Today I Appreciate Not for Tourists

I'm a sucker for novelty, as long as it's not something too dangerous, scary, or emotionally/physically exhausting. Therefore, a guidebook like Not for Tourists is perfect for people like me because I can seek out novelty in the L.A. area and flip through pages of tidy maps that tell me where to go without having to actually really go to any of these places.

That's not to say that I don't want to go to any of these places. Au contraire, I would go to all if I could, but one can only do so much and reading about fun places is half the fun of actually going, right?

See, I was prompted to flip through my NFT guide tonight in an attempt to formulate some late night plans. As a college student, I am supposed to act and find great adventures spontaneously, but that's not really my style. Spontaneity, in my opinion, typically does not emerge at the most convenient times, so relying on it to strike on a Saturday night and magically find something exciting to do seems like a bit of a crapshoot. Besides, I'm a planner in general. I make to-do lists every day. I e-mail party invitations. Yep, I'm that kid.

My age, unfortunately, prevents me from visiting some of Los Angeles's classier nightlife joints, but who knew that there was a restaurant on the Sunset Strip open late with a mechanical bull? Apparently, there are also several karoake joints that stay open until 6:00 A.M. and kitschy beach-themed diners. Cool, right? Imagine what kind of people frequent these places, what faces one could see, and what conversations one could overhear.

Restaurants and clubs are, after all, feature some of the most varied smattering of individuals. Probably not the finest individuals in Hollywood, but at least some characters that provide good stories and insights into - well - who we all are. There's a piece of us in every drunken twenty-something, every gaggle of giggling high schoolers, every forty-year-old couple. Plus, I constantly itch to escape from the college apartment party, the cloistered soirees on someone's mom's old couch with with indistinguishable movie noise coming from the TV.

So, thanks to Not for Tourists for letting me dream about the possibilities to explore and be an active young person in this huge, huge city.