Lasts and Firsts

Lately I've been thinking a lot about lasts - my last days with friends in LA, my last meal at a certain restaurant, my last visit to favorite places - and it's a little depressing! Here's the story about my first trip to LA - to perk things up a bit.

I had never been to LA when I was applied for a job with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in 2004. I knew very little about the city but I needed a change and I was up for a new adventure. I knew only one person here, Deirdre, a friend from college who I hadn't seen in five years. I flew to LA for a final interview and was spending just three days here. Three days to go to the interview, find a place to live and decide if I wanted to move to LA.

I arrived at LAX around lunch time on Easter Sunday, rented a car and braved the infamous LA freeways. I liked what I saw, beaches, mountains, palm trees - it kind of reminded me of Merida, Venezuela, a city that I lived in a few years earlier.  It was nothing like the "Newark with palm trees" my father remembered from his only visit in the 1980's. I made it to Marina del Rey, had lunch at a trendy cafe on the beach, feeling very sure that this was the place for me.

I headed to the apartment that I found online - a beautiful place near the beach, with a pool, gym, and, based on the pictures in their ad,  blond-haired, blue-eyed surfer dudes hanging out in their board shorts. I was assured that the staff would be working on Easter Sunday and were happy to show me around the complex. I pulled in to parking lot, made my way to the manager's office, only to find a handwritten sign taped to the door "Closed for Easter". Really?!

I called Deirdre, stressed and teary, to tell her that I was standing in the parking lot of my dream home and it was closed. Where was I going to live? What was I going to do? "Come to my place," she says, "I have leftovers from Easter brunch. And you should check out the apartment next door to me, the girl just moved out. Oh, and I'm heading to Neve Campbell's house in the Hollywood Hills later. You should come along!" Really?! Easter brunch leftovers, an apartment next door to my only LA friend, and a chance to hang out at a real actor's house in Hollywood - things were definitely looking up!

A few years later I happened to be in Marina del Rey, right by the apartment I thought was my dream home. Sure, it was beautiful and close to the beach but, what a different LA experience I would have had if that manager's office had been open. I don't think I would have had such a wonderful time in LA, especially in my first couple of years, if it wasn't for Deirdre taking me under her wing and introducing me to so many fabulous people and places. It's funny how things work out.