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Phil Rhodes

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I'm sure you're right, it was just a general musing on the laziness of man. We really do go out of our way to refrain ourselves from moving physically.

 

I've been to LA and I remember how big it was - it's one of them spread out places. But, I must say Hollywood and Bel Air and Culver City and Melrose were all quite close by. I remember driving down Sunset from Mann's all the way to the PCH and up to Malibu. It was long, but the Sunset bit could easily be done on a bike.

Edited by AdamFrisch
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That's a teeny, tiny area you're describing.

Even going from there to Burbank would take you a good hour or two by bike, if you could live through the ordeal (which is another thing I didn't even touch on. It would be basically like Death Race 2000 to ride a bike very much in L.A.).

 

You're right about the general laziness thing though.

 

I shake my head in disbelief when I see people damn near kill each other competing for the closest parking space... at the gym!

Go figure...

 

Matt Pacini

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Let's say you live in Calbasas, and you have to be somewhere in Long Beach.

That's about an hour and a half by car (freeway the entire way), if you're lucky enough to not have to go during rush hour, which will add at least another 30-45 minutes to your trip.

 

I live about a quarter of a mile away from Calabasas, and I had to make that drive last week to go work on a Golf commercial in Irvine, which isnt that far from Long Beach. Call time was around 8:30 in the morning. I left my house at 6:00 in the morning, thinking that I was smart and would beat the traffic. I got to the set at around 9:00! Thats 3 hours to get to a location that is only 70 miles away from my house! There was a point where I was just getting on the 405 free way from the 101 heading South were I travelled about 2 miles in 20 minutes! If you want to check out how bad our traffic is you can see it online at SigAlert

 

http://www.sigalert.com/map.asp?Region=Greater+Los+Angeles

 

But even though the traffic is terrible, LA is a great place to be in, its definitely not a boring place to live. And I have been to places with worse traffic, Tel Aviv is a great example of a city with horrible traffic.

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That's why I bought a bicycle to begin with - I can simply not stand traffic. I go nuts in the car if it doesn't move. It's like torture - I just see the minutes I loose of my only life when I could have done anything more productive.

 

Can't you ride scooters like the Italians do? Rome has some bad traffic, but everyone zooms by on Vespas!

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Can't you ride scooters like the Italians do? Rome has some bad traffic, but everyone zooms by on Vespas!

 

If I only had to travel about 5 or 10 miles a day that wouldn't be a problem, but I do an average of 300 miles a week.

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Th

 

Can't you ride scooters like the Italians do? Rome has some bad traffic, but everyone zooms by on Vespas!

 

 

Considering that a very well known talent agent drove his Vespa underneath my car in Hollywood, causing three thousand dollars worth of damage to my car (and nearly killing him) my experiences tend toward the negative in response to your question.

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Considering that a very well known talent agent drove his Vespa underneath my car in Hollywood, causing three thousand dollars worth of damage to my car (and nearly killing him) my experiences tend toward the negative in response to your question.

 

 

I've heard about making contact in Hollywood but that's a bit over the top, er, under the radar.

 

Did that close encounter lead to any new job opportunities?

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I've heard about making contact in Hollywood but that's a bit over the top, er, under the radar.

 

Did that close encounter lead to any new job opportunities?

 

He manages some very popular actors on NBC right now. He offered to cast my next short film but after I submitted the $3,000 bill, which he had to pay for out of pocket, he became less enthusiastic about helping. At least I got the money.

 

Six months later at some random event I ran into a few of his colleagues and told them the story. They laughed their asses off and said they were going to spread the story around for their own amusement.

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$300/month? You're kidding. What d'you live in, a shoebox?
Almost, the room's about 10 m^2, so that's like 100 sqft?

 

And then there's a shared kitchen and a bathroom. I'd say this pretty much compares to how students live in here.

 

You can get an 550 sqft. apartment with two rooms for something like $600 and share it with someone. I'd do it instantly if I had someone to share it with.

 

Somehow I feel you guys have more expectations on living than I do...

