LA and California
California calls me.
My all-time favorite song: Hotel California
Los Angeles is burning, but speaking for myself, it is as if all of California is burning. In my mind, LA is California. My wife and I have been up and down the coast of California. I have always dreamed of going there and perhaps someday living there. California always seemed romantic and exciting. For me, as I am sure for most Americans, these fires are heart-wrenching.
California: My Brooklyn Dodgers snuck out of New York to LA, and Willie Mays and the Baseball Giants left Manhattan to move to San Francisco. All the stage and screen actors lived there as they do now.
Fire smoke shrouds the blue sky, blocking the sunlight that typically bathes the hills and neighborhoods below. Homes are reduced to ashes, and lives are displaced. Wildfires do not discriminate. They rip through parched canyons and verdant terrain, consuming everything before them. The air clogs with the soot and sorrow of a metropolis of magic, watching its luster burn away.
It is not simply a story of destruction. It’s a story of a place so beautiful and complicated that losing it feels like losing a bit of ourselves. LOS ANGELES — This city is a city of opposites. It is glamorous, grimy, sprawling, specific, ancient, and constantly growing. Its brilliance is in its expansive diversity. It is where the Pacific Ocean encounters the mountains, golden beaches blend into colorful neighborhoods, and art, music, and film mold the dreams of millions.
Provide heat in the palm-lined streets that manifest a life lived outdoors in the sun of California. See Griffith Park, where denizens of the city hike up hillsides to behold views wide enough to hold the world. Picture the Los Angeles River, meandering through neighborhoods as a reminder of the city’s origins. Then consider the people, the millions of them, who call this place home. They leave their cultures, languages, and traditions behind and come from far and wide. Together, they form a mosaic that is distinctly Los Angeles.
It is this wealth that makes the fires so vicious. They don’t merely take trees and structures; they rob memories and landmarks. They ruin places with stories where dreams have been fostered and neighborhoods have been constructed. The fires test those who live here, forcing them to reckon with the fragility of what they love.
But even during that tragedy, the spirit of Los Angeles prevails. Individuals come together to provide shelter, food, and comfort to those in need, and artists express their city’s heartbreak and hope through music, murals, and film. Firefighters gallantly fight the flames. Each act of kindness and solidarity reminds us that fire cannot devour the heart of Los Angeles.
The songs listed below call to me. They call me to my memories of when I was young. They call me to the 1970s. They call me to a time to which I wish I could return. But, alas, that is never possible, except in my memories.
I have included some of my favorite California songs, and it feels so good to hear them again. If you wish, you can listen and enjoy.
The Mommas and The Papas: California Dreamin:
The Beach Boys: California and the song was about girls everywhere
Led Zepplin-Going to California
Scott McKenzie-San Francisco
Albert Hammond-It Never Rains in Southern California
Tony Bennett-I Left My Heart In San Francisco
Dionne Warwick-Do You Know the Way to San Jose
Wow! I was literally just writing on this very subject for my first published article on Substack. What a coincidence! I’m writing about a bunch of songs with California in the title — but also I’m including a few that have a California vibe. Having recently moved from CA after living there my entire life some nostalgia has set in.
I was researching the song, “Do you know the way to San Jose?” because I remember that song so well from my childhood. I read that Dion Warwick actually hated the song. But she needed the money. I’m trying to capture aspects of the social cultural aspects as well as the vibe during various areas: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and beyond. I’m also attempting to reference how these various songs affected me as I was maturing.
I also reference, ‘It Never Rains in California’ (a song I used to sing as a child) and California Dreamin’ which is simply iconic.
I find it interesting how the mood of the songs changes through the various decades. Originally, representation of idealism exemplified by California Here I Come, then later California Dreamin’ which was more nostalgic, followed by tunes that were more dark, critical or cynical. The Sunset Grill by Don Henley captures that mood.
I lived in SoCal for twenty years and NorCal for twenty five years. So, that’s most of my life!
The fires are devastating. It’s sad. I had to evacuate my house a couple of years ago. With climate change and limited water supply I think that California is going to need to rethink housing and development.
I’ve been feeling a need to leave California for a long time as it’s no longer holds the meaning and significance it had in the past. My children have left. They say they’ll never return as there are no jobs for them in California. No reason for me to stay either. I felt I need to escape or move on.
Anyways, I hope your friend(s) or family member(s) are okay in LA right now. (I saw some comments alluding to that above earlier. But I can see them now for some reason.)
Take care.
I loved this article, and what a wonderful tribute to California. I, born and raised in the Midwest, fell in love with the state in the 70s and had the good fortune to move here in 1978. In the past almost 50 years, I've been up and down the state, all along the coast, through the desert, and into the mountains more times than I can count. The devastation in the LA area is unfathomable.