"In the land of the hopeless and homeless They tell us we'll be reborn And in the land of the sneering and smiling We're left in stitches, we're left torn In Hollywood and Highland They sweep the streets with smoldering dreams In the land of the penniless and pitiless You see people licking the boulevard clean Just for an answer Just for a glance Just for a second Just for a chance They want to live the Hollywood dream But they will live to lick the boulevard clean They will live to lick the starred streets clean Trying to live the Hollywood dream Isn't Hollywood mean?
There upon the shining streets A man is there to live his dream He's got the talent of likeability But must transcend the machine He work hard every single day Waiting to get his big billboard break But he knows he must be white and straight To have it good in the U. S. of A.
So we know where this is going We know there's something wrong I've got an inkling, an inkling I know his soul's sinking And it's going, going, gone." - Aaron Parr
When i "hopped off the plane at LAX", I thought LA was the official party of the USA. I was wide-eyed and just knew that I was going to be discovered and famous almost immediately. As funny as that statement sounds this is the mind frame that aspiring Actors, Musicians and other entertainers leave their homes for. Hollywood itself is a consciousness, movies such as "This is the End" gets financing from the Studios to promote Hollywood to be this Golden land, what people see on their Television screen, like movie premiers, the Oscars etc.. Is just 3 blocks of Hollywood. The rest of Hollywood is full of aspiring entertainers (who drive for Uber) and homeless people... I lived in a two bedroom apartment right off Hollywood Blvd that had 4 people sleeping in bunk beds in each room and an addition four people in the living room. Yes! That's twelve people in one small apartment. Because I go bitten by LOTS of bed bugs i went to the Hospital thinking I may have been infected with some type of an STD. I was hospitalized for three days with antibiotics pumping through an IV, and prescribed an antibiotic to rid my body of the bacterial infection the bed bugs had caused.
After being discharged for Cedars Hospital, I returned to that filthy apartment to collect my belongings so that I could live in a Hotel until i figured out what was next for me. The guy who was illegally leasing the spot informed me that I was 'evicted' because I drew too much attention to his business, and that someone had already paid him the $400.00 for a spot where I slept. I got robbed out of about $200.00, almost died from a bacterial infection, and all my clothes had were stolen. I was in no position to continue college, or stay in Hollywood as my delightful dream looked as if it was in the rear-view mirror.
Thankfully, I had managed to make a few friends who had been in the same situation, so I was embraced and given an opportunity to clean up, find a job and start my college courses a few weeks later. The next four months went by pretty quick. I felt relieved because, for one, I had enough clothes to last a week. Although I was not happy, nor did i have the money to finance any acting classes, I did manage to take a few theater electives at Los Angeles Community College. M my basic economic needs were in check. This all gave me reassurance that I was on the right track to stability, and getting back to my childlike passion and dream, until my roommate Thomas went off the deep end.
Thomas was a French guy who gad it EASY! He arrived in Hollywood days after me, we met living in that bed bug infested apartment. I often wonder why someone good looking and foreign would put himself in that situation, because Hollywood embraces the foreign actors and he sure in hell had it a lot easier than I did. I'm from the Florida, so at the time I was not sure if that was just my perception or a fact.... FACT! Thomas would go around Hollywood breaking all the rules,. He created his own schedule and signed his own paychecks from the American Apparel company, and because we were like brothers he looked out for me. Thomas got invited to some of the most prestigious events in Hollywood, and frequently partied with high profile actors and executives. Of course, I was jealous! However, I have always held faith that my path to success will be different; I did not expose myself to drugs and STD's Thomas was treated for. Something devastating happened to Thomas, so he had to go back to France and live his life with family. The lesson I learned from him is to know my shit before I put myself out on the limbs. We all make our own choices and at the end of the day you have no one to blame but yourself.
Although i virtually lost a good friend, I was happy to be living in my own apartment. Two months later, I was asked is to pay an additional $350.00 per month because the bank had brought the properties, then eventually destroyed the apartments to build a mega-duplex. As instability began to approach once again, I entered into my second semester of college. My tuition funds deposited right on time. I moved to Sherman Oaks and finally financed a few acting classes. I immediately jumped into a cold reading class with David Kagen, and a Scene Study class with Tasha Smith. I had suddenly become my wide-eyed, willing to learn charismatic childlike self again. Now people call me a Hollywood bad boy, a trouble maker. I used to take offense to that until i realized that Denzel Washington built an entire career by embrace this attribute.
To Be Continued...
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