LA Times Image Magazine November Editor’s Note

A few weeks ago, two of my closest friends, who are also a couple, shared that they were leaving LA for good. I was having dinner at their house – as I was practically every week – and I couldn’t stop myself from crying into my pasta. For five years, my partner and I lived across the street from this couple. Our closeness has made our already existing friendship even closer, I know what shows they watch on their projector and what time they usually turn off their lights to sleep (also said that maybe I was a little. too supervisor). Jokes aside, knowing that my friends could bring me Advil when I spilled boiling water on my feet, or that they could come over on a weeknight for a random Kismet rotisserie chicken, made me feel safe and protected.

When I moved to LA, I had few friends and was lonely. I wasn’t optimistic about my future social life – everyone was talking about how hard it was to make and maintain friendships in such a big, sprawling city. And it can be. Perhaps I was lucky that my experience was the opposite: my seven years of life were defined by friendships in my block in Normandy. Because apart from this couple, we have gathered several other friends who are also neighbors. Whenever we host friends from out of town, they always comment on how we live in some kind of commune.

For all the talk of this city’s desolation and distaste for people walking, I witnessed something else. Beyond my own square radius, I’ve seen an art world that’s much less individualistic than other big cities—one that tends to collaborate and join forces to make something more meaningful. A solo show culminates in a group show. Writing your book is writing your book with others. Raising your child means raising him with the people around you. The people I have encountered are some of the best and kindest in the same breath, a rare and precious combination.

Image November celebrates LA’s spirit of generosity and the commitment people have to their creative and personal relationships. It’s about the bonds that change you and you never want to part ways.