Inspired by the series over at The Fake Angeleno I thought we would take inventory of our first three months here in LA and issue a series titled: Chicago to LA - 3 Month Report Card.

Kicking things off in the series are Things We Like About LA. This blog has given Los Angeles a tough go of it from time to time, but today H and I would like to tell you about some of the things we’ve come to like/love living here.

The Re-Development of Downtown - Back in January when we made our first visit to Los Angeles people kept telling us about the re-development of downtown; how much things are changing and what an exciting time it is here in the heart of the city. After three months we both agree how exhilarating it can be at times to walk amongst the construction and see a new skyline being born in our backyard. Sure the constant backup beeping and the dirt and dust get old quick but it’s a small price to pay in order to speak proudly when someone asks you were you live. Neither of us are convinced the city has it all figured out - there is little greenspace and no action to create any in the immediate future; delays in permits and inspections halt the timely opening of new business; the lack of well known retailers in the core isn’t conducive in keeping residents in the city for their shopping; and there are plenty of socio-econimc problems to be addressed. All that aside, it certainly is fun to see a new floor go up each week on the building across the street from us as well as running into new neighbors and hearing about their new found downtown experience.

Watching Hollywood in Action - We’ve seen movies being filmed before including the last two Batmans in Chicago. Back when I lived in Canada a certain scene from the first X-Men movie was on my way to school every day. But only in LA can you see Hollywood in action - commercials being filmed and all of a sudden weeks later you are sitting there watching it all unfold in-between the latest episode of Big Brother. Television shows and their stars hang out on the sidewalk and mingle amongst downtown residents for an hour as the crew prepares a scene that will last no more than 10 seconds on air. The other day we’re at the Grove and park our car over looking a CBS lot. Another time we are in Burbank and drive past the Disney and Warner Brothers studios. It’s just a little strange to see all those things on tv being created right here in your backyard. I know a lot of downtown residents complain about FilmLA and the studios filming in the city but it’s never an issue with us and I don’t think it ever would be.

The Ocean - The Pacific right? Just checking … It’s always fun to hop in the car and half an hour later be walking with my feet in the ocean. I’ve always grown up around the water, at least having it close by. It’s one thing to be near a harbor or Lake Michigan, but there is a certain allure of being around the ocean. Neither H nor I are beach people in that you won’t find us packing up our stuff and heading to lay in the sand for hours at a time. But we do enjoy walking along the water or driving up and down the Pacific Coast Highway and hearing the water crash against the rocks.

Bugs - Every time we toured an apartment we kept asking why there were no screens in the windows. Of course very few people had an answer but no so long after being here we realized it’s because there are very few bugs. Yeah the moths were kind of crazy during the month of April but we never see flies, no mosquitoes, nothing. Why is that? Honestly if I don’t get an answer I will be just fine because I am not big on bugs and I am glad they aren’t around as much here. For you people in other areas or recent transplants to LA - can you imagine having your window open for hours on end back home on a warm summer night without screens? Impossible.

Weather - Only in LA can you make plans that involve being outdoors and not having to worry about things falling through. Sure it’s a little strange for the weather to be in the 80s every day without a drop of rain in months but at least there is no humidity. Morning, afternoon and evening walks never leaving you gasping for breath the way humidity does in other parts of North America. We also love the fact you can go to the beach and it’s never so hot out that you can stand it because the temperature is always 10 degrees cooler by the water. I swear Carter always found it fun to hang outside and sniff around when it was pouring down rain in Chicago or if it was -20 with a foot of snow. Here in LA you know it’s going to be picture perfect each and every time we walk him outside.

Wild Animals - This one still gets us once in a while. It’s strange that we have not seen a squirrel the entire time we’ve been here but how crazy is it to walk on the beach and see dolphins jumping out of the water in the distance? Or walking along the shoreline in Long Beach and having a seal-lion sit there in the sun 10 feet away from you. Sure there are some crazy wild animals including the ones that come out of the hills and try to carry off little kids but what can you do.

There are surely a few other things we like about LA and perhaps when our six month review rolls around we will have more to say. Please check back tomorrow for our list of Things We Don’t Like About LA …

So my elected representative on the city council is Jan Perry and I live in the 9th district. Various downtown blogs I follow have mentioned her by name and I figured she was the councilperson in our area but this morning I checked the riding and confirmed she is the shot caller in downtown.

When I pulled up a map to check out just how big the riding was I couldn’t believe the area covered, it’s massive!

I can only imagine the challenges she faces in her duties; developing social programs for those in need, economic development of her district, and the formation of public policy. Lots of heavy stuff, right?

Well apparently one of the big pressing issues Ms. Perry feels the need to tackle is what I eat and where I eat it.

You see yesterday an LA city council committee, led my councilwoman Perry, approved an ordinance that would ban the establishment of ‘fast food’ restaurants within a 32-mile radius. You can check out more on the issue here, here, and here.

