a life's work

Playing: A Shell Across the Tongue-The Drowners
Reading: A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

A couple of weeks ago, I took a trip out to Watts Towers, which I've been wanting to go to for a long time now. I saw it in a book a few years ago and couldn't get it out of my head since then. A friend of mine, Naomi, and my APUSH teacher also recommended it to me last year. Since both of them generally have good taste, I knew I had to make it there eventually.

The artist, Simon Rodia, spent over 30 years building these towers in his backyard and even let his neighbors climb them for fun. The city of Los Angeles wanted to tear them down at one time, but luckily they're still there. From far away, it looks like a few grey spirals, but up close, it's a colorful mosaic similar to the work of Gaudi. (The major difference is that Rodia did this by himself, while Gaudi had many people to help him.) Even though it's in a dangerous neighborhood, I felt perfectly safe as long as I stayed by the Simon Rodia Art Center. Also, I highly recommend paying for the tour otherwise I don't think you can go through the gates that surround it.

Have I ever told you what a random and eccentric city Los Angeles is? If not, I thought you should see this photo. While I was heading towards Koreatown for lunch, I saw this man patiently sitting there with a large head. It didn't seem like he was waiting for a bus or anything, just sitting there, enjoying life.

Anyways, the main reason for going to Koreatown is to get my favorite fried rice from Mannaria, the Special Shrimp Fried Rice. I love how its topped with Kewpie mayonnaise, katsuobushi and smelt roe. It just has a very interesting creamy/smoky flavor to it and I appreciate the large portions at this restaurant. I also tried Bopioca for the first time and got the Kiwi Green Tea, which was suspiciously neon and artificial. Even though my drink tasted a lot like kiwis, it tasted more like flavored syrup and lacked any sort of tea flavor, so I will not be purchasing from them again in the near future. Hope you have all been doing well! (Do you guys know of any places in Southern California that are worth visiting? I'm starting to run out of ideas and only have five more places on my list of places to go.)