Today I am moving out of my apartment in Westwood and to a new place in Whittier—30 miles east of here (to be closer to my job at Biola University). It’s exciting to move but also bittersweet. I really enjoyed my two-year stint here while attending UCLA. Westwood is a really great section of Los Angeles, with loads of history and culture. I’d highly recommend living here if anyone ever gets a chance.
Here are just a few things I’ll miss about this place:
- Tons of great, unique restaurants and hardly any chains. There are chains galore where I am moving (not to knock chains or anything…).
- The fact that I was within a ten-minute walk of a bus that could take me most any place in L.A. (this is totally a rare luxury in Southern “we drive” California).
- Being ten minutes away from the Getty Center. It’s definitely my favorite place in L.A. I enjoyed going there to study in the gardens and get lost in the overwhelmingly zen peacefulness of that place.
- The diversity. There is every ethnicity and income range imaginable on a city block in Westwood. I can walk three blocks up my street and see ridiculously luxurious condos or walk a block and find a homeless person living in a bus shelter. Not that this is a good thing…
- Diddy Riese Cookies. The best little cookie shop in the world.
- Being able to walk to an AMC 15 complex in Century City and being a five-minute drive from L.A. nicest arts theater—Landmark Westside Pavilion. And having historic old Hollywood theaters just blocks away (like the Majestic Crest, pictured above). It’s movie heaven in Westwood!
- The cemetery in my neighborhood where Marilyn Monroe’s is buried (and Natalie Wood, Truman Capote, and countless other famous people).
- The enormous numbers of naturally occurring hipsters.
- The cool temperatures. Westwood is about 5 miles from the Pacific Ocean, which means we never really get too hot or too cold. Inland (where I’m moving), the temps are a bit more extreme.
- The huge, daunting, slightly creepy Mormon temple that loomed large in my backyard (literally).
- My insane landlady. She was a very scary person and reminded me a lot of Ma Fratelli, but, God bless her, I will miss the excitement of always fearing her wrath.