New Job in a Downtown
Started a new job today, with an advertising company in Downtown Los Angeles. I've always wanted to work in downtown. I was overwhelmed by the number of people on the street during lunch time. I've seldom visited downtown during daylight hours; I tend to sneak in under cover of darkness. I took the subway to work, and I'm sitting in the station where I'll catch a subway train home. I never imagined I would ever not drive to work. I've never known anyone in Los Angeles who customarily took this puny little subway system to work. Friends from around the country who I tell of this development generally react with confusion: "Los Angeles has a subway?"
Downtown has a very different feel to it from West Hollywood where I used to work. There are so many homeless people in downtown, crouched beside buildings and in crowded thoroughfares. Living near USC seared most of the conscious sympathy from me. But deep down, I feel so sad that so many people have to live outdoors. The weather's nice. I'm also jaded by having my car broken into a number of times, and friends held up at knifepoint (nobody can afford guns in these neighborhoods). In West Hollywood, homeless are more likely to beg you to read their script.
I'm nearing my subway exit. Signing off.
