I’m in Los Angeles

Today I biked — bicycled — up to the Griffith Park Observatory, where I took the picture above. I’m subletting a place here in Los Angeles in order to work on my next book. It’s a sort of self-organized writing retreat. When I told people I was doing this they thought I was crazy not to get a car, even though many of these people knew I once wrote this article about the joys of bicycling in L.A.

My second time around I still love it biking here. If you give yourself enough time, you can get anywhere by bike in Los Angeles. (Almost anywhere). I did consider getting a car, but I’m glad I didn’t because sometimes it’s better to not have that option. If I had a car, I’d probably figure out ways to use it, to justify my having it. Today, if I had a car, I might have sat in it for hours on the freeway to get to the beach, but instead I biked to the top of Griffith Park. I’m sure it all depends on what you need to do, and since I’m writing, it’s also best that I not go too far away from my desk.

After riding down to the bottom of the park, I went to the grocery store to get some food. It’s a health food store, and I saw a sign for “Organic Popcorn,” a phrase which I think perfectly explains California.

Also, in the line at the health food store, I overheard a conversation between a kid about ten years old and his mom. He was pointing out something he wanted at the checkout.

“You’re Consumer Boy,” said the mom.

“What’s Consumer Boy?” he asked.

“You always want to buy stuff.”

   

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