Rodeo Drive

 

On April 29th, the day after my one day off, and following my early shift at work, I decided to walk around and explore Beverly Hills a bit more thoroughly than I had so far done on this trip.

With that in mind, I set out from the hotel towards Lily Pond, which I had passed numerous times when taking an Uber to work and back. It had looked impressive, but obviously, stopping simply was not an option. Now was my chance to go and explore a little bit.

Once I took some pictures of Lily Pond, then went behind the park along the posh neighborhood along Beverly Drive, taking some pictures of the lavish, swanky homes there. Before long, I turned around and returned near Lily Pond, across Beverly Drive, to what I believe is part of Beverly Gardens Park. There were two public displays of art in this park. The first was "Endless V," which seemed an interesting title. The other was what I had mistakenly took at first as a boulder covered in silver leaf, but which, once I got closer and the sun was no longer in my eyes, proved to be a sculpture, and the other public art work on display, called "Erratic."

On the one side of this park, near Lily Pond, was Beverly Drive. On the other side of this park was none other than the fabled Rodeo Drive of Beverly Hills. I had heard that it was nearby, and I had found it. And wow! Maybe I am sounding like a broken record by pointing this out, but the stark contrast between this show of wealth, while there were several homeless people passed out on the lawn of the park struck me. It seemed that I continually ran into such stark contrasts of extreme wealth and extreme poverty while on this trip. And it also seemed like anytime I mentioned this to anyone, they seemed to grow almost uncomfortable, and either grew quiet, or quickly changed the subject. Seemed strange to me, because this was the reality, every bit as much as the dreamy image of glamorous and fabulous wealth on display along Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. 

It struck me that this probably was actually itself an example of the superficiality behind the fabled image of immense wealth and success behind this part of California. It could be evidenced in other ways, too, like with the numerous warnings I read and also heard from locals to go ahead and explore Hollywood Boulevard (one place I actually did not get to on this particular trip) during the day, but to keep far away from this apparently dangerous area at night. Two very different realities of the same exact place, depending on the time of day. It really made me think about this image of sunny southern California as the picture of success, and that is why I kept mentioning it (at first) to people, although continually getting either awkward silence or non-answers in some form or other dissuaded me from continuing to pursue it. Yet it also struck me that the people whom I asked were themselves not from California, that it was perhaps as much, if not more, people from outside of the Los Angeles/Beverly Hills/Hollywood area who were perpetuating the myth of this simply being glamorous. Maybe I am overthinking it. Or maybe they are underthinking it. Or maybe the truth lies somewhere in between.

In any case, I took a couple of pictures of the residential part of the road, which continued on in the direction where the Hearst Mansion where the event that I was working generally was. On the other side, across a clearly major and busy artery, was Rodeo Drive, seemingly surrounded by whitewashed buildings and beautiful palm trees on both sides, lined with shops that were far too pricey for the likes of me. This was the Rodeo Drive of legend.

This part of the famous street only lasted a few blocks before again seeming to become residential. However, there was a side street, almost like an annex, which was also clearly part of Rodeo Drive. It was a cobbled street, and also lined with expensive shops and sidewalk cafes, and resembled the Old World, quite intentionally. It was not a more natural resemblance, as in older North American cities like Quebec City or New Orleans, but felt designed specifically to cater to wealthy patrons and tourists. 

After that, it seemed like it was over. Just like that. 

So I walked down the stairs that exited this annex street or addition to Rodeo Drive, and went back to the commercial district of Beverly Drive. I found a place which served tacos. The Los Angeles area is known for tacos in a similar way that New York is known for it's pizza, and so I had more tacos in the week and change out here than I think I ever had in my life before. Admittedly, I like tacos, and this felt like the time to indulge.

Anyway, below are the pictures that I took of my afternoon excursion into Rodeo Drive.

Enjoy.