We all know about The Grove and its fountains of fancy, but next to The Grove and looking down on it is the real splendor: the parking garage roof. From atop the 8th floor cap of this garage is what I find to be the most spectacular view of Los Angeles.
Not too far up a high rise to lose the details nor between any canyons to block part of your view, here you can see from the ocean to where the Hollywood Hills rise and then fall past Silver Lake. Downtown seems so close across the tops of the trees you want to run over to it and everywhere you look is a living panorama of the city we drive and live every day, just below you and close enough to hear.
I had a date there once. On a warm summer night I couldn't think of anything more tempting than to bring a bottle of wine and a blanket to lay across the bed of my old pickup truck and gaze out at the city enveloping us.
I went up to the roof again tonight after finally seeing Milk and pondered how my life as a gay man fits into the movement he helped grow. I cried during the movie, not when he was killed but when he stood up on his first soap box and declared that he was there to help. His decision to change his life by changing the world he lived in was a true moment of inspiration. My path won't be the same as his, but it gave me a lot to think about up on that roof.
If you have things of your own to ponder, I would recommend The Grove - far away from the trolleys and fountain sprays and perched beneath the city sky. And if you don't have much on your mind, bring a friend and have sex. You won't find a better backdrop.
