Letters From Hollywood

Here’s just a few oddities I noticed while visiting over Christmas. In no particular order:

1. Your stores close ridiculously early. With the short hours, how does anyone get their shopping done? I had gotten so used having things available to me at arms length, that I realized just how much I take it for granted. I threw myself in the car and headed to the mall. My mind wasn’t anywhere in particular. It wasn’t until I got all the way there and saw the empty parking lot that I realized the mall was closed. I looked at my watch, which read 6:30 p.m. I know stuff back East closed early compared to what I’m used to … but that was kind of ridiculous. It took me a good two minutes to realize it was Sunday. Even so, that’s just frustrating.

2. Your radio stations are seriously three months behind. I’m cruising around town, when, I hear the DJ come on and say, “and now the number one requested song!” Sooooo three months ago. So I started taking note. All the songs on the countdown list were cool in Cali a quarter year ago. Get with the program!

3. I couldn’t find a decent Cup-of-Joe! In my opinion, there are a few pieces to this puzzle. First, the coffee obviously needs to be tasty and delicious. Further, the environment you consume said liquid stimulant, needs to be … awesome. Starbucks has become run-of-the-mill. And every other coffee joint in town closed at 6 or 7 everyday. Unacceptable.

4. The smoothie trend is just starting to make it’s way to the East Coast. I was wondering how long this would take. Tropical Smoothie, over by the new Target, is fantastic. It tastes like our Jamba Juice and Robek’s Juice. And, I’ll even go as far to say it’s better. The selection was way more diverse than we’ve got here. Awesomesauce.

5. I totally forgot how to use crosswalks. That’s how long I’ve been away. People actually stop for you without a red light. Amazing. Yeah, we certainly don’t have that.

6. When I went to Gold’s to work out one day, I accidently left a twenty-dollar bill in my sweatshirt pocket. When I returned to my unlocked locker, the money was still there! This might sound dumb to you, but in California, that money would have absolutely disappeared. It’s happened to me twice out here before. I actually had my clothes stolen once. I was so amazed I started purposely leaving money in my pocket when I went to the gym in Hummelstown. It was still there, every time. Very shocking.

7. The biggest thing I noticed while I was home was the difference in class separation. East coasters seem to be much more class-conscious than their Western counterpart. I found this especially reflected in the way people dress and wear ambitions on their sleeves. You have far more stratifications than out here. You generally “know” when someone is wealthier, and thus in a different class, than you. Out here, the billionaire could just as easily be the bum looking dude sitting across from you in the t-shirt, jeans and sandals.

Hope you found these little nuggets of information as interesting as I did.

Until next time, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.

Kemer