Dennis Claxton
Mark wrote:
>Yesterday I had to drive into downtown Los Angeles from the south, via
>Interstate 5. The sheer ugliness of the landscape I drove through _
>South Central El Lay _ staggers the mind. It is a cliché to call it a
>vision of Hell, but clichés are clichés because they are substantially
>true.
Every morning I drive into downtown Los Angeles via myriad routes. And during the week I drive all over Los Angeles. Sometimes the sheer beauty of the landscape I drive through takes my breath away.
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Sure. In fact, I left S.D. early in the morning, before sunrise, and was driving through Pendleton while it was still dark. The full moon was nearing the horizon, and the moonlight reflecting on the rippling Pacific was so otherworldly and beautiful that I pulled over to snap a photo of it. Perhaps that is why after the sun rose I was so sickened as I hit that dismal stretch that begins around Tustin and peaks around the Assyrian-style mall near downtown. The landscape can be breathtaking no question; but the manscape is something else.