Dispelling the Myth

I like to call a spade a spade and tell it how it really is. Before I came to California I had my own pre-conceptions about what US life was all about - 2 ½ years later and its time to squash those urban myths.

Myth No 1 Food is Cheap 

Yes people definitely do eat out more than back in the UK but whilst the menu might start off looking reasonable enough but by the time you’ve added on sales tax and your 18% tip the bill quickly adds up.  

However, a lot of fast food chains do promote their products solely on price. So if you aren’t too fussy about taste or quality, yes you can buy a burger for less than a dollar. Yay I’ll have two!

Myth No 2 Americans like to talk 

Do not confuse like to talk with sociable – there’s a subtle difference.  Americans  do like to talk - you’ll hear someone’s whole life story, warts and all, whilst you wait in line for your take-away. However, don’t expect them to be that interested in hearing yours. Likewise, although your co-workers will be happy enough to chat at the water-cooler don’t expect them to invite you over for dinner.  Americans like to protect their privacy.  

Myth No 3 Gas Prices are cheap 

True - petrol is currently about half what you pay in the UK but there again you’ll use twice as much.  A US gallon is smaller and so is your petrol tank; your great big SUV doesn’t do many MPG and you’ll spend an awful lot of time stopping and starting at traffic lights.  Penny for penny over the course of your car’s lifetime you’ll probably end up paying the same.

Myth No 4 America is the Land of the Free 

Free to practice whatever religion you like? True - America is a very religious country, it is also extremely conservative and amazingly intolerant.  Anything goes here in Southern California but there will be plenty of other states where you wouldn’t want to go around advertising the fact that you’re a gay heathen democrat who needs an abortion.  On the other hand, Catholicism, Judaism, Lutheranism, Evangelism, Presbyterian, Mormonism, Buddhism – you name it and they’ll be someone preaching it.  If you can’t find something that suits, just start your own cult.  

Free to shoot your neighbour if he steps onto your property? Absolutely - go for it!

Free to take a bottle of wine on your picnic? Not here! The consumption of alcohol is not permitted in public places  so that bottle of bubbly is banned from the beach.  Incidentally, so are you, after 10.00 pm.

Also not allowed after 10.00 pm – under 18’s.  Yes most towns will have a teenage curfew, so whilst your teenager is free to get a licence to drive a car at 16, if she is sat in it necking with her boyfriend after 10.00 pm she will be escorted home by the police.

America has tied itself up in knots with a multitude of  petty rules and regulations.  Always remember what state you are in - just because you are free to do something in one, it doesn't automatically mean you are free to do it in another.

Myth No 5 The Super Bowl is a Major Sporting Event 

Complete fallacy! The Super Bowl is a major media driven circus. Three million dollars bought 30 seconds of TV advertising. I can’t tell you who won the football but I can tell you which advert has been voted best in show – Dorito’s.  American Football isn’t a game of four quarters, it’s a game of 50 commercial breaks. I wouldn't be surprised if next year they decide to cut out the match altogether.

Out to Lunch

One thing I really like about living in Pasadena is having such a wide choice of cafes and restaurants on my doorstep, it’s just a shame the city council have never cottoned on to that quaint European idea of pedestrianisation and stopped the main street traversing Old Town. It’s easy to imagine a piazza style walkway full of tables and chairs, without the noise and traffic fumes, but there again, would your average American visit a café if they had to park their car 500 yards away? Probably not.

About once a week I meet up with a few ex-pat friends plus anyone else who happens to want to join us (we’re not exclusive) and we go out to lunch.  

Ever since I first arrived in Pasadena 2 ½ years ago I’ve been  strolling past the Cordon Bleu cookery school peering in the large windows to watch the trainee chefs at work.  About a year ago the school opened up a new restaurant and ever since we’ve been promising to treat ourselves to lunch.  Last week we finally went (it’s amazing how inspired you get to actually do things when you realize your time is about to run out).

$10 for a three course lunch and a NO TIPPING PLEASE policy, how bad could it be? Well it wasn’t bad at all, in fact it was a great culinary experience! 

The menu offers a choice of 8 different starters, 7 mains and 5 desserts. In my opinion the starters and the desserts are always the best part of any menu and the Cordon Bleu  was no exception. In fact if I could have just eaten my way through the entire 8 starters and the 5 desserts I’d have been a very happy girl; as it was I was only allowed one of each for my $10 and it was compulsory to have the main course.  But it would have been churlish to complain.

It was great to go out to eat somewhere in Pasadena and not be totally over-faced with gigantic portions; the staff were attentive but we never felt rushed; the only negative comment I have about the whole experience was that the restaurant is housed in an architecturally very impressive building – its an old bank – but open kitchens and high ceilings are bad for acoustics.  It was extremely noisy, but what the heck, you’re there to eat, not to talk!!

Highly recommended!

Pleasure Pockets

You don’t have to read too many of these posts to realize that I’m not actually a great fan of Los Angeles.  It’s a city without a heart.

There’s no downtown as such – what they call “downtown” Los Angeles is a collection of high rise office blocks.  If you want the retail experience you head out of town to the Malls, if you want designer haute couture you head out to Beverly Hills; if you want tourist tat you head out to Hollywood, and if you want history then you head out of state.

Los Angeles itself doesn’t have an awful lot of inspiring architecture–the guidebooks will set you off on a trail along Wilshire Boulevard, with its rather faded art-deco collection of buildings; Olvera Street in El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Park, the original Mexican quarter can be walked around in half an hour.  LA is a vast sprawling metropolis and most of the tourist hotspots are good drive apart. Remember this is a city of 18 million people, all of whom have two cars. Something that looks a 20 minute drive on a map can still take two hours in rush hour gridlock.

However, it would be mean to spend nearly three years living here and not have a good word to say about it.  There are little pockets of pleasure in Los Angeles – you just have to look for them.  I like Angel’s Flight, it’s a bizarre two minute funicular ride that takes you away from the down and outs in Pershing Square to the top of Bunker Hill where you can stand and admire even more office blocks. It’s a novelty but blink and you’ll have missed it.

I also like Griffith Park – home of the Hollywood Sign and Griffith Observatory.  Over Christmas we took a walk around the north side of the park and you’d have never even known you were in LA. Hawks circled over head and a friendly coyote kept popping his head up out of the undergrowth.

When we want to go to the beach we usually go to Santa Monica. It’s not just the lure of the sand but because of the English Shop where we can stock up on essentials like Bisto, Orange Squash and Branston Pickle. However, now that our local Fresh and Easy has increased its stock of British goods, Santa Monica has lost its usefulness, so last weekend when the temperature hit  80 degrees, we headed to South LA and discovered Manhattan Beach.

The place was a revelation.  This was real So Cal living.  This is how I had imagined I would be spending my time when the idea of transplanting to LA was first suggested. We’d have a beach house in an urban village.  I’d be power walking or cycling along the seafront. We’d have a hub of restaurants and cafés, trendy clothes shops on our doorstep, surrounded by lots of fit young men carrying surfboards.

Manhattan Beach had me inspired.  I’d finally found a part of Los Angeles that I really liked, even envied. An eclectic mix of pastel coloured beach huts, high tech glass fronted uber modern apartments dotted amongst mock tudor mansions and a 1930’s style residence that looked suspiciously like a piece of Wedgewood.  A thriving community built around attractive winding lanes sloping down to the wide sandy beach. Shame it just costs millions of dollars to live there.

Maybe I have warmed to Southern California after all.  It just goes to show one should always keep an open mind.