Last weekend after our trip to Santa Monica B and I headed over to Hollywood to see The Wrestler. We missed our 4pm show so we got a chance to walk down the boulevard for a while. Going to Hollywood is very nostalgic for me. It was my first home when my family and I came to the U.S. from El Salvador. I learned to roller skate on Hollywood boulevard! Hollywood has changed so much since I lived here in the early eighties. Back in the day... it was not the cool and hip place that it is now (parts of it anyway!).
While there has always been a steady stream of tourists coming here it was not a place where families lived. As a child I remember feeling like I lived on the wrong side of the tracks because everyone else I knew lived on the other side of Santa Monica Boulevard and Vine. But my Dad always made it feel special and told my sister and I about all the movie stars he admired and how he couldn't believe how now we were living in Hollywood ! We lived in a studio apartment (the four of us) and I can honestly say those are some of my best childhood memories in Hollywood!
After our afternoon walk, we headed to the Arclight and finally got to see The Wrestler Click (here for the trailer), even though it has been a week since I've seen this film. It has stayed with me. I have found myself wondering how the Ram ( Mickey Rourke's character) is doing. I love movies and books like that. This character is an underdog and although he is an untraditional character I found myself rooting for him and identifying with him. It is weird when you can identify with someone who is so different than you...