If you ask West Coast residents why they love L.A., you might actually find out that a lot of people don’t.  There are also many folks I know that don’t just “not love” L.A., they detest it.  The freeways are horrible.  People are insincere.  There is disappointment everywhere.  It’s so congested.  It’s too spread out.  So many homeless.  The smog is horrible.  It’s dirty.  There’s just…too much!

To this day, I have never found anyone that loves Los Angeles more than me.  I truly began calling L.A. the real love of my life years ago, after being informed that I actually broke an old boyfriend’s heart by moving back out to California after college.  It wasn’t that I didn’t love him (in fact, I believe he falls into that “one that got away” category); but, my love for L.A. was stronger than the love I had for him.  It’s not something I am proud of, but it made me realize that the love of my life was never a man; it was, instead, a crowded, traffic-filled, crazy city in Southern California.  They say that love is blind, and that certainly must be what keeps the rose colored glasses fixed tightly in front of my gaze whenever I envision the 33,954 square miles that make up the Greater Los Angeles area (Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura counties and the Inland Empire).  I overlook its faults (literally and metaphorically) and stare lovingly from the airplane to the ground as soon as I pass the mountains near Palm Springs, on my way to LAX.  Oh, there you are my love.

I laughingly recall when I was in high school and my grandmother took my cousin Christy and I on a Danube River cruise in Europe.  What an absolutely amazing experience and how lucky I was, right?  Sure, until I found out that my grandmother was taking my cousin Tracy to California.  What?  I had to go to stupid Europe and Tracy got to go to California?  Where was the justice in that?  How is that fair?  I actually cried.  Let me clarify that in retrospect, I know that I was being completely ridiculous.  The memory I have of that European trip is priceless.  What an experience and how incredible to spend it with my grandmother (and my dad).  I mean, who on earth would ever want to trade a first trip to Europe for a trip across the country to a place that you have already visited multiple times?

Well, for that teenager who dreamed of a future life living in the town where movies and television are made, it felt devastating.

Growing up, Los Angeles was, without a doubt, my favorite place to visit.  Not only did I love every movie studio and filming location and celebrity past-residence and beach area; I also loved the regular old places, mall stores and chain restaurants that we had back home.  They were somehow more sparkly and magic in California.  The stuff they sold was more chic and the food they served tasted better.  I know it was probably all in my imagination, but knowing that I was eating spaghetti from a restaurant where Pamela Sue Martin or Robert Urich could have eaten last week – heck, that was way cooler than any restaurant in Cincinnati.  And there is no doubt that I would have rather have visited Old Mexico, New York Street and Six Points Texas on the backlot of Universal Studios than take a trip to any real location anywhere else in the world.  Certainly, a big case of life foreshadowing there.

Of course, it all stemmed from my love of movies and television.  It is rather different these days with filming taking place in just about every other city in the US; but, that 9 year old girl sitting on that Universal Studios tram, in awe of every single fake façade and cheesy attraction, still lives deep within my heart.  When our tour guide pulled my brother and I onto the mocked-up set from “The Bionic Woman” and we watched as it suddenly began to rain outside the window, it was spellbinding.  The fake boulders rolling down the hill, the rushing water of the flash flood, the wooden bridge about to collapse under the weight of our tram – movie magic taking place literally right in front of me.  There was no place like it in the world.  My college “spring break” was spent with my roommate Julie (Juice) in a small hotel room in Westwood, taking public transportation to all the “famous” places I knew in town.  Besides Universal, we hit Venice Beach, Hollywood, Johnnie’s Coffee Shop, Santa Monica and, of course, the mall from “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and many other classics like “Night of the Comet,” “Innerspace,” “Chopping Mall,” and “Commando” to name a few.  One of the highlights in my almost 50 years of life was living next door to that mall during my 20s…yes, I was always in love with that city.

The countless hours of movies and television that I watched in my youth are ingrained in my subconscious.  When I am stuck in traffic on the 405, I rarely grumble or groan, because there is the possibility that a writer from “the A-Team” or a set designer from “Moonlighting” may be in the car in the lane next to me; and, that is amazing.  No matter that things are filmed all over the world, the majority of those employed in the movie/television industry are still in Los Angeles.  I remember working at my first job when I moved to California – a video store, naturally.  An older gentleman came in and was getting a membership in order to check out a film that most stores didn’t have.  As I took his license and credit card, it dawned on me that he was Glen A. Larson, the creator of “Battlestar Galactica,” “Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century,” B. J. and the Bear,” and “The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries.”  The awe in my soul was bursting to be in the presence of this man that brought such joy to my youth and so much enchantment to the screen.  That encounter would probably never have happened anywhere else in the world.

My love affair endures to this day; and, the city doesn’t disappoint me.  It continues to bring me those hard to imagine, goose bump-giving, surreal moments that end up in my reservoir of memories that constantly remind me how extraordinary life can be (not that I really need reminding).  And, one of the most astonishing of those moments happened earlier this month.  I was eating dinner at a small Italian restaurant hidden in Bel Air with my boss, co-worker and some studio clients.  Sitting across the dimly-lit restaurant, in the far back corner, I spotted Warren Beatty and Annette Bening dining with another couple.  I mentioned to one of my dinner companions that I had created this website, along with the 50 challenges to document the year before I turned 50; and, that one of my challenges was to somehow find a way to tell Warren Beatty, the star, co-director, co-writer and co-producer, “thank you” for making “Heaven Can Wait.”  I certainly figured that I would write a letter and somehow, through my publicity contacts and industry friends, would at least get it to someone in his wide circle.  But, there he was, less than 50 feet away.  There was no way I could let this moment pass me by.  I knew that I would likely never have this opportunity again.  As they concluded their dinner, the foursome walked toward our table to leave the restaurant and Warren lagged just a bit behind.  It gave me the perfect amount of time to approach him.

“Mr. Beatty, I don’t mean to bother you, but 39 years ago, I saw “Heaven Can Wait” and since then, it has been my favorite movie of all time.  I just wanted to say thank you for making it.”  He couldn’t have been more grateful, kind or sincere, asking my name and telling me what a wonderful thing that was to say.  He thanked me, lightly squeezed my hand and that was that.  You cannot imagine the feeling of finally telling someone, even in such a simple way, how something they did made such an impact on your life.  The movie actually said it best, “there’s always a plan.”  And, it seems, that plan brought me to that exact moment in time, at that exact place, in that exact city.  So, not only did I complete one of my 50 challenges in an absolutely amazing way; but, I now have a perfect, magical, real life moment to remember forever.   It couldn’t have been any better in the movies.  And, it couldn’t have happened anywhere else.  I love L.A.  #50WeeksTo50