Los angeles Quote by Steve Martin
““Had his room been facing west he would have noted the sparkling twenty-five-mile vista to the sea which looks almost like the Mediterranean. He would have noted how the streets of L.A. undulate over short hills as though a finger is poking the landscape from underneath. How laid over this crosshatch are streets meandering on the diagonal creating a multitude of ways to get from one place to another by traveling along the hypotenuse. These are the avenues of the tryst which enable Acting Student A to travel the eighteen miles across town to Acting Student B's garage apartment in nine minutes flat after a hot-blooded phone call at midnight. Had he been facing seaward on a balcony overlooking the city the writer might have heard drifting out of a tiny apartment window the optimistic voice of a shower singer imbued with the conviction that this is a place where it is possible to be happy.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: The Unwritten City, 2020
A vivid description of a city’s layout reveals how perspective shapes experience and possibilities.
In simple terms: Seeing differently opens new paths.
Consider multiple viewpoints to discover hidden routes.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- city planning
- travel routes
- creative writing
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- How does orientation affect our choices?
- What other routes could be imagined?
Focusing only on one view limits understanding of a place.