There seems to be an acceptance of diverse levels of affluence and orderliness, where the one would not be tolerated by the other in the UK or even in Oz. There isn't much variation in basic build though, with bland concrete and steel constructions, devoid of character being the norm. Utility here, like so much of modern development is seen in terms of minimising construction cost to physical requirements, and aesthetic requirements are discounted to the point that they are not really considered.
Everything seems to be 'surface'. People's behaviour is often overly friendly or overly curt. Vehicles are oversized, waitresses are over-sincere. I feel like everyone seems to be scared and reactive.
The primary benchmark for this kind of social overkill is Disney. We went down to the site of Disney World yesterday because Wendi wanted to get some 'Ears' for her sister, and various other [things - I use the term politely] for her son. Call me a mean old git, but I couldn't bring myself to buy ANY of it for either of the little-uns. Its really NOT the 'reality' that I want them to attach to. You walk onto the site, (we just went to the shopping area) and SMELL the sugar, the sweet smell of exploited people. Gross.
And it's SO clean and orderly there. Such a distinction from the rest of LA. Even the trees are straight. Everyone smiles at you and offers platitudes. I just couldn't relate to people like that. They don't 'get' the British or the Aussie sense of humour at all! They don't seem to mind working at the surface of meaning. If you said 'Hi there sir, have a nice day' to someone here that's wearing a 'Micky face' [as Wendi christened the larger than life staff here] they would think you meant it... or at least would respond effusively in 'the large'. I don't mean to say that I don't mean well to people of course, just that the subtle plays on words that we use without really being aware of it in our everyday language are not understood here.
By contrast to this, I'd wanted to check out the 'Watts Towers' that have been one of the links in the sidebar of this blog for some time. This was a bit scary to get to, since it resides in a relatively run down area of LA called 'Watts' (odd that eh!).
This was truly inspirational. Essentially, it is a comprehensive construction of scrap steel and concrete, covered meticulously with bits of broken pottery and glass, by an Italian immigrant worker early in the last century. It is a breathtaking testament to one man's focus and tenacity. One can only imagine what sort of derision he would have had to put up with.
Immediately adjacent to the site are run down little houses that are partially boarded up. The yanks have declared this a national monument, but the street is still just an ordinary one, with rusting junk all around, broken cars etc. The locals seemed to look at us as if we were mad to be interested in this.... whilst trying to look important by dint of occupying an adjacent property.
The LA council had tried to have the towers pulled down when they were bought by a consortium attempting to have them preserved in 1959. They claimed that they represented a health risk. They applied massive pulling forces to them, but they couldn't budge them. So they decided that they were safe, and the rest is history. Now the Californian powers that be have to spend money preserving them...which is what the scaffolding is all about. For a look at them without the scaffolding, go to the link in the side panel, and read the fascinating detail there.
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The stand at the convention centre is going OK...with one or two hold ups. The seats [that are the prime purpose of exhibiting in the first place] were still in France yesterday. It seems that they are not arriving here until Sunday, and getting them through the customs should be fun. The show opens on Monday afternoon.
That's it... Have a nice day Y'Hear?
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