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Because loving where you live is just the beginning—it’s about making it better, too. Like LA’s position between the steep, granite peaks of the San Gabriel Mountains and the unbounded Pacific Ocean, the city’s reputation is stuck between One love los angeles Girl vapidity and a sun-kissed bohemia. Those who call Los Angeles home know which of those stereotypes is true. In a city that’s never been quite sure where its suburbs are, the Craftsman bungalow is the perfect style of home—compact and easily replicable, yet rustic and seemingly handmade.

You can practically reach out and touch the American dream standing on the front porch. The wide, cushy seats and double-wide armrests of the chairs in the 1939 station harken to a time when train travel was glamorous and comfortable. 5 in cash in your wallet. So you can buy a heap of freshly-chopped pineapple, mango, cucumber, coconut, and watermelon slathered in lime, salt, and tajín from a fruit vendor under a rainbow umbrella.

88 cities and hundreds of neighborhoods. And all of them blend together. Are you in Burbank or Toluca Lake? Look at the color, font, and logo on street signs to figure out where you are.

Watching the credits at the end of movies. Because at least one of your friends or acquaintances worked crafty or was a grip. Free tacos when the Lakers hold their opponents to under 100 points. Riding the elevator at Miracle Mile’s Wilshire Tower with Ruben Pardo. Los Angeles is filled with extraordinary works of outsider art and homemade installations, but Simon Rodia’s Watts Towers still stand out more than 60 years after the artist finished working on them.

Standing nearly 100 feet tall, the towers can be seen for blocks in each direction. Watching movies under the stars at Hollywood Forever. A picnic with wine and a joint among friends and showy gravestones is a local summer pastime. Why give someone your address when you can tell them you live at The Commodore? Perhaps Chateau Chaumont—or maybe even Cheviot Capri? Did your Hollywood dreams fizzle out? You’re always welcome on the Venice Boardwalk.

Just put out a jar and start strumming a guitar, or slapping spoons together, or backflipping over things, or whatever it is you do. There’s an audience for it in Venice. Seeing Catalina on a clear day. 26 miles across the sea, Santa Catalina is awaitin’ for me. Santa Catalina, the island of romance, romance, romance. Recapturing the glory days of America’s favorite almost-sport at Shatto 39 Lanes or Highland Park Bowl.

Being dazzled by the signs on the old theaters on Broadway. Clifton’s is up and running again, and so are many of Broadway’s historic theaters. Though the street is quickly fancifying, it’s still one of the most lively places in Los Angeles, and at night, when its neon signs are aglow, it really shines. Going on a hike after you get off work.

The hills and mountains are our backyard. The best way to unwind from a stressful day is to sweat it out among the mustard flower and oak and cedar trees on trails overlooking the city or the bay. Eye level with the massive cranes that keep the Port of LA up and running, you can see the cargo ships hulking in and out of the harbor, and the seas of shipping containers stacked in neat rows and columns. Half the nation’s crap is sitting there, waiting to be unloaded, and you’re above it all. Was it Chinatown staple Philippe’s or revived Cole’s in Downtown that first put meat on a roll and soaked it with meat juice? We may never get to the bottom of this, but it’s probably a good idea to eat one sandwich from each establishment as personal research into the matter.

Stepping off the Expo Line and smelling the salty air as the doors open. The terminus of the light rail line ends mere blocks from the beach. In the early part of the 20th century, William Mulholland gave LA the one thing it needed to grow into a sprawling metropolis: water. Starting in 1913, it flowed downhill from Lake Owens through the new Los Angeles Aqueduct, and a collection of urban reservoirs provided a backup supply. Just call and say you’re stuck in traffic. It’s not a lie if it’s about to be true.