Lost Angeles...misplaced, maybe?

Back in 1988, when I was much younger, I moved to Los Angeles (you can see a picture in the previous entry...and, I'll see what else I can dig up for this one).  I lived there for a little over 6 months, in two different places.  One off Irolo St. which bordered the Korean Police station and Mexican gangs.  After a few months, we moved to S. Hope St. (14th, I think), next to the California Hospital Medical Center, right on the edge of downtown, the L.A. River and the jewelry district. 

I worked at The Wherehouse for a number of months, made some interesting friends, and generally got by on practically nothing.

I remember going next door to the "Happy Bowl" style quickie food place and ordering a bowl of rice for lunch...as long as I had the full $1.07 I needed to buy it.  I ate a lot of rice...it's really about all I could afford on $4.25/hr for 20/hrs (if I was lucky) a week.  I couldn't afford a soda, and I think they used to charge for cups for water, too.

I saw a lot of interesting things in Los Angeles, and experienced an amazing amount of life in such a short period of time, but I was happy living and going out and being somewhere different.  Some stories I might just cover in more detail, but here's a Cliff notes version of my 6 months:

• Lived in a 1-bedroom apartment with 3, then 5 other people.
• Lived in a studio apartment with 2 other people.
• Moved down to Los Angeles in my folks' truck with a friend from High School (who was along for the ride), and he ended up getting 2nd degree burns on the move down.
• Same friend got in a car wreck in the same vehicle with my mom when she took the truck back home.  He swore he'd never ride in a car with my family again.
• Had a job at a "Everything's $10" store as a 3rd key manager, for about 5 days.
• Worked at The Wherehouse.
• Dated a man from Nicaragua (who moved to NYC as a teen) - he was black, built like a football player and had a lovely Spanish accent.
• Slept with a Hispanic guy down the street from me.
• Dated a guy who was twice my age that knew Marla Gibbs and thought I should try out for some comedy night she had there, as he told me, "Black folks will think you're hilarious, you got a black soul, girl."
• Got into a wreck.
• MJ's car got broken into.
• Got locked out of the 2nd place we lived for a couple nights (we weren't supposed to be living there).
• Went on my first roller coaster ride, which ended up with us going on it literally 20 times.
• Saw George Michael twice in concert.
• Saw Martin L. Gore walking down the street on Melrose.
• Got mistaken for a celebrity, a prostitute, and a street kid.
• Got followed for shoplifting (pretty much all over).
• Made some amazing friends...many of which I still wonder what happened to them.
• Met TL, a best friend to this day.
• Watched The Sound of Music, Friday the 13th, Phantasm and Halloween all for the first time in my life.
• Got invited to my first "underground" party, and thankfully didn't go as I would have been introduced to cocaine, among other things (and I think I would have loved it).
• Was asked on a weekly basis if I wanted to sell my 1972 Pinto (yes, I'm serious).
• Found myself while being a bit lost.

Needless to say, there's a lot more...but, that's the initial memory bank I have.

Life was hard for those months, but it was worth every second of it, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.  Experience becomes that when you allow it to change you, to make you stronger and better...if you don't, it's just another day, in my book.

To close...my old "Gay Video Manager" at my job - I loved this guy.  If you know who he is, drop me a line.  LOL 

-AA