#a358 :: Palm fragment

February 7, 2009

Los Angeles jetsam reminds me daily that I live in a freakish magpie’s nest of a city.

Stolen from aboriginal people by Spanish missionaries who gave huge chunks of it away to soldiers, whose families then sold it off in ever-decreasing slices and slivers, Los Angeles has always been shaped by grabbers, opportunists and self-reinventors.

Angelenos take, procure, manufacture, buy, steal, co-opt, give birth to or create whatever the hell they think they need to move forward …
Lubricated by commercial/political struggles over water and oil and finally fertilized and electrified by booms in aerospace, post-war manufacturing, Hollywood and wave upon wave of immigrants, this city is like an immense 50-by-50-mile petri dish: teeming with virulent, ever-mutating cultures of nationality, religion, science, sexuality, sport and art.

So when I’m shambling across Figueroa Blvd. in a hammering rainstorm USC to teach a room full of brilliant multi-cultural computer programmers how to architect social networks for a fictitious neighborhood watch and contemplating whether to eat Thai or Mexican that weekend before or after tackling a new video game or clean out my gutters, it’s no surprise to happen upon this: a wickedly sawtoothed chunk of palm.

This non-native species was imported to L.A. in the 20s and 30s to pretty things up.

And now it is an inextricable part of our mythology.

That’s why I love living here: Because when it comes to cooking its own ever-evolving recipe for the future, L.A. tosses absolutely whatever the hell it likes into the pot … and keeps stirring.

Filed under: Found Object, Jetsam, Life form | Comments (0)