Beverly Hills – The Last Oasis

Wow, ok, so let me talk about Beverly Hills for a little bit since I live fairly close to this place. Actually, my wife works down the street from here and while she was working last Saturday, I decided to take a walk with the stroller so my little 2-year-old could take a nap – this is where I ended up.

So it’s cool, I got to shoot some photography while she was sleeping and I didn’t have to worry about her running out into the street and getting hit by a car.

I also just got the Fujifilm 90mm f2 and the 35mm f1.4. Holy crap! I can’t believe I waited so long to get these two beauties. I’ve had them two days and already love them so much.

Beverly Hills | Fujifilm X-T2

All right, about Beverly Hills. I don’t come down here to hang out very much, I should because there are some really cool places to eat and it’s pretty close to my apartment, plus parking is pretty simple considering it’s in the middle of Los Angles. I’ll ride my bike down here occasionally, this was my first time walking, but I do drive through just about every day to get to work; I have for eight years so I get to see it in all its glory.

Usually the people around here are tourist but there is a nice mix of the people who live around here who like to walk down and get some food or maybe do some shopping. Some people are insanely rich; some are just pretending to be rich. Actually I know a few insanely rich people who live here and they are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. My wife even does some skin care on some celebrities that live here and they are also extremely nice. (I won’t say names to respect their privacy). So I want to get that idea that Beverly Hills is filled with rich assholes out of your head, since they really aren’t, not from my experience. At least not downtown walking around.

Beverly Hills is really interesting because it’s a city full of show-offs. The tourism makes it more multi-cultural than Vancouver so that’s kind of awesome as long as it doesn’t bother you that some people have way more money than you do.

You’ll get these guys in their Lamborghinis revving their engines, then a dude with a tricked out muscle car revving theirs back. It happens non-stop and is crazy annoying and loud but some people love it, and I love it that they love it because it’s really cool being around people having a good time. That’s always the vibe I get from coming down here, people just having a great time. 

Since were on the subject of cars, let’s not forget about the Tesla, the car that sit there in silence, driven by people pretending to be rich while wishing they could show off by revving their engines, but it doesn’t matter because in a race, off the line, the Tesla would destroy the three times more expensive super cars every time. Actually, I shouldn’t say they’re driven only by people pretending to be rich, because they’ll be driven by the rich wife or someone of that nature. It use to be the Austin Martin was the rich wife car around here, now I think it’s the Tesla.

I also think I was the only person here who was dressed like a beach bum. It was hot; I had a long way to walk so I didn’t want to do the Beverly Hills thing. And that’s the thing, everyone here dresses up, everyone here is pretty good-looking. Beautiful people everywhere from all over the world that are super rich or pretending to be rich, that’s the theme of Beverly Hills.

As a great example, there was this woman here who had this super exotic Leopard Cat or something. It was kind of freaking out, definitely not use to this many people, but my favorite part is the Louis Vuitton cat bag holder.

I’m just waiting to one day see Mike Tyson walking around with a Cheetah or something. That’s one thing you don’t see here, rich ass holes with Cheetahs. 🙂 Didn’t Justin Bieber have a monkey for a while? I haven’t seen any monkeys yet either.

But, seriously, that’s a cool looking cat. I think she said it was a thousand or a few thousand dollars, something like that.

I haven’t been down here to shoot in probably a year and it’s really something I need to start doing more. The lighting here is phenomenal with the way all the buildings reflect off of each other, plus the coloring of all the architecture is very interesting and everything is kept very clean. It was definitely easier to shoot here with the Fujifilm 90mm because I could sort of stay back and let things happen while camping out a spot with cool light, plus I did have with me a stroller and a sleeping toddler.

I think Beverly Hills is also the last spot in L.A. that’s not completely overrun by homeless people. The homeless rate has risen by 23% in the last year and that’s the main reason why I’m going to buy a house down in San Clemente. I don’t want my daughter to catch hepatitis from some infected bums shitting all over the sidewalk. It use to be you only saw that crap (literally), in San Francisco, now it’s here and it’s everywhere.

I work in the DGA (Directors Guild Of America) building and when you walk outside it just reeks of schizo piss.

I crossed this bum this summer who was taking a piss on the sidewalk, dick in hand, asked me for money. And that was across the street from the Directors Guild, so a fairly nice area. That’s how bad it’s gotten.

They say it’s because housing is too expensive so that created this homeless crises, but I think it’s something else, it’s got to be, because these homeless aren’t just poor people, they’re all nuts. I try to help out the poor people if they seem genuinely in a bind, but that’s not the case here. They’re seriously all nuts, drugged out alcoholics with brain problems.

Now they’re finding that schizophrenia and bipolar disorder is mostly manageable by going on a paleo diet. So their condition really is the fault lifestyle choices, or maybe western civilization that genetically modifies and engineers cheap food, so that’s all the poor can eat, which in turns destroys their gut, causing their body to not be able to produce and absorb the proper nutrients, which leads to thyroid issues which leads to bipolar and schizophrenia. You’ll notice that too, it will be 85 degrees out and all the bums are fully clothed in sweat shirts because their still cold because their thyroids are messed up from living a lifestyle of shit food, drugs and alcohol.

Anyway . . . 

If you ever think about coming to Beverly Hills, come to this place and take a break. It’s this little park, surrounded by some coffee shops and bakeries. It’s called the Beverly Canon Gardens and the awesome place to eat is called Sweet Beverly. That’s where you let the kids run around and play without getting hit by cars while you eat an awesome kale-quinoa salad or something, maybe some crapes. I mean, there are a million great places to eat, this is just a cool spot to come and relax since there is nice outside seating, maybe read a book if your not dyslexic like me. (People that get to enjoy reading, must be nice.)

Beverly Hills at night is also pretty cool, but it clears out pretty early since it’s mostly the stores that drive people here. So once they all close, you’re left with only the few stragglers going to the various restaurants. There is actually a really cool Jazz club down here among other nice restaurants with great food if you’re into that sort of thing. And even though it’s night, the bums still seem to keep out, but they sure do orbit around Beverly Hills like some hungry sharks looking to rob you of your New Balance shoes at gunpoint. True story, happened to my buddy up North Hollywood – and don’t even get me started on Hollywood. 🙂

West Hollywood is cool though; as long as you don’t mind the smell of schizo dust.  I’ll do a post about that one day.

I’ll also talk little about that 90mm f2 and the 35mm f1.4 soon. There is a lot to talk about and they are very good lenses, I just still need a little bit more experience with them.