I started dancing back when I was in LA, but I didn't get into the vintage dance scene until I got to the Bay Area. I can't remember how I happened upon Gaskells. It must have been a flyer seen at a contra dance (I discovered contra dancing in LA. I continued doing it in SF but eventually dropped it because I found the community here a bit frostier than that in LA, oddly enough.) Gaskells led to PEERS which led to all sorts of other types of social and couples dancing. I haven't been out dancing in a couple years now. At first it was because I was so ashamed of regaining weight I had lost. Now it's also because my health has been so bad that I wouldn't be able to dance more than a couple dances per night. And $20 admission to dance only 2 or 3 dances is a bit rich for my blood. However, I'll want to try easing myself back into dancing and would like to tap into that community in LA.

So here's a list of SF Bay Area dance/costume coolnesses and very rough equivalents in LA:

PEERS, Gaskells = LAHA

Greater Bay Area Costumers Guild =  Costumers Guild West

Stonemountain & Daughter, Piedmont Fabric, Silk Road Fabric = The Garment District

Lacis = Farthingale's LA

Bay Area Country Dance Society = California Dance Cooperative

The California Dance Cooperative used to hold Cajun dances. In fact, their cajun dances are what introduced me to contra. It looks like they don't have them anymore. So if anyone knows of Cajun/Zydeco dances in LA, please let me know.

While I'm glad there are more equivalents than I thought there would be, most of these resources are within a couple miles of my house. That will NOT be the case in LA. And as I sold my car last year, I expect the greatest shock of all will be how hard it is to get around. Even though I'll likely be able to borrow a car when I need one, I don't want to have to. I like things being close by.

Haven't written anything here in  yonks. I do plenty of writing on the interwubs but never became a regular blogger. It's kinda hard to write into a vacuum. There are so many damned bloggers out there that I'm a plankton in a very large ocean. However, I know that I'm going to want to track what's likely to be happening in my life in the coming year.

My disability has progressed to the point where I can no longer hold a regular job. That and the economic depression have conspired to push me out of my home in Berkeley. Disability doesn't pay enough for me to stay in the San Francisco Bay Area in the conditions I'd like so it's likely I'm moving back to my hometown. So after 20 years of living in the East Bay, I'll be moving back to the Los Angeles area. I have no friends remaining there so it will be nearly like starting from scratch as far as social networking. While a lot has changed there in 20 years, LA is still far behind the Bay Area when it comes to walkability, public transit, recycling, gardening, quality produce, cycling, and cheap cool freaksome activities.

For a couple weeks now I've been asking people as well as Googling to see what equivalent activities there are in LA so that I can take the sting out of the culture shock I know is coming. And I thought I should start blogging the whole process of rediscovering my hometown. So here goes.