeles' greatest shame) is increasingly so prevalent there is virtually not a block where you won't encounter at the least a person either singing or screaming to anyone or nobody in particular, someone nestled quietly in a corner or sometimes just blatantly sitting on the sidewalk shooting up; and if there are no open businesses the erection of LA's newest affordable housing, tent cities. Far more than when I had left, I noticed the city had become absolutely filthy dirty. Perhaps I was just tired and being negative after risking my life in a Lyft ride home...