EVEN THOUGH I grew up in Los Angeles, I often feel like I have done less in my city than those visiting or those who have relocated here.Because it was a beautiful Saturday morning, the 101 Freeway to the 5 Freeway -- which I had no idea would take me to Los Feliz Blvd. and to the observatory and the L.A. Zoo -- was a zoo itself. It took us 45-minutes to get from Studio City, the south end of the San Fernando Valley, to Los Feliz only a few miles away.
We then got lost for awhile on Los Feliz Blvd. in a neighborhood full of amazing historical houses before, like tourists in our own city, we began to follow the signs up past the Greek Amphitheater, the golf course, and finally to the Observatory itself. Parking was hectic and the trails were packed, with what seemed mostly with tourists (real tourists), but once we got to the top of the trail we saw sights of our city that we had never known existed. All of a sudden we became tourists ourselves while observing the 360-degree view of the city we have been born in and never left.
could not determine downtown from Century City or Santa Monica or Burbank. As we were standing there turning in circles and trying to figure out which direction the beach was a man came up to us and asked us what we were looking for. We explained to him we were trying to figure out which way the beach was and within five quick minutes he mapped out the whole city for us from the foothills of Pasadena to the tip of the peninsula. Assuming he was a native Angeleno I asked him what part of Los Angeles he was from. His response: “I’m just here visiting for the weekend from Wisconsin.”Only in Los Angeles would a tourist from the Midwest know the city better than a native. With that experience in hand my sisters and I decided were going to make it a point once a month to explore and knew part of our city and get to know it a little better.
-- Danielle Rosenthal
(photo credit: danielle rosenthal)
