Natives Aren't Restless

WHEN THE EARTHQUAKE hit Baja California on Easter Sunday, I was eating with my mom, sister, and her two kids at the Rainforest Cafe at Disneytown. As I was finishing up my dank lavanachos, we all looked up at each other as the table and everything beneath us started to sway back and forth slowly. Looking at each other first and then at adjacent families who stopped eating their meals as well, we all knew that this wasn’t a part of the prop thunder and yelling gorillas that the restaurant is known for.

Although unsure of what it was at first, everyone around clarified that that definitely was an earthquake. It was also evident who was not from California as a child sitting at the table next to us immediately started to cry and tremble as he had never experienced an earthquake before - it turned out the family was from Indiana. As the waitress came back to our table, I asked if she had felt the earthquake. with a smile on, she replied, “You know what, I actually didn’t. But then again I’ve been working here for almost a year now and I’ve lived in California my whole life so I’m kinda used it I guess, as bad as that sounds.” The nonchalant and carefree manner of the waitress without showing the slightest fear in what just happened seemed to resonate to me the typical Southern California attitude regarding disasters like earthquakes or fires; we’ll worry about it when it happens and until then everything will be fine.

As my mom finished her rasta pasta and paid the check, she calmly looked over at my two teenaged nephews and says, “You know if this earthquake would have been the big one that’s coming, I would have been fine with it knowing that I was with two of my kids and two of my grandchildren.” With too-cool-for-school expressions that are typical of high school teenagers, they look at each other and smile and laugh seeming to think about the million places they would rather be than with their mom and grandma.

Driving back home I thought about where I would be during the next earthquake. No matter where I might be, I hope I’m not far from my family. Being away from home for the last three years at college, I have grown to enjoy not being home. Eating something between lunch and dinner with my family when the quake occurred, I felt it was a bit of a reality check from nature. The quake was a reminder of the ever-looming possibility of disaster and where you may be when it occurs. Being with my family put everything in a bit of a perspective as I have spent less and less time with my family since college. Since that quake, I have seen my mom at least once every weekend and have phoned her almost every other day- an improvement from the sporadic visits during winter and summer break and minimal phone calls.

--Eddie Flores

(photo credit: Eddie Flores)

Sight Seeing in Our City

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.

This weekend I decided to do something I have heard so many people talk about, but have never done myself. I took my little sisters -- who have grown up in Los Angeles, but also have never been -- on a hike up at the Griffith Observatory.

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)