A lot of people go to Los Angeles to chase dreams that they think only Hollywood can give them. So many times, families worry about their young adult children moving away to LA because they think that the city will chew them up and spit them out. Too many times they might be right. People are known for moving to Los Angeles to get their hearts broken and dreams shattered. They say LA is where dreams go to die unless you are one of the few that can make it.
Well, Hollywood saved me. Los Angeles saved my life.
I was fine in my life with graduating high school and being in the restaurant industry. It isn't that I did not know more was out there, it is just that I was not paying attention. I had goals, but these goals were small, like a new car when I get a family type small.
I knew I wanted to be in journalism but I thought it just meant using a connection in the sports industry some day and eventually getting the job. I was not thinking. I was not thinking about the proper steps I needed to take like college, internships, networking and getting a degree. I did not think degrees were too important, I knew people went to college to learn but I did not think the job world depended as much on graduates as it did. If I thought about it, I would have known it... but the problem was, I did not think about it.
My dad too many times tried to get me to think about taking junior college courses to get my foot in the door. I shrugged it off. Why? I don't know.
UCLA was the reason I wanted to go to college. I will never forget the moment in October 2010 I was driving down Sunset BLVD, we took a turn down some road in West Hollywood and got a bit lost. Round and round we went until we found ourselves in Westwood and there were students everywhere. Kids walking around, kids eating on the side of the street sitting on the curb, dorm windows open, music playing, Greek housing with people all over the lawns, people filled the streets...
I was thinking, can people not drive here? I rolled down my window and overheard these 22-or-something-year-olds talking about exams and walking to the bar after. I looked ahead at the sign and saw "UCLA." I looked around amazed that these pine trees could be in Hollywood much less this be a college campus? Far different than a campus like UofA... am I right? Immediately, I was hooked.
I dove all in. Enrolled in 5-6 classes per semester at a community college to get going. I was unstoppable, I had a vision and nothing was getting in the way. I felt a drive I never had before. This school was the reason I wanted to have a dream, my thoughts transformed and my only goal was to get into this college.
After that trip, I went and I researched. I searched and searched. I was so excited after work every day to go home and learn more about this specific college and this life. Every waking moment for weeks I searched through the school's class courses, the details, the options of majors and minors. I read about where you could end up if you went down any path of any major. I saw notable alumni, I realized college was the way to my "career." For what I knew of a career, that is. I knew success for me, personally, started here... Only to find out that for what I actually wanted to do, USC would be the more obvious choice. Yet, my persistence did not falter. (I could go into theater, sure, because UCLA was still my dream.)
In reality, I was sort of lost, not seeing the bigger picture or the whole point of "growing up."
Although in time, I took USC more seriously and applied there... I never went through with it. (For reasons I do not like to speak of I stuck with my admission somewhere else.) Everything happened the way it was supposed to.
Los Angeles began to become a series of adventures I took every couple months for a number of years. I suppose having family out there was not enough for me. I still needed the regular Orange County air, summer at the beach but this time I needed more. That is the great thing about part time jobs when you are younger, making enough to pay for trips and not needing to pay bills. (Thank you to the parents.) This city was fueling me and making my desire more clear. Sometimes I miss the "no responsibility" and the dreaming; not knowing where you are going to be in six months. The possibilities and the unknown are something you don't want until you don't have it.
Until something is no longer a choice or yours we do not miss it, right? I will forever be grateful for accomplishing my dream now, and thankful for those who helped me get there.
I remember teaching myself to dress professional for interviews and meetings in Los Angeles that were a disaster but I knew sports was my life. I had to start somewhere and somehow. I knew the NBA is where I wanted to work, at that particular time.
Thank you, UCLA for being the school I never attended. Thank you LA for the life that I have, because getting to you gave me everything I have now. This city back then was giving me hope, a dash of reality and a voice of reason. I could make anything happen if I wanted to.
This city is so embedded in my bones, it is the fire of my heart and making of my mind. I grew up here. Los Angeles was there for me when some of my "forever" friends backed out on me, cared more for themselves than anything else. When no one was there for me, Hollywood was. I thrived in the possibilities, the dreaming, the auditions, walking around the hills, and the random Beverly Hills conversations I would have with people passing by.
LA gave me a sense of reality when for most people it might be the sense of lost direction. The ocean feeds my soul. Surfing eases the mind. Above all else, the air of the trees when driving down Sunset BLVD to the Pacific Coast Highway is the reset anyone needs.
It was an addiction and still is. I work to surf. I live for the ocean, the sound of seagulls and scent of tanning oil. I love the sun and salt radiating off my skin, the beach lounges and Mai Tai's after a long day. I need the smell of driftwood and to see cabanas along the bay. Life on the harbor, we will meet again someday!
I know this — the view of the sea from Orange County, is like seeing the pacific coast for the first time again.. Every time. LA and Laguna Beach is as home as a place can be.
The city of angels glows of diamonds.
Los Angeles Forever.
