I have an ex-pat friend in LA called Stewart who lives here with his American wife Jenni and three kids (and two dogs, etc.). I have to go across the street to use a pay phone to call him because none of the five pay phones at the hostel are in working order. At $25 a night, I can't really complain, but it's a bit like a low cost airline, where everything that might possibly be useful is charged heftily as an extra, e.g. they have maps of LA on the reception desk, but you are not allowed to open one without buying it. By the computers, there is a notice saying that it is 'used at your own risk'. I pay $5 for two hours use, but it stops working after 40 minutes.
You can't really get around LA without a car, so I decide to rent one from the cheapest I can find. Quoted at $253 after taxes for twelve days, I end up paying $750 after insurance and sat nav rental. How do car rental companies get away with advertising prices so distant from what you will actually pay? The car is a Chrysler PT cruiser, which is both slow and surprisingly thirsty for fuel, considering its lack of power.
Stewart lives in a well to do suburb of typically large family homes and equally typical large cars. I get there in time for a BBQ and meet some of his neighbours and workmates of Jenni's. She works at Disney as a producer, which sounds glamourous, but her colleagues talk about it as if it is another office job, complete with its mundanities and niggly office politics. They are certainly no respecters of LA sleb culture either.
Stewart is a photographer (www.stewartcook.com) who does a lot of the film premier and interview photos which go mostly to British tabloids, though his photos have also featured in the Sunday Times. His real love is wildlife & travel photography though, and he has a portfolio of stunning images of the natural world, including a close up of a humpback whale turning its head to stare into his camera.
After having a few cocktails at the BBQ, I wisely accept Stewart's offer to stay in their spare room.
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