I Would Not, Could Not In a House, I Would Not, Could Not, With a Mouse!

I recently returned from a trip to L.A., which I still love with abandon and will be going back to next week for a school- yep school! related event next Friday. Ah, the world-weary traveler! *Hand stapled to forehead*

But I was thinking about where I have lived and where I want to live and where I thought I wanted to live.

When I was young and spending the majority of my formative years in the Midwest I wanted to move to Chicago when I grew up. But somehow I went to college in Savannah, grew bored with the sleepy Southern town's lack of a nightlife, and set my sights on New York City. I even threatened to transfer to Columbia, but never got around to filling out application papers, much to my best friend/roommate's relief. It would have saved me from a rather overwrought and drawn-out, angst-filled relationship. But I imagine that there are equally "broken" boys in the Big Apple.

In a strange twist of fate I actually spent my first few years out of college living in Chicago instead of New York. 9-11 happened on my first day of classes in college (feel free to do the math to determine exactly how old I am), but it was more the appalling lack of real estate in NYC coupled with astronomical rent prices that made me not want to pursue it more doggedly. This was while the lower East Side and the West Village were getting gentrified and developers were starting to look to Williamsburg with an avaricious glint in their eye, but most true Manhattanites considered Brooklyn faaaaar too far away from their island. "I'll have to move. . .to Brooklyn!" -You've Got Mail

Serendipity intervened and Chicago turned out to be the perfect city for me. I always say that it's like the kid brother of the super slick, super popular, super successful investment banker older brother NYC and the less chic, though infinitely more hipster than its glamour-puss of a cousin, platinum blonde, or is it Marilyn blonde-? L.A. Chicago is confident in where it stands in the world and it doesn't want to strive to be what it's not. Sure its shoes may not be Jimmy Choos, but Converse low-tops are A-OK. OK it may never have the super riches of New York, but it also doesn't have to work killer hours to pay the rent. (Chicago does have the Gold Coast and some verrrry cushy sections, but rich isn't usually the first word people associate with Chicago, and if they do, they've never been there.)

However, my scorching case of ambition motivated me to seek a high paying job in the suburbs and after burning out there I moved to California, which I'd missed ever since I'd moved away in sixth grade. Having two weather-related car accidents helped motivate me as well.

For the longest time I'd scorned L.A. I though it was just as fake and as plastic as a Barbie. And while this is true of some parts of L.A. It's not true of everywhere. I love hanging out in Hollywood, not the movie star Hollywood, but the real location, whom the movie studios abandoned for the aptly named, Studio City. I love walking down Melrose, driving down La Brea, hanging out in Santa Monica. Yes, there are a few people who have been airbrushed out of existence or are more silicone than skin cells, but not everywhere is it a shiny, happy city. There is a lot of grit and a lot of people who look like you and me.

L.A. will probably never be New York, or even Chicago in terms of its "culture"- you know, the artsy fartsy stuff. C'mon people, I have a degree in this stuff, I can say it! But its real estate is still more reasonable than NY and the weather is a significant improvement over Chicago. However, it has much more planning challenges than Chicago, who has done a relatively awesome job, and therefore I see less job opportunities for me there. Though stop gentrifying every single neighborhood in Chicago that remotely has a whiff of bohemian chic! We do not want your Pottery Barns and Baby Bjorns! "Where am I to go if doublewide strollers follow me everywhere?" asked mediajorgenyc in response to an article about the gentrification of Red Hook, Brooklyn in New York magazine. Indeed sir, indeed.

Hanging out with my friend/old roommate from Chicago reminded me of all the fun that I'd had in Chicago and in a perfect world I will move back there some day. My other friend, the best friend/roommate from college now lives in L.A., but is an East Coast transplant and sometimes thinking of her reminds me, by association of all that I love about New York. But would I want to live in New York, though it used to be my dream? I've thought about it and the answer is, probably not. You do not get any bang for your buck when it comes to rent, though another more lewd term may be used. New York has amazing theater, street food, and culture. But so does Chicago for a lot less price-wise (sortof).

Where will the road take me? I don't know. I am also interested in helping cities plan smart growth and Colorado, Atlanta, and Charlotte were all growing like crazy before the recession, so I may set my sights somewhere totally else. One thing I know, it won't be boring.