Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Welcome to Hollywood


I hadn’t completely given up on love yet, so six months ago after breaking up with my fiancĂ© (it would take a lifetime to explain why, so I won’t), I followed my heart and moved across the country to Los Angeles, the place where dreams come true and love is in the air, or so I thought. 

A few stories about our relationship were documented over the years on the Love Bites blog. We were on and off for eight years which like most relationships ended quite horribly. Like Taylor Swift and any one of her exes we too are never ever getting back together.

Dating in Los Angeles is like an urban myth and the men here are all characters; some good, some bad and some so terrible that I'm seriously considering never dating again. 

My first night in LA, my bff Summer (She’s back in LA now) took me out to Bar Marmont which is a short walk from the infamous Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. The mantra of Bar Marmont is “I am young, I am cool and damn it, people want to be me!” which is a pretty spot on description of the place. On the weekends you never know who you might see or meet.  

Every time I go here I always end up with hilarious stories, but never a second date. That night was no exception. At 1am, I started a conversation with a divorced, 42 year old, good-looking guy who had a teenager daughter. 

Why is it that men will tell you almost all of their baggage in five minutes if you are seating next to them at a bar, but on a proper date or during daytime hours they reveal nothing? 

And why do women think that their honesty deserves a reward?

Turned out the guy was a helicopter stunt man who worked on a bunch of Tom Cruise movies.  We exchanged numbers and a few nights late I went to a poker party he was hosting at a friend’s house in the valley. I should have known better when he told me it was 420 friendly. Turned out it was all drug friendly. I’m not any drug friendly.

In between bartending, setting up lines of cocaine on the kitchen counter and keeping an eye on the surveillance cameras recording activity around the house, because the party was totally illegal, he told me he was drug dealer at night. Just in case I hadn't figured that out already. Needless to say I left after an house and never heard from him again.

To read more stories about my dating experiences in LA, check out my new blog, Dating Los Angeles, at http://athousandfirstdates.blogspot.com.

Kate