Urban Error Codes

Click. "404 or Not Found error." Or more rarely: 403 “Forbidden.” ; A 404 is a standard HTTP response code indicating that the client (you) was unable to communicate with the server (them). Or in plain English, the page you are looking for doesn't exist on the web. In real life, a 404 is a common occurrence in Los Angeles. You drive to a store, only to find it closed and a Starbucks in its place. My answer would be to flip open my cellphone and Google for the closest alternative, while my car idles at the curb with the air conditioning blasting my hair back like I had my own personal tornado. Angelenos are accustomed to an ever changing landscape; we are so blasé that when new area codes are added we just blink once and roll through another stop sign. We blithely move through do-overs, makeovers, rehabs, and, even when the ground beneath us moves, we take it all in stride and look for the next new thing. With each metamorphosis we are assured that the only sign of permanence in Los Angeles is Angelyne's age.

This could be also said about the journey I have traveled in my adopted city of Los Angeles. I am a transplant from the north, by way of China through my parents. I came here to start a new life, with a blank slate and stare. In the years I've been here, my life has changed many times over, and none of it can be revisited because the emotional, personal and physical landscape has changed. Most of my life is a code 404.

For the next few months, I'll be taking you on a journey with me on the superhighways of radio waves and asphalt, where there will be potholes and Black Holes and a few hitch hikers with their own stories, about a city that changes with a blink of an eye and a click of a mouse. So sit back and relax. The air conditioning is on and I've got the map.

The image attached to this post was created byOphelia Chong.