I’ve lived in Council District 13 since graduating from UCLA in 1993. First, I was at Sunset and Gardner, above Toi and Freedom Guitar, when the old Sunset Grill was still a shack and streetwalkers ran the night. I’d been going to punk rock shows and clubs all around the district since high school. I was one of those corndogs that the Minutemen sang about. I worked for Larry Flynt in Beverly Hills during the day, and shot skateboarders in the alleyways behind Sunset at night. I got fat eating at all the great food spots, and started a business with an office on Sunset.

When I went to Loyola Law School, I moved over to Silver Lake. As much as I knew I had to nerd out, I never wanted to leave the pulse of the district. Cruising to class and home up and down Glendale Blvd. I saw the city changing. Buildings redeveloped, Bernie’s Teriyaki moving out, and while I purposefully moved next to Spaceland, it eventually changed owners and became the Echo empire, and the neighborhood exploded with creativity. From HiFi to Atwater, to Glassell Park. The Graf scene exploded beyond gang graffiti into the global art world cognescnti. I walked to the first Banksy show in LA down on Silver Lake Blvd.

I started a family. Had a kid, walked around town and we All Waved like the Jane’s Addiction song. But then I had to be a caretaker to elderly family members, all over town. Went All City, dealing with Kaiser and hospice, and cancer, and all the rest that comes with caring for those who got us here. Council District 13 shaped me, and so I started to give back, teaching, joining the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council, getting even more friendly with my neighbors.

I saw that we all feel the same. Left out, ignored, stepped on. I’m running for CD13 to do something about it.