LA Gets a Bad Rap

Say what you will about LA being populated with superficial people who have been injected with enough Botox to prevent their Grinch mouths from smiling even as they stab you in the back. I don't know enough about the city to accept or reject those claims outright. But I can tell you that there are certainly people and places that don't reflect the commonly promoted stereotype.

While the concept of thousands upon thousands of artists coming to pursue their bliss in the entertainment industry Mecca only to find frustration and failure is horribly tragic, there is a beauty in it as well. Tonight I attended a birthday party for my friend Whitton, an actress and blues dancer that I first met at the ACT Summer Training Congress a few years ago. I found myself surrounded by actors, musicians, dancers, animators, and writers – all of whom were engaged in the simultaneously geeky and sexy enterprise of ballroom dancing. I talked with various people at the party about their art, their goals, their concerns, and their day jobs. The through-line was passion; these artists were passionate about their work and were excited to be doing it. That is where I find the beauty in LA. While it may be hell for all of its inhabitants eventually, for each new arrival surrounded by other idealists Los Angeles, city of angels, is a Utopia.