The Plan

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=263204439&size=m 

If it’s night, and you’re single and alone, the Santa Monica Pier may not be the ideal place to kill some time. Every single person there will either be part of a happy couple, part of a group comprised of happy couples, or all by themselves and sobbing because they recently stopped being part of a happy couple.

My favorite Pier person is the rose lady. At night, when the arcade is closing and the crowd thins a bit (the Pier is never empty), she really turns on the hard sell: “Roses! Romantic, no? You love her?” Ouch. I’m going to have to talk to her one of these days.

It’s not a depressing place for me to be, but a side effect of my project is that I often feel like an outside observer. There are few places where that feeling is reinforced with the intensity that it is on the Pier. Still, it combines so many things that I like: the ocean, lust, that strange energy created when music, people and neon lighting all come together.

I’ve been there before when not alone, and when not single, and the attraction is easy to see. It’s full of people, sure - but after midnight the crowds thin out, and there are all sorts of dark nooks and crannies. And everybody else is thinking the same thing that you are. What nonsense couldn’t you get away with?

Just don’t get skewered by the fishermen. Those dudes are madmen.

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=263204439&size=m 

If it’s night, and you’re single and alone, the Santa Monica Pier may not be the ideal place to kill some time. Every single person there will either be part of a happy couple, part of a group comprised of happy couples, or all by themselves and sobbing because they recently stopped being part of a happy couple.

My favorite Pier person is the rose lady. At night, when the arcade is closing and the crowd thins a bit (the Pier is never empty), she really turns on the hard sell: “Roses! Romantic, no? You love her?” Ouch. I’m going to have to talk to her one of these days.

It’s not a depressing place for me to be, but a side effect of my project is that I often feel like an outside observer. There are few places where that feeling is reinforced with the intensity that it is on the Pier. Still, it combines so many things that I like: the ocean, lust, that strange energy created when music, people and neon lighting all come together.

I’ve been there before when not alone, and when not single, and the attraction is easy to see. It’s full of people, sure - but after midnight the crowds thin out, and there are all sorts of dark nooks and crannies. And everybody else is thinking the same thing that you are. What nonsense couldn’t you get away with?

Just don’t get skewered by the fishermen. Those dudes are madmen.