Known for being the eternal residence of icons like Judy Garland and Cecil B. DeMille, Hollywood Forever – the storied graveyard – undergoes expansion. It comes as no surprise given that Los Angeles, often personified as lasting eternity by prominent local author Eve Babitz, even seems to offer edits and revisions to eternity itself.
Having spent my formative years in Los Angeles during the 80s and 90s, my connection with the city is strong, although the adage ‘you can never return home’ holds. Yet, perhaps there’s a contradiction. Jeffrey Deitch, an art curator, proudly alludes to today’s LA as not just Joan Didion’s. It’s the place once called home by Cary Grant, a locale that prompts contemplation on the city’s rich past.
Amid the about 15 years Deitch has resided in this city, he perceives the art community becoming more inclusive, more reflective of the city’s multicultural composition. To his perspective, LA has morphed into the palpable core of the art world, propositioning as perhaps the epicenter worldwide. His deepening affection for his adopted city he terms as ‘the preeminent multicultural city globally,’ touting the highest density of creatives in America.
But an abundant city goes beyond just its demographics. Designer Scott Sternberg nods in concurrence, ‘The city offers a wealth of space in more senses than one, and that provision breeds a sense of freedom, a scope for potential.’ Sternberg, hailing originally from Dayton, Ohio, embodies the quintessential Angeleno – a person who found their calling in LA.
Sternberg moved to LA with dreams of Hollywood glamour, only to discover his true creative call in founding and designing for LA-based labels like Band of Outsiders and Entireworld. And he says it’s hard for him to envision achieving such somewhere else. Sternberg shares,’As someone in the fashion industry not encaged within the expectations of New York, London, or Milan, I’m freed from any societal pressures. This liberty, the absence of set boundaries, offers me an immense space for honing my craft.’
Bret Easton Ellis, an author with an LA upbringing during the 70s and 80s, remarks, ‘LA on multiple levels, including spatial, economic, and personal, compels you into solitude.’ Despite a relocation to the East Coast for education and subsequently to New York City, Ellis found his way back to LA in 2006.
LA is a city that feels dream-like, even to its natives. Fashion designer Eli Russell Linnetz, a Santa Monica native, articulates this sentiment. But it’s only fitting; isn’t LA a city brimming with dream chasers? Interior designer Kelly Wearstler, who left her mark on LA through her awe-inspiring work with the beloved Proper Hotels.
Wearstler’s own history with LA includes both triumph and tragedy. Even after losing their family home to a devastating fire after a two-decade residence in Malibu, Wearstler, much like the heart of LA itself, plans to rebuild. The question isn’t about the probability, but about the method. LA may never be quite the same, but it continuously evolves.
LA’s essence lies in its continuous evolution, its relentless zeal for reinventing itself and its inhabitants. We tend to be both the creators and consumers of LA’s continuous transformation and rebirth. Perhaps LA can be likened to a significant open-source project; a vast canvas for all to project their aspirations, view others’ projections, and in response, project even further.
Viewed through this lens, LA becomes a potent symbol of quintessential American aspirations of comfort, prosperity, health, wealth, and allure (and their absence). Its continuous reshaping, incessant power, and ceaseless adaptability, perhaps make it the most impressive American masterpiece.
Thomas Wolf proposed that one cannot revert to their past – to childhood, to romantic love, to the dreams of glory and fame nurtured by a younger self, or to the young conception of being an artist. However, I found myself challenged by that assertion when I found myself returning home to acknowledge the angels, to reminisce about my childhood aspirations, and to march into the sunset as far as my legs would carry me.
I found myself looking back, letting a sentiment akin to hope wash over me. Except that, in the context of Los Angeles, hope seems to be an eternal companion. A paradox of sorts, where the city itself personifies impermanence and yet invokes a never-ending sense of saying – that’s the timeless charm of LA.