Decision Made - We're Staying Put (long distance, friend, grow up, grandmother)
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It is quite possible the spreadoutness of LA makes its cultural life hard to access. But it is also the richness of the variety of what s available that makes the difference. When I wanted to watch an art film that Had opened and was listening to a discussion on it on NPR, I could not find it listed Anywhere in any theater around MB. I could have seen it in at least 2 theaters around Boston. I live about the same distance from Boston as MB is to LA. So it s not just availability of a cultural life but what it consists of that makes a difference. I was surprised.
I would bet money I could have found that listing in L.A. for you. A pet peeve of mine in the Los Angeles Times is needing to look for a film in all the different chains' listings, instead of looking for it by the name of the film. I know exactly which are the art theatres, and exactly where to look, which shouldn't be insider knowledge but it is, to some extent. As for the distance, MB is how close to what part of L.A., exactly? It is four or five miles to the closest part, and probably 30 or 40 miles from the farthest part. That's the problem about distances here.
Escort Rider: We get it you are a truly Californian and love your state. Are you trying to convince yourself or the rest of us that LA (really) is so great. Now San Diego where I am from originally beats LA hands down. Who would want to retire to LA. Gosh, sounds like a poll in the making.
Not me. But then you couldn't pay me to retire to NYC, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Portland (where I am from), Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix or any other major city in this country. Not my thing.
The "culture" available in Boston is completely different from LA, as is the "culture" in Portland different than what is in Atlanta. What some people see as culture, i.e. plays, symphonies, indie art theaters etc. others see as pretentious BS. While others see nature and the great outdoors as their form of culture. Others still, all things sports.
What will be interesting to see in the coming decades is how our children and grandchildren view culture. Most younger people I encounter and work with can't name any of the bands from the 70's let alone Bach or Beethoven. That's not thier "culture".
As many have said, thank goodness we don't all like the same thing. If we did, the world would be a really boring place.
I would bet money I could have found that listing in L.A. for you. A pet peeve of mine in the Los Angeles Times is needing to look for a film in all the different chains' listings, instead of looking for it by the name of the film. I know exactly which are the art theatres, and exactly where to look, which shouldn't be insider knowledge but it is, to some extent. As for the distance, MB is how close to what part of L.A., exactly? It is four or five miles to the closest part, and probably 30 or 40 miles from the farthest part. That's the problem about distances here.
I was googling for the movie which usually returns good information. I would love to know some of these art theaters for our next if you could let me know.
Not me. But then you couldn't pay me to retire to NYC, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Portland (where I am from), Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix or any other major city in this country. Not my thing.
The "culture" available in Boston is completely different from LA, as is the "culture" in Portland different than what is in Atlanta. What some people see as culture, i.e. plays, symphonies, indie art theaters etc. others see as pretentious BS. While others see nature and the great outdoors as their form of culture. Others still, all things sports.
What will be interesting to see in the coming decades is how our children and grandchildren view culture. Most younger people I encounter and work with can't name any of the bands from the 70's let alone Bach or Beethoven. That's not thier "culture".
As many have said, thank goodness we don't all like the same thing. If we did, the world would be a really boring place.
Not that I am trying to sell Boston or anything, and it is no patch on NYC, but you can get all that you mentioned in Boston - sports, symphonies, bands, nature. Perhaps the fact that it has many universities that brings in a younger population might have something to do with. Also I must mention neither of kids have any fondness for Boston. The people are difficult to know and are very rude drivers. It is a bit difficult to get around as street signs are non existent.
We decided to start all the remodeling with the bathrooms, and the half bath is first. Today we visited Menard's, Lowes, and Home Depot looking at vanity tops.
For available products in-store, number of displays, and quantity of good, easy to understand literature all first place ribbons go to Menard's. Both Lowes and Home Depot had pitiful displays, confusing as well as small, and zero pamphlets to pick up.
While we were at Lowes we were completely ignored. I walked around where the people working there could see me with a confused look just to see what would happen. Nothing. One guy spent the entire time standing around with his arms crossed watching the other workers. I thought there were a gazillion qualified people who want to work looking for jobs. Why is this guy getting paid to do nothing? The displays and charts are confusing and there are no easy means of telling what anything will cost. There's some A, B, and C levels and the pricing chart only shows a range of pricing for each. I finally asked some kid about it as he walked past us (Heaven forbid he'd offer us some help) and he showed me the levels and the pricing chart and walked away. Gee, thanks it's so obvious now that you've explained it. We left.
At Home Depot we spent some time trying to decipher the combination of display vanities and available surfaces - which we couldn't do. What a scrambled mess of unconnected information - no pamphlets. While we were looking some guy behind us started putting up great big steel shelving units and when he dropped them into place the sound hurt my ears. And he kept doing it. I finally told Barb we had to leave because I couldn't be there and the guy told me it was okay. When I told him I was already half deaf and didn't need to be around the noise he making he got a stupid look. He had no idea what I as talking about. We left.
<Stepping off topic for a second> For the guy in Manhattan Beach who is looking for art movies: Check out the free movies beings shown through October by Hermosa Arts Foundation . Also, it's a shame you missed out on the Bijou Theater. That was a such a classic local landmark but sadly it closed recently.