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Can't you ride scooters like the Italians do? Rome has some bad traffic, but everyone zooms by on Vespas!

 

Zipping around on a scooter has always seemed like an invitation for disaster, IMO. But people on motorcycles do have it a bit better than those in cars. Parking is easier and when the traffic starts to snarl they just motor by between the lanes.

 

 

Andrew

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Guest rndfilms

Born and raised in LA, moved to SF a couple of years ago. As regards bicycles: you most definitely CAN make it from Calabasas to Long Beach, if you plan things. Take Ventura Blvd. to Studio City, get on Metro Rail Red Line, transfer to Blue Line in Downtown, take Blue Line to the end.

 

Bicycle and Metro Rail is a powerful combination. You do need a car for LA, but cycling can be great: the weather is conducive, the terrain is flat, and there is almost always some side street that runs parallel to your direction of travel, allowing you to get out of traffic. Very often, I had the slightly surreal experience of making a crosstown trip 5 minutes faster by bike than by car. And if your destination is near the beach, it's gravy- the boardwalk goes almost all the way up and down the county. You can even get to the airport (bike lockers are in front of some terminals at LAX).

 

In short, I recommend it.

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Yeah, but you CAN'T plan things.

Not usually, anyway.

This wasn't some hypothetical situation, or a "bet".

 

We're not talking about a one-shot trip, he was referring to only owning a bike, and not having a car.

As in, "hey, can I manage living in L.A. if I don't own a car?"

You just simply could not do it in L.A., unless you lived by your job, meaning someone who's NOT in, or trying to be in, the industry, because you have to dart here and there on a moment's notice.

It would just be insane to think you could really manage in L.A. with just a bike, AND think you're going to be able to get where you need to get, trying to work in the entertainment industry.

 

Matt Pacini

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Hi,

 

Saturday was good. Assistant picked up the steadicam, production company delivered the camera and grip, gaffer turned up with all the lighting. I wandered down with a shoulder bag full of gaffer tape and tools. This is good. I like this!

 

Phil

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Well I took the time to read the whole thread in the meantime, and since we're not talking about LA only here, but considering London and Finland as well, I can tell you I'm very astonished about the prices for a flat in both US and London ! Here is not Finland, but I can tell you about Paris where I was born and lived for more than 30 years and the Riviera where I live for 3 years now.

 

In Paris the prices have increase thes last years but I think you would still get a decent 1 room flat for 400 to 500 ?/$.

 

The flat we rent in Paris - we kept it, just in case, my brother in law lives in it - it's a 75 m² 3 rooms for 1000 ?/$ and it's very central (Gare de Lyon, close to Bastille), it's at most an hour drive to any studio/rental in the district. But it's cheap cause we've got it for 10 years or so. The average nowadays for this would be 1300 ?/$.

 

Here I was living in Nice the 2 first years, we had a flat the same size, 3 rooms, large terrace, view on the see and the Baie des Anges, for about 1150 ?/$ a month.

 

We decided to move closer to Cannes where I teach and to buy our own flat. It actually looks more like an house, it's got 4 rooms, a garden, on the border of a forest though we have shops at a 5 minutes walk, post office and so on and we pay a 1500 ? loan a month (had nothing at the start nearly) on 20 years (it was 240000 ?). I can tell you we find it very expensive !

 

It is a third of what we gain each month.

 

It's a good idea to compare to what you gain actually.

 

Thing is I know it's not easy in the industry to consider having a wife and children (one of the reasons I quit) but how can you do that if you live like this in these countries anyhow ?

 

Another point : it's not California but we have lot of sun here as many people know, the air is good to breathe and we can eat in the garden from nowadays to october and even in the beetween sometimes. (this year is very special).

 

Even in Paris, where it's much more rainy, the weather isn't too bad all the year long.

 

As for health security, I read England is considered a safer place than US, but to us, England is a nightmare on this side. Health doesnt really cos us a lot here. And you have unemployement fees (even if they decrease these years)

 

Forgot to mention : Yes we have Internet !

Edited by laurent.a
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