I understand the theory behind the Ms. Perry’s movement - she would like to see additional affordable food options for certain areas of Los Angeles, particularly those at a socio-economic disadvantage. I get it, I really do. These areas traditionally do not have a large number of supermarkets and residents are eating unhealthy. But what kind of food choices do you hope to bring in? Will people in those areas be able to afford them?

The impact on me personally is two fold. One, I have been dying for Wendy’s since arriving out here and there isn’t one in downtown Los Angeles nor does it appear one will exist any time soon. Secondly, should government be telling me what I can eat in my neighborhood and when?

I like fast food as much as the next guy, and yes I know it isn’t all that good for me. But you know what? Neither are the creamy mashed potatoes I get at a fancy sit-down restaurant. While I don’t want my neighborhood to be littered with fast food options I certainly don’t want to live in a place where dinner will cost me $100 any time I want to eat out. Also, what kind of business constitutes fast food? Is ice-cream in the ban because it isn’t good for you?

Exaggerating? Sure I am, to a degree. But at the same time are there not more pressing issues for the city to throw their weight at than this?

I could spend the rest of the day listing issues that need more attention than hamburgers, fries and Coke. The homeless issue downtown is not going away on its own, so what is being done to tackle this issue head on in a real-time, real-life basis? Why does it take months on end for new businesses to get the permits and certifications required? They city is tough on jaywalkers, easy on public urination and indecent exposure.

I mentioned a few weeks ago who should be running this city if you want action; I mean real life in your face action.

Parking enforcement. Nobody works harder, seven days a week to get things done. If the city was run with the dedication and no-nonsense attitude of these people you would be looking at a world-class city.

Thanks to Eric and everyone over at Blogdowntown for the recent mention in this post - it’s really appreciated!

Our posts here tend to revolve around our daily experiences and thoughts in our new home, here in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. There’s usually plenty of questions, the occasional whining and you can count on us belly-aching about missing Chicago.

If the mood strikes you please leave a comment on any of the topics covered, we love hearing what others have to say and how you feel. Be sure to bookmark us and check back to see what is new, what’s on our minds and of course the odd funny photo of Carter himself. There’s an RSS feed available for you technically inclined people (aren’t they great!).

Once again, welcome new readers - we’re glad you’re here!

And now the obligatory picture of our namesake.

People love asking me for directions.

Perhaps it is my non-threatening demeanor or the not so menacing dog I am walking, but for one reason or another I am asked to be the real-life GPS for wayward drivers in downtown Los Angeles.

In the past people have asked for directions to Union Station, Hollywood (twice), “Figueroa - you know the busy part of downtown” (their quote, not mine), the 110, the 101 … there are more but you get the point.

Now here’s the part why I feel really bad. I don’t have a clue where anything is around here.

If we had not bought our GPS unit before arriving in Los Angeles there is not a chance in hell I would be able to find anything. We never would have found certain beaches, Carter would not have food, H would not have contact lenses and the house would be a mess because tracking down a Target would just be a dream.

I can’t tell you the difference between the 101, the 110, the 210, the 10, the 405, the 5 or any other numbered highway with the word ‘the’ in front of it. Nor do I know the difference between the Ventura highway, the Santa Monica Freeway or any other named road.

Luckily I have a fool-proof plan when people ask me where things are. Generally they know they want a certain highway and it’s usually the 110 or the 10 which are both close by (I think). I’ve learned you can pretty much get to the highway you need if you enter the ramp off of 8th Street, just past Fig. So I tend to make it a point and send them that way and hope for the best.

Okay, I am not that cavalier with sending people on a wild goose chase but I do send them that way if I have an idea what they want. Luckily in the past there have people other people in the area who know better than I do, such as the doorman at the Olympic last week who helped a car full of dudes find Hollywood.

So if you are reading this and happen to find yourself lost in South Park, feel free to ask for directions and I will send you west on 8th to some high way that will take you somewhere.

I was checking my SPAM folder today and saw an e-mail from Claire Kincaid. I got excited because I always thought she was one of the two best ADAs on Law and Order (the other being Abbey Carmichael).
Unfortunately, the e-mail was not from Claire Kincade or Jill Hennessy but rather someone wanting to sell me discount prescription drugs.

That’s too bad.

On Saturday afternoon H and I purchased our tickets online and made our way to The Grove to check out the new batman movie, The Dark Knight.

You’ve probably read all the reviews and heard about the box office records that fell this weekend, so let me tell you one thing: it’s all true and it’s all worth it. The two and a half hour run time was a factor when drinking my soda, causing me to pace myself so I didn’t have to leave during the movie but I didn’t miss a second. The story was well laid out, the characters were amazing, and Chicago looked great.

