Goldenbook, Hugh Elliott, 2002

1:26:00 PM    sro home /

THE VALLEY

I was living in the Valley that day, Ground Zero for the entertainment industry. While movies would have us believe filming takes place behind tall Deco gates, the studio’s name proudly spread across the top, the truth is it’s in that flat suburbia where both hits and bombs are created. There is little to distinguish the Valley other than the fact that it’s occupied. Oh, and Ikea. Otherwise it’s hot and businesses and homes and fast food chains have all melted into one pool.

I was living with my Partner at the time and his apartment building here in West Hollywood was being renovated for earthquake protection. Most of the occupants were relocated to an immense furnished apartment complex near the studios during the construction, so we lived there for a year. I hated the place. Although it was only twenty minutes from where we’d lived before, it seemed like the other side of the world distanced by the hills and freeways. Most of the residents in the complex worked in television - coming to LA to land a role in a pilot, filming a season of shows, guest starring on a drama. The kids all looked like Kool Aid commercials and there was usually someone filming something for some reason somewhere. Our apartment was on the ground floor and the small patio off the living room was next to an ivy hill giving the impression you were in an underground bunker. The night before I had rented the Independence Day DVD but got tired and turned it off before the planet was attacked because I was afraid I would fall asleep and miss something.

That morning I woke up and went in the living room to make coffee. I signed onto AOL to check the news, blogs were still twinkles in the eye, my computer was the Orange iBook that looked like a Barbie Purse, the sky was clear and sunny. The small AOL Welcome Screen had a tiny picture of a burning building with what looked like a plane sticking out. It could have been a small biplane stuck to the Empire State Building. It could have been King Kong. It could have been Aliens seeking revenge for their misrepresentation. Perhaps there would be a story about it on CNN.

Of course there was and I didn’t leave the TV for the rest of the day. I didn’t leave the apartment for two days. I didn’t know anyone in the financial industry but I lived 400 feet from St. Vincent's Hospital where victims were taken. Four blocks from Barneys, two blocks from the Village Vanguard, one block from the Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Transgendered Center where ACT UP was created. If you stood in front of the hospital, you could look down Seventh Avenue and see Them and that is how you remembered Downtown.

Do you believe in what you see? Only when I’d hear an airplane and close my eyes.

12:54:21 PM    sro home /