Los Angeles (Monday 9 August)

‘Americans love their cars’ it has been said and from what I can see, is true. The cars are big and there are plenty of them. Australians love their cars too so what’s the difference? Americans seem to design their cities around their cars (in LA at least) where Australian cities seem to treat them as a second thought. The roads here are impressive and the freeways are engineering marvels. There are levels upon levels of aerial roads – towers of cement everywhere. I’ve seen images of these freeways but nothing compares to seeing and hearing them for real.

I finally got the public transport worked out and found the Queen Mary. She’s bigger than the Titanic was and resides in Longbeach Harbour on the southern side of town. Hollywood is a suburb on the northern edge and Santa Monica is a suburb to the west and on the coast. Los Angeles centre is just below Hollywood and well inland. It’s nothing spectacular. There are no coffee shops and cafes associated with the high rises as there are in the cities of Australia. Where do they eat? There’s not much character here, just a lot of cement and palm trees.

Football season is about to start and the Helen Keller Park (isn’t she an Australian who helped find a cure for polio) just down the road from where I am staying is full of kids of all ages training for grid iron. Kids of 6 years of age are decked out in huge shoulder pads and helmets and by the sound of the frustration coming out of the coaches, the attention span of these kids is no different to Australian kids! All the kids are Afro-Americans, probably a symptom of the neighborhood social demographics. The Hispanic kids must play soccer. It was one of the few times I didn’t have my camera and I missed some priceless opportunities. It was hilarious watching the antics of these kids. There is a fantastic simple ad showing on tv at the moment promoting the up-coming football season – unlike the psychotic overproductions Australian Rugby League roles out each year. It has a simple message ‘It’s good to be back – back to foitball’. Baseballs king for a short while linger. LA’s team are the ‘Dodgers’ and they’re on the nose with the locals. Attendances are way down, the team is fighting amongst themselves, overpaid teamsters are thumbing their noses at the fans and the owner is being run out if town! Australian sport us dull in comparison!

I’m off to San Francisco tomorrow, and a whole new public transport system to learn!