Whenever I get down on LA, which is more often than I’d like to admit, it’s always helpful to take a ride down Western Ave. to remind myself why I live here. To most people in this town that would probably sound ridiculous. I think it reflects my background and I’ll leave that part right there. But there’s a dignity and a realness there that hasn’t changed in the 30 years I’ve lived in Los Angeles. Seeing it all again, feeling it, never fails to change my channel from the endless and often repulsive extreme affluence loop of the Westside. Anyway.