California Dreamin'

Blog overview

No other state sparks the imagination like California does. The sixth economy in the world attracts whiz kids and entrepreneurs, surfers, musicians, entertainers, immigrants and tourists from around the world, all chasing their own Californian dream. Sometimes they make it, very often they don’t. Because not all that glitters on the West Coast is gold: the richest of all states is also home to the highest poverty rate in the country. Journalist Laila Frank spent most of 2018 traveling the West Coast. In this series she shares her adventures and observations.

And so the Story Ends

by Laila Frank

February 26, 2019

  My first week in Los Angeles was miserable. Months of fantasizing about a new life and a new career reality ended in a shitty campervan in a garden in the Valley, an empty mailbox, loneliness and instant self-doubt. On the fourth day I drove my rental car straight into the rear end of a …...

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The Architecture of Being Lonely

by Laila Frank

February 19, 2019

  Chris looked like the popular hunk in a teenage movie. His defined jawline, toned muscles and shiny set of teeth kindly greeted me at his door in Corpus Christi, Texas. Like most estates in that part of Texas, the place looked more like a castle then like the single-family home it really was. Two …...

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(The City of) What If

by Laila Frank

February 12, 2019

  The place was deserted except for one man, carrying the unmistakable air of a long-life surfer. With a cigar between his lips he had sat his slender and tall body on a rock, patiently staring at the ocean. “Waiting for the waves?” I asked. “It might be a while”, he said. “Care to join?” …...

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The Last Free Place on Earth

by Laila Frank

February 5, 2019

  It was a little before sunset when the sign ‘Last Free Place on Earth’ welcomed us to Slab City. Abel drove up in his ragged pick up truck and the unmistakable aroma of marijuana to drop off the keys. Our home for the night was a gutted-out RV in the southern California desert, one …...

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Good Neighbours and Distant Friends

by Laila Frank

January 29, 2019

An unexpected gust of homesickness snuck up on me while watching a Scandinavian series on Netflix. Maybe it’s because everybody here seems to think Amsterdam is the capital of Scandinavia and I have given up explaining it’s really not. Nonetheless these gorgeous blond people driving around at night between Northern European countries, mingling languages that …...

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Money Talks

by Laila Frank

January 22, 2019

  “Do you have en emergency number you would like us to call? It saves you the expensive ambulance ride to the hospital in case something goes wrong during class. And welcome to your new yoga school!” “Happy to be here”, I reply, aware of the appropriate response. Yet inside I smile and warily shake …...

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Dirty Joe

by Laila Frank

January 15, 2019

  It had been two months since Dirty Joe caught a wave. The last one broke his arm; another casualty added to a long life of surfing. His return did not go unnoticed. It was a Sunday morning, just after sunrise. There is something magical about early morning sessions: the water still fresh and crisp, …...

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Under the Boardwalk

by Laila Frank

January 8, 2019

  It’s a hot summer afternoon and Rob and I are walking the Venice Beach Boardwalk. Vendors display their goods while tourists stroll past, bodybuilders sculpt their torsos on Muscle Beach while musicians catch up with the sound of the ocean. It’s Hollywood at its most picture perfect: Venice Beach as it is known around …...

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