All Hail Los Angeles
February 9, 2009Can you even remember the last time it hailed in Los Angeles? Well I can. I was in third grade. I only have a single faint image of looking outside my den window and seeing those little white capsules making their amateurishly violent descent from heaven. The dark green lawn that defined my backyard was transformed into a scape of of ice cubes bouncing in parabolic arks as if the hail had turned into microscopic kangaroos.
Ten years later our Film / Video III (the creme de la creme of art classes at my school) are sitting in the darkest room on campus (okay you photography dark room kids…go ahead and correct me), and we’re watching Diner (1982) when suddenly there’s a blinding light slicing the room in half as one of my classmates looks out behind of of the blinds in the back of the room.
“Hey everyone I just wanted to let you know that it’s hailing outside”
Now surely this concept it not completely out of the ordinary…it’s been raining ridiculously heavy this past weekend in LA (really!? LA has a winter?) but suddenly the class is in a flurry. That was obviously going to be the reaction…at first I’d half expected that he had just said this to cause a scene in the class. After this had been confirment by multiple (and somehwhat more trustworthy) witnesses, our film teacher took charge of the the anarchy within the class, quickly paused the movie and shouted in her post-New York accent,
“Allllllright lets all go outside and see the hail!”
The front of the class is already at the door as the rest of us run to catch up. We can’t waste a single second of the precious moment! As we ran outside onto the balcony we were actually joining other members of our community; other classes had extatic students rushing out of them to experience this rare miracle.
Our Hair and Sweaters were quickly being covered in little icy beads as we shouted at the sky, taking in the moment as a true marker of LA’s atmospheric phenomenon.
On February 9th, 2009 at approximately 1:30 in the afternoon, the students of the Film / Video III class experienced 5 minutes of true freedom (and the films weren’t too bad either). We appreciated the last few moments as Hail reigned supreme…until the the rain hailed once again. (is there a special name for that kind of reversible pun?)
That whole event was soooooooo Southern California of us!
wow!!!! thats incredIBLE. i cant even believe that wow. haha. so how long were you snowed in for?
we weren’t actually snowed in :/ too bad it didn’t snow. but like LITERALLY it was hailing for like 5 minutes before it went straight back to raining. and then it took FOREVER to get home!
oh I am so sorry, my english, she is no too good. I am making living in Moscow now, it much better than siberia.
I really enjoy your writing about the Los Angeles City. One day i wish to make a trip to there but it is too much money.
thank you for your beautiful words!!!
I have just one quick question:
Will you be making more “blog” posts for us to read? I really looking forward to making reading of it.
A many thanks,
Federro Romenya
I am not Mr. Emanuel. Your writing brings joy and happiness to my desolation in Moscow.
Thanks,
Mr. Romenya
I love your blog, I am so glad it hailed and I do believe that the last time it hailed in Los Angeles was in 2007. It also hailed today
Is there perhaps a causal connection between the movie “Diner” and the fact that it was hailing? A description of the movie could be:
“Set during the Christmas Season of 1959, in the city of Baltimore, Diner showcases a pack of brotherly best friends who are wrestling with the transition from youth to adulthood. ”
Is this not part of the freedom that you and your friends in this moment in running outside, seeing the hail and coming to the conclusion on how it all fits in the grand scheme of things?
Is this reasonable “food” for thought?