Valley Girls, Day 1

blogging from Los Angeles

We’re in an Airbnb in Studio City for an extended stay. I’m going to work from the LA office for a run of consecutive days. We’re gonna go see the Cure, and gonna go see Dijon.

Mal’s mom is with us on the trip, and it’s so nice to have gramma here with the baby. She hasn’t been to LA for 30+ years. She visited once, with her volleyball team in school. She says the hotel had complimentary apples and oranges—a marvel—and in a nearby shop she bought a plaque with a Helen Keller quote. It’s hanging in her kitchen today, and has hung in all her kitchens over the years. She doesn’t recall much more, and says she’ll ask her twin sister what she retained from the trip.

I’m stunned by the number of pilates studios and futuristic skincare outfits on the main drag in the neighborhood here. I saw a red Lamborghini from the mid-’80s ripping down Laurel Canyon Blvd last night, and it transported me back to my childhood bedroom where I had a poster with that same car, another with a white Ferrari, and one featuring William “Refrigerator” Perry.

I don’t think I cared one bit for cars or sports; these were just the things you hung on your wall in Noblesville, Indiana. This would have been around the time my sisters started doing the Valley Girl voice, gag me with a spoon and stuff.