One of the things I love about LA is having a sense of smell.

Back in Austin my allergies were so bad that most of the time, my nose was so stuffed up that I couldn't smell anything. Here in LA, my allergies are so negligible that my nose is seldom stuffed up and I can smell everything. Now - I'm sure you're saying "LA is so polluted - how can you possibly smell anything but car exhaust?" But it's true!!! I was born in Houston, a place about as smoggy as LA, so I'm accustomed to the smoke and car exhaust.

I get off the train in the morning in Long Beach. It's close, but not really, to the ocean. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I can smell the sea air, salty and clean and sharp.

About 3 blocks from my office is an Arco oil refinery. Most of the time it's not too stinky when it's polluting the air. But sometimes, it spews out that particular oil refinery funk that reminds me of southeast Texas. I think of all the times we visited my grandparents in Baytown, traveling from Houston through Pasadena. Pasadena, Texas can be identified solely by smell. It is home to so many oil refineries that funk is all you can smell when you get within several miles of the town. It also reminds me of heritage. My great grandfather was a wildcat for Humble Oil way back in the old days. I have history with that scent.

Over Christmas and New Year's it rained cats and dogs in LA. The skies poured for almost 3 weeks straight. When the rain finally broke, flowers and trees started to bloom everywhere. It was beautiful. I was so happy; I was silly and giddy. I didn't really realize what was making me so stupidly happy until I got off the train at home in Hollywood. All I could smell was a wonderful mix of blossoms and green growing things. The air had the same perfume it did the first week I moved here. I stood outside the train station grinning like an idiot and taking huge, deep breaths just to get the lovely smell inside my lungs.

It hit me once again, I'm home....this is Hollywood and I live here....and I love it.