What is the LA 'Hood Challenge?

Jan. 1

I've given myself a challenge for 2014:  I am going to visit every single one of Los Angeles' 137 neighborhoods during the year.  From Hollywood to East LA to Chinatown...as far north as Sylmar and south to San Pedro.  And yes, even, like, the Valley.  As part of my challenge, "visiting" can mean anything from driving around to taking a tour to hanging in a restaurant or bar (although, of course, the more engaged I am in the 'hood, the better).

The reason I'm doing this is simple:  I want to break out of the rut I so easily get into — plus see more of this great city I now call home. It won't be easy for me—and not just because traffic in LA is so bad I'm committing myself to countless hours of driving.  Fact is, I have total recluse tendencies.  Being a writer and working at home, I easily fall into a malaise where I find myself clicking on the TV and tuning out life.  I'm hoping this challenge will force me back into the world in a fun and adventurous way.

The idea for this started about about a year ago, when I moved from Hermosa Beach to an area of Los Angeles known as Palms.  When I tell people where I live, they say, "You mean Thousand Palms?  Or Palm Springs?" No.  Just Palms.

Palms, fyi, is a small LA neighborhood that sits north of Culver City.  In fact, the LA Weekly recently referred to it as "a poor man's Culver City," an admittedly dubious distinction, and not one with which I entirely agree. I myself had never heard of the neighborhood until my real estate agent—weary with my insistence on buying on the Westside, but with more of an Inland budget—suggested I give it a look.

Shortly after I moved here, I happened upon a spiffy little online game (I'll post it if I can find it) which had the player find LA neighborhoods on a map.  That's when I realized how many there are ... and, for the record, I failed the game miserably.  I mean, Fremont Place?  Brookside?  I've never once had a friend say, "Hey, let's head out to Elysian Valley to grab a quick bite!"

Yet it got me to thinking.

I once tried to do something new every day for a year.  Full disclosure:  I didn't make it that time... although I did make it to Day 283, which is a lot of new things.  What worked about that challenge is that it broke me out of my rut, at least for a while.  I think it failed because, doing something every day stopped being an adventure and started being a chore—and when I was on a writing deadline, that didn't work.  For this challenge, I'll be averaging two to three neighborhoods a week.  For me, that'll be enough to make it tough, yet with enough flexibility to make it possible.

As a reference, I'm using the City of LA Neighborhoods Map.  LA's neighborhoods aren't specifically designated and, therefore, are up to some interpretation.  It's not my goal to become an expert on exactly where these boundaries lie so much as it is to get out there and see the city.  Also, I'm only doing the main neighborhoods—the "sub-neighborhoods," which would bring the count up to 269 communities, I'll hit on an as-desired basis only.

So there you have it.  One woman, one year, 137 'hoods.

Wish me luck and, please, if you have any suggestions for things I can see or do in specific neighborhoods, please let me know!