BoMo

Ever since I've left L.A. for Chicago I've had this semi-subconscious nagging fear that I'm losing my "L.A.-ness", my connection to Southern California style. I guess that's why when I'm in town (as I am right now), I feel an absolute need to buy beads at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore, walk up and down W. 3rd Street, meander around American Rag and Maison Midi, eat breakfast at Urth Caffe and M Cafe, buy something rad at the Volcom Store on La Brea, get some bracelets at the Marc Jacobs store on Melrose, browse the Taschen store in Beverly Hills, hike Runyon Canyon and Fryman Canyon, hit up The Bar on Sunset + Bronson for a Negroni, The Chalet in Eagle Rock for a Bourbon, and buy a bottle of Fiji water from the Laurel Canyon Country store. Sound nerotic? This is only the tip of the iceberg. I've done most of these things since I've been here, so I can breath a sigh of relief and perhaps make it another 3 months before returning. A friend also happened to recommended the above book to me (published last spring), Bohmeian Modern: Living In Silver Lake by Barbara Bestor ($24). I'm not a Silver Laker and probably never will be, but I think this book full of firely colors, geometric shapes, and beatnik-insipired trends, might help me when I'm feeling I'm losing my "L.A.-ness".