What Out-of-Towners Say About LA Back Home

When anyone anywhere hosts visitors for a weekend, it is nearly some kind of law that the host suddenly, almost dramatically, sees their old, oh-so-familiar stomping grounds as if for the first time. That thing that you take for granted, and that other thing that bores you? Fresh eyes. Suddenly, you're thinking "hey, this all isn't so bad after all," and you're revisiting the old chestnuts with new ardor.

Perhaps that's why we get a little frisson of joy when we read any piece written about Los Angeles by a visiting writer, who is just in town for a movie junket, or the Oscars, or maybe even a writer's cramp-easing vacay. The article is usually printed in their hometown paper and/or site, so you have to look for it, but the search is worth it.

Mark Dawidziak, the television reporter for the Plains Dealer in Cleveland, just had two pieces that caught our eye: one, a toodle down Sunset, and another looking at North Ohioans represented on the Walk of Fame. (Hello, Ms. Halle Berry!) 

We do grumble when we see people in town for a split second doing things that locals should have done a hundred times over but never have. Us included. We've driven chunks of Sunset Boulevard a thousand times, supped at various eateries, sipped at various coffee emporiums, ogled the occasional star, but never done the whole kit 'n kaboodle all at once. We're inspired, Mr. Dawidziak. Now, what are your opinions on "Lost" this season? What's Ben's game, anyway?

One last thing recommendation, another great take from an out-of-towner, this one from a few years back: A.O. Scott, the head film critic for The New York Times, reported on his LA idyll with his family. We like his film criticism, and we liked his LA-loving shout-out.

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