No Place Like LA is our new series that asks transplants and immigrants to LA, "When was the moment you felt that Los Angeles was truly home?"
THIS IS Paul Koehler FROM LA'S STORY
I am originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I moved to Los Angeles in 2012.
The moment I became an Angeleno? It didn't even happen in Los Angeles.
It happened in Texas.
I was in Dallas for a business trip. My colleagues and I stopped at a diner.
Waitress looked at us and said, "Oh, where are you from?"
Up until that time, I had answered people, "Well, I'm originally from the Midwest and I lived in Japan for a long time and then I moved [to LA]."
But that was the first time I had said, "Oh, I'm from Los Angeles."
Took two years, but by that point I had realized I cut out most of my background and I felt at that time I really felt like I was at home.
It's home for me.