Amber Dusick of Crappy Pictures has a very funny post about a series of events contributing to her young son’s decision to become a police officer, or possibly a movie director. I think he should be a movie-directing police officer. Why not? This is America. Anyone can grow up to be anything.
As she points out:
We live in Los Angeles, CA. No, this isn’t something we see all the time here. I see famous people more often than I see guns. I have seen police with their guns drawn one other time in my life but that was outside of a Target® in Madison, WI. So there.
And that’s true. Not the Madison, WI, part. I’ve barely been there. No time to observe anything, much less police activity.
But this morning, as Mr. Sandwich was leaving for work, I heard helicopters nearby. And one of our friends posted on Facebook that they had been over her neighborhood and woke up her daughter (Baguette’s Bestie). Apparently there had been a police shooting nearby.
We all live in perfectly nice neighborhoods–not Bel-Air or Brentwood (well, I don’t know where Amber Dusick lives), but good places to raise children. So this definitely is a noteworthy event. And I don’t even see that much police activity. The closest I’ve gotten to a shootout was when we lived in our crappy apartment, and the guy across the street got tazed after taunting the police to shoot him (I guess he really, really didn’t want to turn down his stereo at 6 a.m.)
Then again, I almost never see famous people. Except Michael Clarke Duncan. I’ve seen him at a Whole Foods and at a restaurant, and they were in very different parts of town. Hmm. Now I wonder if Michael Clarke Duncan is stalking me. Because I do not need to tangle with Omarosa. Yikes. What if Michael Clarke Duncan thinks I’m stalking him? Because, again, I don’t need to tangle with Omarosa.
But between the lack of police shootings and the lack of celebrity sitings, I’m starting to wonder: Do I really live in L.A.? Because it’s nothing like TV and the movies.
Photo by Lord Jim, via Flickr.
There was a police shooting on my street a few weeks ago. Not just the police — the FEDS. It was exciting/terrifying. This is another not bad neighborhood, perfectly fine if not ridiculously wealthy, but man. I felt like I was in an episode of NCIS or something.
When I was in high school, someone broke into our house while we were away. I was the one who found it, and my parents weren’t due back for hours (another day? It’s been a while). The police took hours to show up, but the FBI agent who lived across the street got his service weapon and swept the house to make sure no one was inside (no one was). Plenty exciting/terrifying for one lifetime.
I will be perfectly happy if I never again have AFT agents in bulletproof vests running down my street waving rifles around.
Yup. I can imagine.
Would you believe I’ve seen Angelyne herself twice? It is true! Once was on the 101 and once was at a Wells Fargo. She really does drive a bright pink car.
I hear she’s nice–I’ve never seen her, but one of my friends met her and said she was very gracious.
I live in L.A. too and never want to see a police shooting! I have been close enough to see police S.W.A.T teams though. I have a long list of celebrity sightings, probably because I am the kind of person who never notices them unless someone else points them out to me!
I’d definitely rather see a celebrity than a shooting. No contest.
I lived at USC for two years – plenty of hoopla in those parts. Guy barricading himself in his house being yelled at by LAPD with a bullhorn, 2AM helicopter with spotlight on the building across from my apartment, tons of car stereos stolen. Ah, college.
Interestingly, though, that was nothing compared to earlier this year when the office across from mine (literally the one I stare at all day) got raided by the FBI and SIGTARP. Big weapons! Bullet-proof vests! Handcuffs! Crazy.
Oh, and once I saw Woody Harrelson at the 3rd Street Promenade.
I went to UCLA. We had both gang activity in Westwood and celebrities on campus. I never saw any of it.
I have had celebrity sightings, but my odds increase if I’m with one particular friend. With her, I’ve seen Tyne Daly, Keanu Reeves, Michael Vartan, and Amy Adams. (On my own I have also seen Ethan Hawke and Liv Tyler. Once, when I was hugely pregnant, Mr. Sandwich and I had breakfast and he saw Dylan McDermott, but I did not.)