8th and La Brea

 
I stood a few hundred yards down the block
Looking at the old Firestone sign
The tire station has been turned into a modern and hip brewery
But I could hardly recognize everything else around

Another block north
The old building on Wilshire
With its Art Deco facade still stands taller than newer lofts around it
The Asahi sign at the very top has been gone for years
And the Samsung sign that replaced it
Gone too
It still bares it’s mark

I remember driving down the boulevard
Looking at the bright lights at night
The empty streets
It’s not like how they show it in the movies where cruising looks cool
No
My late-night runs to Blockbuster were quiet ones
They were filled with emptiness
With loneliness
With a sadness as if I was stuck in a rut

Was it all wasted time?
Years spent wandering
A period when twenty-something me felt lost in the city
Unsure of where I wanted to go or where I wanted to be
Now twenty some years later I’m standing on the sidewalk
Looking at the new shops
The trendy restaurants
The little “waffle and coffee bar”
Watching people go about their way
Remembering, “back in my day”

It was the first time I felt a little sad
But mostly reflective for that young guy
    who used to dream as he drove down the empty streets
He’s an old man now
With a gut, feeling old
But understanding that we have to be lost sometimes
In order to find our way