My tolerance springs from my rootedness in the Los Angeles media culture and my experience as an actor, in my off-beat sense of creativity, and in my sociability. These qualities stood in particular contrast to New Yorkers' abruptness, skepticism and more frequent use of sarcasm. I came to realize that even simple things that I took for granted like my love of the beach, wide-open spaces, good tacos, and fast cars (well, when cars aren't backed upon the highway, of course in LA) all marked me as classically West Coast. Unlike my New York friends, the idea of spending most of my time on narrow city streets, breathing in fumes, or sitting in a tiny studio apartment is not my idea of a good life. I was able to find beauty in Europe, staring at the monumental architectural structures from ages past. To strike another contrast between my perspective and some of the New Yorkers, I was not...

To the world I saw around me. I do not use New York -- or Los Angeles -- as the benchmark against which I measure the rest of the world. Part of being an Angelino is being open to new experiences, and I was not obsessed with the absence of 'good' bagels and pizza. Coming from a city that is bilingual, I am comfortable in a sea of foreign languages, and can accept different attitudes openly, without sneering or judgment.
My openness and generosity of perspective marks me as classically LA and non-European, I think -- much as I am always trying to advance my career, I am laid-back in my willingness to tolerate different attitudes, beliefs, and ways of life. I am interested in fusion, in the new, rather than the old, like a West Coast American. Yet I am comfortable and willing to accept wherever I am, whatever the attitude, like a true Angelino.