Welcome to Hollywood

Before I left home to head to Hollywood I had a former YAV explain a YAV Year to me as being like the show, Real World, but Jesus style. For those of you who are not familiar with the Real World it is a reality television show where people who know nothing about each other are brought together to live in community. On September 7th we all came together at the house on Gregory; Wendy, Alex, Curtis, Will and me. We are all from different places, with different upbringing and ways of doing things and we are expected to live in an intentional Christian community. Fortunately, I have been blessed with amazing roommates who each of us offer something different to the group that makes for a special family dynamic. I can already tell that it is going to be hard saying good bye at the end of our year.

When I arrived in Hollywood I experienced some culture shock. Hollywood most definitely is not like Tucson. It is big, people are everywhere, the traffic is unbelievable, and it is noisy. The houses are so close together on Gregory it makes use all intimate neighbors. At night I can hear the neighbor to the right of us playing with his kids and I can see the shows they are laughing at. At this moment my other neighbor is watching the movie Transformers and it feels like he is in our living room downstairs. You can hear the kids playing out on the street and every afternoon the tamale man comes out and stands in the alley next to our house yelling, “Tamales”, but you would think he was in our kitchen. The noise was a shock at first but now it is what I associate with being home and when it is quite it feels strange.

Hollywood is a lot different then what I had pictured. When I think of Hollywood I associated it with celebrities. I feel many people think of Hollywood as being a place that has glamour (I did). Hollywood though most definitely has two faces. There are the big homes and the spots that celebrities frequent, but there is also the real side. It is the side where there are average day people who go to work and try to make a living for their families. Sure Hollywood has its big homes and green yards, but it also has its neighborhoods where kids fear that they won’t live to be eighteen, because the reality to them is to feel accepted and have a sense of family you join a gang. In any city you have your parts that vary in social economic status, but in Hollywood is t is very apparent. One great aspect of Hollywood though is that it is a place of culture. There is Korea Town, China Town, Philippines Town, and neighborhoods that are predominately Hispanic. On Hollywood Blvd. you may here five different languages in just waiting to cross the street.

When I first got to Hollywood I was overwhelmed and worried as to how I was going to feel like this place was home. After being here a month I am getting familiar with the streets and I know how to find the grocery store and the closes Target (what more do you need). Last weekend we went on a retreat up in the San Bernardino Mountains and on our way back to Hollywood Curtis said, “It will be nice to get home.” We all paused for a moment at the thought that this is our home and it is finally starting to feel like it.