In the July issue of "VLife," the
"lifestyle" magazine published by Variety, Paul Cullum interviews actor
Ron Livingston about his neighborhood haunts in Los Feliz. He has a pretty good take on the area that can be applied to all aspects of LA living:
You know you can come down Laurel Canyon, and you can turn left or you can turn right. I always tended to turn left. The Dime over on Fairfax is about as far west as I like to get....
There's something about L.A. and Southern California in general that's in the mining tradition. I think a lot of the (film-industry stuff) is an outgrowth of the Gold Rush mentality. People come out here for the opportunity, but a lot of times they lack community. None of those miners actually got along with each other; they were all digging for the same shit. I don't feel that as much over on the east side...
Ron names the usual east side places as favorite haunts: Counterpoint Records & Books on Franklin; Mario's Peruvian on Melrose and Vine -"terrific food and terrible atmosphere"-; Alegria on Sunset; Red Lion Tavern, LA Zoo, Los Feliz Golf Course and the Golden Gopher downtown, adding "If you can get somewhere on a freeway in four minutes, it counts as part of your neighborhood, even if it's 10 miles away."