So I'm sort of a musician and a writer, albeit aspiring, who after feeling like a misfit among yuppies that I continually ran into in the South Bay where I grew up, was thrilled to finally make the move into L.A. a couple years ago, specifically Koreatown and then Los Feliz. Finally, I was free to wear whatever the hell I wanted to wear, and not get hostile looks from people (I once wore an American Idiot shirt in Manhattan Beach, frankly just because I needed to do laundry, and received glares from every soccer mom I passed. ...Because Green Day are sooo controversial). Finally, I was not the only person alive who had heard of The Kinks. Finally, there were other options for live shows than hardcore punk and reggae. (I'm not dissing either; it was just limiting.)

But my corner of K-Town crushed my spirit with its traffic, honking and lack of parking, not to mention the ridiculously crappy plumbing in my building, and the neighbors who screamed at each other. Los Feliz was first a happy relief, with its many nice trees and loads of bars, shops, and restaurants in walking distance, before once again problems with my building have started tormenting me (the bathtub tap leaks a whole lot of water, the outlets cut in and out), and I miss on-site laundry rooms and a parking spot reserved just for me. I've started to be jealous of the easy-access parking lots in front of the Targets and Ralphs of places like Glendale and Studio City, as opposed to L.A. proper's massive parking structures. (I once made a wrong turn in The Grove parking structure, found myself outside again, gave up and went home.)

Those newer, "character"-less apartments with their functioning A/Cs and heaters aren't looking so bad these days either.