City Guide to Los Angeles by Dan Rubinstein

My earliest memory of Los Angeles comes from an overnight visit to my cousin’s midcentury house in the Hollywood Hills as a child. I was probably 8 years old or so. 

I remember waking up early, and having cereal at a breakfast table in the kitchen. The entire main floor of the house has floor-to-ceiling windows, so you could see the entire city below you—it was magical. On that morning, the fog covered the metropolis like a fluffy blanket with only the tippy top of a single tower popping up through the clouds. I loved it. 

But I hated the city. To me—Disneyland aside, of course—the town was all shopping malls, traffic, and asphalt. And my opinion of L.A. stayed that way for some time. That was, until after the Great Recession, when I heard about one design friend of mine moving there each week. Better weather, cheaper real estate, and the ability to work outside for some all year round. What’s not to like? It had become so difficult for young creatives to make a statement in New York, and L.A. was ready for change.