PERS ; THINK ABOUT ALL THOSE NIGHTS ON LUCKIE ST.

i find myself falling in love with streets. places where my favorite shops are lined up, streetwalks that thrill me while i walk down. melrose, with its funky boutiques. third street, with the nicest street performers i've ever seen & the tourists touting their nikon dslrs. college & shattuck, both enigmatic street names 'too far to venture to'.

of these, the most accessible, the common & mundane, the dirty, grimy streets are the ones i fall in love with the most.

ventura, home to dan's subs, my favorite buffalo exchange, & most offices in the sfv. no one likes ventura, what with its bad traffic & cops lined up to hand out illegal u-turn & speeding tickets. but the simplest of memories like eating late night in&out & screwing around at the dollar tree, walking from shalimar to yogurt delite back when things weren't complicated, paying 13 bucks too much for an overrated movie, smoking hookah too young..ventura is home. it's everything synonymous with the valley, it's my entire latter high school life. mediocre & mundane it may be, but it's a sign of familiarity any sfv resident would know. a beacon, beckoning you to come home, home.

i can't say telegraph is my favorite in berkeley (college avenue is too pretty & entrancing to lose to a street lined with hobos & sexual harassers, to violence at bus stops & smell of weed all over) but i find it akin to ventura. the single defining street of berkeley, grotesque at first sight but surprisingly houses so much history & beauty, be it the beat generation that frequented cafe med, the fried chicken sandwiches everyone lines up for at bakesale betty's, the korean restaurants & bars that we frequent every weekend...& the ride back home, half in stupor, opening groggy eyes to see the glowing lights of the campanile letting you know...

these streets lead to home.

playing | "luckie st." - cartel

photo | google searches 1, 2

PERS ; SUNKISSED SKIN SO HOT WE'LL MELT YOUR POPSICLE.

sidestepping the fact that a year or so of my life was spent in the south (a year i wish i could recall with all my being, but i guess not too many crazy experiences would have been had for an infant spending most of her time in an apartment), i am 100% by definition a socal girl.

① taking 110 degree weather in stride
② busting out fall clothes in 80 degree weather
③ bitching at the slightest sign of rain
④ relishing the drive down PCH every time
⑤ donning sunglasses every day
⑥ driving to a neighbor's house a five minute walk away
⑦ peppering 'like' and 'omg' into everyday conversation
⑧ knowing the other (crazier) venice
⑨ not even blinking twice at fire alerts

however, i somehow never acquired the requisite traits needed to live here; namely, loving to drive (still haven't taken a car anywhere near LA and don't plan to...ever) and loving the beach. i bring my ipod and summer read each time anticipating hours of relaxing with the sun beating down on my legs, only to get irritated the second i get there with the obnoxiously scalding hot sand getting all over my bag and shoes. and then there's that whole part about how i can't swim so i don't go anywhere near the ocean, unless i feel incredibly ballsy only to lose my sunglasses i've owned for one day (true story). there's the feeling of running into the water and crawling out with a whole slew of seaweed wrapped around your foot. and finally after hours of bitching i leave with shoes full of sand and a farmer's tan.

that being said, there's something completely different about the beach at night, something i'm completely enamored with. staring out into the black with greater waves crashing in. hanging on the banister of the lifeguard tower swinging your feet to the cold air. it's that darker side kicking in; sunny beaches found repulsive but nighttime waters found something quite different. couples huddled up in blankets and sweatshirts. lone flashlights checking the scene while you, you try to stay a mystery.

the lazy, carefree, warm-weather-loving socal girl, that's me. but then there are those other sides of living here: the ones that crawl out at night, high tides and 90 mph on the freeway, no wind and air at a standstill: the other california girl, the one no one expects.

playing | "california gurls" - katy perry feat. snoop dogg
photo | we live young ; girls of sun