In LA I caught up with AS, who I meet during my days as a Com student at JMU back in the 90's. AS had been on the left coast for a couple of years and had been doing pretty well for herself, finding a fab apartment in Venice Beach and working her way up in the corporate dream factory of Hollywood. We chilled out on the Beach, avoiding the usual tourist trappings of downtown.
This was the place where Jim Morrison was inspired to create the Doors; that stretch of boardwalk seen often in movies with the outdoor gym. There were hints of a counterculture still present, although the high rents keep out much of the starving artists. There's no room on the rooftops to live on and write books of poetry anymore; but the ocean breezes, colorful surroundings, and the sparse forest of hundred foot palm trees still serve as a retreat from the car choked city.
