A Classy Collection of ‘LA Stories’

Finding new ways to cover the same general retail, residential and rumination territory is the challenge that confronts the editorial staff of Los Angeles Magazine each and every month. But it must be said that for the December issue, they’ve risen to the task and hit it out of the (Griffith) Park.

Beginning with Steve Martin, the 18-page “LA Stories” cover piece groups together 50 breezy celebrity reminiscences of growing up in LA, wrapped around the golden vignette aura of the Renaissance Man’s classic 1991 comedy. Everything from Jodie Foster at the Hollywood Bowl and Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine at the Guitar Center to Joey Lawrence at the crossroads and Adam Carolla on the soap box.

It’s a must-read, the kind that will move anyone who has spent enough time in the city to start thinking about their own “LA Stories.” In our case, we can’t help but recall something that happened shortly after we moved here from Canada in 1993.

Wanting to check out the Hollywood Sign first-hand, we wound up climbing up the “H” and sitting comfortably atop that letter, only to be joined a short time later by a complete stranger straddling the “O.” As we both gazed out at the glittering night lights, we spoke of LA broadcasting schools, canyon apartments and much more.

It was a simpler time, when the Hollywood Sign was unemcumbered by barbed wire, closed circuit cameras and an excessive number of sternly worded ‘No Trespassing’ notices.