L.A. Is My Beat: New Year's Eve

Altered Dorothea Lange Image, "Dust Bowl Mother"

New Year's Eve is Amateur's Night. If you're really a hard-core party-er, you'll be out drinking and dancing 'til dawn on ANY other night of the week except New Year's Eve! This is what HBO TV host John Oliver says about New Year's Eve in New York: "New Year's Eve is like the death of a pet, you know it's going to happen but somehow you're never really prepared for how truly awful it is. New Year's Eve is the worst. It combines three of the least pleasant things known to mankind: Forced interaction with strangers, being drunk,

cold and tired and having to stare at Ryan Seacrest for five solid minutes, waiting for him to tell you what the time is."

Hahahahaha! I agree. Up until I was in my late 30's, early 40's, I used to LOVE New Year's Eve. We always made elaborate plans for the evening....parties, music, fancy dinners and more. Now that we've advanced in years, I find the whole evening a let-down. For the last decade or so (with a couple of neighbor's parties thrown in), Larry and I usually go to an early evening movie and then dinner at an out-of-way, non-festive restaurant like our local coffee shop or Thai place.

This year we'll be doing more of the same. We have a movie picked out at the Landmark, WLA that starts at 4:05. Hmmmm? Where to go for EARLY dinner afterwards? Afterwards, we'll stop by our neighbors' house and drink a toast to East Coast New Year's at 9pm. Perfect!

I found the vintage photo below in the L.A. Public Library photo archives. We will NOT be with the gang on the Strip tomorrow night. Ho Hum.