Los Angeles Part II: Where My Friends Should Stop Asking Me for Directions

"Everyone has their own L.A." - PintsizedPioneer
Clockwise from top center: Pasadena’s Old Town, the Scientology Center, Pasadena’s Central Park, and Santa Monica (Photo credits by PintsizedPioneer)

Pasadena: Pasadena is suburbia with a twist. It is beautifully full of L.A. stereotypes. You can walk down the main street and find fancy yogurt shops, stores specializing in baked goods for dogs, and all organic cafés. You may also wander into a Scientology center. Natalie and I went in for a free personality test, but after learning we would have to give a lot of personal information to get the results, we were like “nah”.

We also ran out. In Pasadena’s central park, you can find families playing on jungle gyms, attractive college aged soccer players scrimmaging, the homeless, and even intense throw-downs.

We watched this one woman in a fancy zebra print sundress attack this older lady adorned in flip flops and a Dora the Explorer backpack. Zebra Sundress, the attacker, kept calling the older woman profanities and eventually backed the scared flip flop wearer into a soccer game we were enjoying.

The woman we know as “fat ass bitch” (we assume this is her name since that is what Zebra Sundress kept calling her) tripped over the players’ backpacks, and then Zebra Sundress jumped on her.

On top of “fat ass bitch”, Zebra Sundress proceeded to punch the older woman repeatedly. One of the shirtless soccer guys had to pull off the attacker from the backpack wearer. However, Zebra Sundress attacked “fat ass bitch” again.

If you look closely, you can see the police car that rolled up.

Santa Monica: After a fun night of memories and getting lost in L.A., we stayed at another Chewonki person’s house in Santa Monica. The next morning, we walked through a nice art fair and got some artisanal coffee.

I am back in the Midwest now. It was a fun trip, but surprisingly L.A. is not my city. It probably should be as a result of its eclectic mix of Asian and Hispanic culture, but I just don’t/didn’t feel at home in this place.

I don’t know why. Sense of place is so important, so I guess I have to just keep looking for where I really am at home. I don’t need to find anywhere right now of course; I have lifetime of wandering.

More to come about WWOOFing and maybe some universities abroad! Stay tuned.