City of Stars
Los Angeles, Californie, États-Unis Hey there,
When I thought of Los Angeles, I thought about stars, not the celebrities kind of stars, not the walk of fame, and certainly not the kind of stars you see in the sky when it's clear. The kind of stars you have in your eyes when you step into a dreamy place, and you have so many hopes and expectations about your life here. But when I first walked into the streets of Los Angeles, I saw broken dreams and fake stars, a parade of money, excess and expensive things, a bit of rudeness and sadness, and I was not so impressed.
I saw empty stores, hundreds of people in the streets, broken signs and empty streets. I saw the sad parts of Los Angeles before I saw the good ones. But It made me appreciate even more this trip. I gained sympathy for the city of stars, not out of pity, but not based on a good start I'll admit... As the days went by I grew a sort of love for this city... Because as I said to a friend when describing the city: "every street, every neighborhood is unique and worthy of admiration". What struck me was the importance of art and graphics. It's both beautiful and mesmerizing.
Every wall is painted, and I believe it embellishes the city and makes it so beautiful, and worthy of the time you take to wander around. Every step you take in this city, it's like you're in a movie. Add music to your ears, and you'll have your soundtrack. My boyfriend has always asked me why I always listen to loud music. I didn't have any correct answers to give until I realized... When you listen to music with the volume so high, you can't hear anything else. The music isn't a background noise, it accompanies your thoughts and it becomes the soundtrack to your life.
Los Angeles is like a dream you don't want to wake up from, it mixes your worst nightmares or a few of them but it also gives you your happiest moments. You see so many pretty things, so unreal stuff, you keep asking yourself 'is this a dream?'. It's so weirdly pretty, so artistic, but then so empty. I thought it would be crowded but it wasn't. Although the touristic places were, the real streets, the ones with a strong culture, that actually live, weren't. I find it sad that we come for the historical spots, the famous ones, the most "instagrammable" ones. We leave alone the ones that are important to the locals. I guess that's what being a tourist is about, so that's okay.
I first thought that Los Angeles was pathetic, a city where it's all glitter and fake smiles, people showing off their cool cars, while people struggle on the streets. At some point, I felt overwhelmed by sadness. Then you see the art, the real smiles, you hear the laugh and you feel the happiness. People keep being nice to you and you feel like you belong. It's also nice, as contradictory as it sounds, to gather to the same touristic places, to watch a sunset. As cheesy and cliché as it seems, being gathered at the same place at the same time to watch the art of nature take form, it feels warm. There's a strong sense of community, and it feels nice. It reminds us that, at the end of the day, we are all together, we are the same and we could be united if we had to if we wanted to. Life can be so poetic and full of surprises sometimes, can't it?
So there it is the first story of our California Road Trip. I wanted to start with an article about my first personal impressions of Los Angeles, and how I changed my mind as soon as I saw all the lights shining at night, and the art on the streets, that you will see on a different post, and the community that gathers to watch an amazing sunset over the hollywood hills.
I'll talk to you soon,
Love,
Elsa.
PS: Don't forget that you can subscribe to my Newsletter to receive the blog posts directly into your inbox! You can also follow me on BlogLovin for notifications when I post something. Finally, for daily updates, follow me on Twitter and Instagram.
DRESS: BRANDY MELVILLE
EARRINGS: MANORA BIJOUX ON ETSY
Enregistrer un commentaire