The Dark Knight crew spent 13 weeks filming in the Chicago area and I was lucky enough to catch some of the production during that time. The bank heist at the beginning of the movie was filmed at the old post office just off of 290 and I drove by the setup numerous times on my way to work. On more than one occasion I caught the crew on Lower Wacker, and I vividly remember the day they blew up the old chocolate factory on the west side as part of the movie.

But you can see movie production any time out here in Los Angeles so it wasn’t about seeing the magic come to life on the big screen. To be honest it was about seeing some place familiar.

H and I both left the movie thinking the same thing - the film looked great. I’m not exactly sure what a cinematographer does but I know they are in charge of how the film looks through choices of lighting, lenses, and things like that. Whoever was in charge of all this stuff on The Dark Knight should win some kind of award.

And then there was Chicago. We’ve seen the city in various flicks before, including Ocean’s Eleven and Twelve but never to the degree we saw this weekend. It seemed as though every exterior, and some interior shots were familiar to us.

We recognized Navy Pier … Bruce Wayne’s penthouse was in Hotel 71 and you could check out Marina Towers in the background … You could see the Chicago river from the IBM building which was supposed to be a city office … Upper and Lower Wacker were prominent, so was La Salle street and the Chicago Theater … We caught signs for Harris Bank and the Jamba Juice on State street … the El tracks were scattered throughout … it was fun and interesting to see our former home play such a role in the film.

Visually speaking, Chicago is a unique city. Downtown has some great streets and the architecture is second to none with the mix of classic American buildings and new, exciting designs. Throw in the river, Lake Michigan and a great skyline and it’s no wonder why Chicago is chosen more and more for movies.

Thought I would drop a few random notes for you all regarding our neighborhood and what’s going on here these days.

• Robeks finally opened today. They are no Jamba Juice but I might give them a chance.
• We’ve been to Panini Cafe twice and both times the food was decent enough. Here’s the thing I don’t get though … Say you order pasta, and it comes with a salad. Well call me crazy but I’d like to eat my salad before my entree. Not at Panini though — when we requested that H’s Cesar come out first we were told it was not possible. Why?
• The temperature has been in the mid 80s the last few days, but you can always count on seeing someone dressed inapproriately for the weather. Case in point, the dude I saw on his bike yesterday wearing a hoodie and a winter jacket. I’m sure there is something of a breeze when he is whizzing through downtown on his bike but not enough to justify his fashion choices.
• Speaking of fasion … A new term has begun at FIDM and everyone is wearing their new clothes. This includes gigantic shoes - the kind where your heel is at least 3-5 inches from touching the ground in any way.
• Continuing with fashion … So it’s hot outside but you want to be fashionable. A scarf around your neck? Every day for the last three days I have seen someone wearing this.
• Urine stained sidewalks smell worse the hotter it gets.
• Quiznos and Pastagina still not open. Go figure.
• I love walking outside at night and seeing The Orpheum sign lit up.
• My body doesn’t like the heat. How do I know? As soon as I get out of the shower I take Carter for a walk - not a long walk, maybe 10 minutes. By the time I get home I need to change shirts because I have sweat through the brand new clean one I just put on to start the day.

Two things have been well documented here on our blog:

1. A lot of reality television is viewed in our house.
2. Neither Carter or I watch by choice.

You can find past references here and here.

A few weeks ago I was complaining about summer programming and how there doesn’t seem to be anything new on television. This lead to us recording a million episodes of Law & Order and watching them periodically throughout the week. But something happened in the magical world of television recently, namely the return of reality shows for the summer. Here is a brief list of what makes it onto our tv these days:

• Shear Genius - I can’t even comment to be honest with you. I will spend quality time with H and watch her silly shows but this is the one I just don’t get. The contestants are not interesting and the judges are just blah.
• So You Think You Can Dance - H loves this show, I mean LOVES it. How do I know this? Once in a while she will watch a performance and then rewind it and watch it again. I’ve told you already I think Cat Deeley is the best reality television host out there based on her personality and looks but the wardrobe department puts her in some interesting outfits from time to time. Anyhow, the contestants seem cool enough, and I get to see a few cute girls dance around some stage while teenagers shout every time one of the dudes takes his shirt off.
• Big Brother - I don’t get Julie Chen. I don’t get the crazy messed up people they stuff in the house. I just don’t get this show period. What could make it worse? We currently subscribe to Showtime for the first time in our lives which means we get three hours of programming a night of the house guests hanging, smoking and talking about nothing. Just to recap here - we had four hours of original Big Brother programming on our DVR last night.
• Project Runway - Heidi is hot and it just goes to show that it doesn’t matter what you sing, if you are a singer hot chicks will like you. Nina Garcia scares the crap out of me but I could watch Tim Gunn walk into a room and say “Hello designers” all day long. The people on the show are at least interesting to watch and have some talent, unlike our friends on Big Brother who are there because …. hmmm I am not sure what goes into being selected for Big Brother.