The thing to do in Manhattan Beach is join a few groups. MB is a very social town with a lot of local artists and people who work in the entertainment industry, and much of the cultural events happen at private parties. Don't be intimidated by that, if MB is anything like it was when I lived there, it's not hard to get invited to parties. Once you get connected in the south bay you'll start being invited to all sorts of cultural events. Toastmasters, Heal The Bay, PVAC, American Martyrs, even the Chamber are good ways to get hooked into a group (or at least they used to be). I met so many people through AM. If you like Dixieland, see if the Hyperion Outfall Serenaders are still around, Maybe you can hook up with them. Great group of seniors and they've been around a long time and are really well connected. These days you can probably find meet-up groups, too. If you want to see art movies without going the social route, I believe Santa Monica still has art movies, as does UCLA. Both are easy to get to. Take Vista del Mar and enjoy a scenic drive as well as avoiding the traffic on 405. Get into the habit of reading the Easy Reader, The Beach Reporter and The Daily Breeze. As for art exhibits, the Getty isn't a bad drive at all and there are also lots of small galleries right in the beach area. PVAC often has interesting exhibits. There are lots of art festivals--the ones in PV tend to have more fine arts pieces while the ones near the beach have more watercolors and paintings to put over your couch. Some of the best art collections are in unexpected places. At Neutrogena, for example--ugly little building near LAX but I was invited on a tour once and they had a surprisingly good art collection. There are all sorts of things going on at the beach. Please feel free to DM me if you want more specific suggestions. I lived in Manhattan Beach for more than 20 years and still feel very connected to friends there. It's a beach city, and definitely has a different vibe from Boston, but give it a chance and you may find more cultural events and things to do there than you see at first glance.
We decided to start all the remodeling with the bathrooms, and the half bath is first. Today we visited Menard's, Lowes, and Home Depot looking at vanity tops.
For available products in-store, number of displays, and quantity of good, easy to understand literature all first place ribbons go to Menard's. Both Lowes and Home Depot had pitiful displays, confusing as well as small, and zero pamphlets to pick up.
While we were at Lowes we were completely ignored. I walked around where the people working there could see me with a confused look just to see what would happen. Nothing. One guy spent the entire time standing around with his arms crossed watching the other workers. I thought there were a gazillion qualified people who want to work looking for jobs. Why is this guy getting paid to do nothing? The displays and charts are confusing and there are no easy means of telling what anything will cost. There's some A, B, and C levels and the pricing chart only shows a range of pricing for each. I finally asked some kid about it as he walked past us (Heaven forbid he'd offer us some help) and he showed me the levels and the pricing chart and walked away. Gee, thanks it's so obvious now that you've explained it. We left.
At Home Depot we spent some time trying to decipher the combination of display vanities and available surfaces - which we couldn't do. What a scrambled mess of unconnected information - no pamphlets. While we were looking some guy behind us started putting up great big steel shelving units and when he dropped them into place the sound hurt my ears. And he kept doing it. I finally told Barb we had to leave because I couldn't be there and the guy told me it was okay. When I told him I was already half deaf and didn't need to be around the noise he making he got a stupid look. He had no idea what I as talking about. We left.
Looks like Menard's is getting our business.
Before we started remodeling the house here we did all our research online. There are things like vanity styles and faucet styles, toilet styles, etc on the Home Depot website that are not available in-store (the description will state if it's not). We read the descriptions, the spec's etc down to the finest detail and measurement. Some of the brands are available elsewhere for a lot more money. We did a printout with product numbers and brought them in-store and got a kitchen rep who handled the items for the whole house for us—down to the last piece of moulding.
For the first round, we spent about 5 grand. The rep told us that when you spend that much you get to checkout and get the manager over to seal the deal (I forget the terminology, something like bulk pricing) and s/he reduces the tab. We got ours down to $4500, with no cost for delivery. Plus, we were able to talk HD into a 24-month payment with no interest, hence no need to use savings. We easily paid it off in 20 months.
We're about to do one last round and will do the same again. Always ask the manager for a deal.
Before we started remodeling the house here we did all our research online. There are things like vanity styles and faucet styles, toilet styles, etc on the Home Depot website that are not available in-store (the description will state if it's not). We read the descriptions, the spec's etc down to the finest detail and measurement. Some of the brands are available elsewhere for a lot more money. We did a printout with product numbers and brought them in-store and got a kitchen rep who handled the items for the whole house for us—down to the last piece of moulding.
For the first round, we spent about 5 grand. The rep told us that when you spend that much you get to checkout and get the manager over to seal the deal (I forget the terminology, something like bulk pricing) and s/he reduces the tab. We got ours down to $4500, with no cost for delivery. Plus, we were able to talk HD into a 24-month payment with no interest, hence no need to use savings. We easily paid it off in 20 months.
We're about to do one last round and will do the same again. Always ask the manager for a deal.
I cannot rep you, but you are my new best friend.
And I don't mind off topic unless it really, really gets ugly. Keeps the thread fun!!
I was googling for the movie which usually returns good information. I would love to know some of these art theaters for our next if you could let me know.
I will be happy to send you a direct message about this. Give me a few hours.
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