'Hood #9: Century City, Which I Owe an Apology...

I recently mentioned my 'hood challenge when chatting with a friend and her husband, and the first thing he said was, "I bet you're excited to do Century City!"

I thought he was joking (so, for the record, did his wife).  Why on earth—other than reporting to a job—would anyone want to go to Century City?  Even though it's only a couple miles from where I live, it's nothing but office buildings and one mall that's impossible to get to because of all those office buildings.

In fact, my computer broke several months ago, and rather than take it to the Apple Store in Century City's Westfield Mall, I made an appointment to head to one four times the distance—that's how giant a hassle I believed it to be to get in and out of Century City.

I probably would have stalled on this particular neighborhood until nearly the end of my challenge, only my friend Mary Jo just started a job there and really wanted me to meet her for lunch.

So, today, I mapped out a route, braced myself for traffic and parking hell—and got there in about 10 minutes, traffic-free, and parked in a nearly-empty mall lot that's only $1 an hour.

Century City: I apologize.  I misjudged you.

Yes, I'm sure it'd still be a nightmare trying to get there during the morning or evening commute hours. Mary Jo told me it's taken her as much as an hour to travel a mere six miles.  Mid-day, however, it was a breeze.  Even though I'm not much of a shopper (and it was shops and fancy restaurants, btw, that my friend's husband thought would be the big lure for me), if I need to hit a store or meet a friend for lunch—or even catch a movie matinee—I now have an option nearby that's far more convenient than I'd thought.