Which brings me to my pet peeves, all of which are perpetuated on reality television. They occur in every day life, but you see them more often than not on television.

• People giving more than 100% - By definition the most you can give is 100%. Not 110%, not 125%, and not the over the top 200%. The most you can give is 100%. Period. So please don’t sit in your confessional or approach the reporter and say “Man, I just wanted to give it all I got, and I did. I gave 110% and left it all out there”. Buddy, you are lying to yourself. You gave maybe 100%, mayyyyybe, because I don’t buy anyone doing their very best in life just so they aren’t eliminated on a television show.
• Referring to yourself in the third person - There is nothing I can’t stand more than people that do this, and reality television takes it to a whole new level. On tv it happens in one of two places: (1) the confessional room when someone is giving their diary entry to the camera or (2) when someone is explaining themselves to the group. Here is an example of #1: “… I mean I’m Diedra and one of the best designers here. Ain’t nobody going to come into this house and tell me otherwise, and if they do Diedra is going to step all over them”. Seriously? What do their parents think when they see things like this. Personally it makes me cringe and look away from the television, so I can only imagine what happens when the people that changed their diapers see them acting this way in front of millions of people. Example of #2: Picture a group of contestants standing outside arguing about some insane issue … “Are you kidding me? Why would I not try to win? Huh? Tell me that! It came down to Randy, Jake and me. Why shouldn’t I win? Why shouldn’t Steve get a win under his belt?”. Ugh ….

Of course the worst thing that can happen is a combination, such as: “What you see is what you get. I didn’t come all this way to lose so you can count on Ginny giving 110% every time out there”.

• Tasteless product placement: I know someone has to pay the bills, but what happened to the good old days when they would flash a logo at the end of the show that read “Such and such provided by so and so”? Nowadays you rush your models to the Tresseme hair salon, makeup is done in the L’Oreal studio  and chefs have two hours to cook with the latest Sears Kenmore appliances.

So this is what my summer has come to as three of the four shows mentioned just got underway …

Pay phones, remember them?

Before the days of everyone and their uncle having a cell phone, there were pay phones.

Prior to people walking around all day with their head blinking a constant blue pulse and looking like a cyborg, there were payphones.

The last time I used a pay phone was in the winter of 2004. Don’t ask me why I remember that, but I do. I was in a building that did not allow cell phones and I needed to make a call.

But not here in sunny downtown Los Angeles.

Pay phones are everywhere here! Within a two block radius of our place there are at least six of them, if not more. And here’s the thing — people are always using them! Let’s be clear that when I say people I mean individuals from all walks of life. Those who seems down and out on their luck … people who are speaking a language I don’t understand … people speaking the one language I do understand but would rather not hear their conversation in public …

You’re probably saying to yourself, “Hey you Canadian-Midwest transplant, don’t they have pay phones where you are from?”. The answer is yes they do still have pay phones back in Chicago and in Canada, however usually you have to seek them out in a building such as a mall or a public/government office; they are not randomly placed on a side street.

So we have the whole phone thing out of the way in the sense there are many more here in downtown LA than in other areas. Which leads to the ineviatble question …

Who are these people using them and who are they calling?

My friends … this is our magic machine. It’s a washer … it’s a dryer … it’s a thing I used to get wrinkles out of clothes so I don’t have to iron … It’s half man, half amazing.

Well actually it’s the LG WM3988HWA but we don’t have to get technical. Let’s just say it’s our washer and dryer combo.

Our history with washing machines has been all over the map. Our first rental in Lincoln Park didn’t have in-unit laundry so we had to take everything down the service elevator to the ground floor laundry room. The only good part was the price - 50 cents to wash and twenty-five to dry. When we bought our condo in Lincoln Square we had a washer dryer hookup so our first major purchase two days after moving in was our stackable unit. On the day we checked out our current home the unit owner had just discovered the stackable he purchased would not work in this place and was going to donate it to charity and buy something else. Well he decided on this crazy machine and I am glad he did.

Why the excitement over a washer dryer? Probably because I do all the laundry so it’s a big deal to me. Other than that, here a few things we have come to love and hate about our futuristic clothes machine …

• It’s nice to put one load of laundry in and call it a day - no need to move wet clothes into the dryer
• Clothes come out much cleaner than a conventional washing machine, at least we notice this with sheets and socks
• If you don’t take clothes out right away they will become damp, and that sucks kids
• It takes a long time to dry a regular load of laundry.
• It’s an HE product and uses less water than a normal unit. It also doesn’t require a ton of laundry detergent or fabric softener
• Goodbye Bounce, hello aforementioned fabric softener
• It just looks cool from the outer appearance to the digital display to the little song it plays when the cycle is complete
• There are a million settings and quite frankly I can never decide what I should use.

Here is the link to the product page at LG if you are curious.