waxing lyrical on dirty concrete. i used to hate l.a. it's ugly, it's squat, it's brown, it's muddish. mean people abound in droves and the stank of smog delves deep into the lungs. once while approaching la in a train coming from sd, the conductor said dryly "if you'll look outside your window now, you won't see the beautiful downtown buildings because of the yellow smog. welcome to los angeles folks." i couldn't help agreeing whole heartedly with that statement and tone of voice.

after today's jaunt around town however, i must conclude that i was entirely too arrogant and snide to lay the smack down on a place just because it wasn't immediately aesthetically pleasing. mainly because once you get past the smogginess and stand in between those immense towers on the dirty streets below, the yellow smog disappears (today's good weather helped of course) and your senses are invaded with a million textures of concrete and glass. see, glass and steel is always neat...but i've always held a special place in my artsy fartsy heart for the cold, brute roughness that can be concrete. drab gray formed into gigantic pillars or delicate spirals with shiny glinting slices of glass wedged in between...it's enough to make me laugh out loud like an idiot high on caffeine. that kinda stuff moves me mad. downtown la is a mecca for 60s and 70s style concrete architecture....interspersed with healthy doses of modern stone work, nods to art nouveau, accents of art deco, and just enough steel and chrome to set the heart pounding. a lot of the abstract modern art guarding the entrances to the buildings are pretty wack...but then most abstract outdoor modern art is so who cares. see...it all adds to the whole persona of downtown la...snobby biz, in a hurry, brisk, brusque, myob, leave me the hell alone. i love that. the first place i've truly felt at home as far as cities goes. :)