Home Truths About Life in Two Big Cities

Reading “The Big Move” made me aware of the reverse effect moving from New York to Los Angeles had on me. Here in L.A., I developed an unexpected paranoia, which would have been understandable in New York City but was totally absent there.

Commuting to work, I rode the subway from Penn Station to the Grand Central terminal, where I boarded a subway shuttle to Rockefeller Center. We were pushed and crammed into the trains and often some riders had to step off in order to close the doors. Bodies were squashed against bodies. We women soon learned to hold our purses against our chests--an automatic response.

You might be sharing space with Brooks Brothers suits and attache cases, or sticky, sweaty skin, depending on the day’s luck of the draw. You positioned your head to avoid garlic-laden air, which was always part of the scene. However you were positioned, that was how you remained until you arrived at your destination. It seemed to be accepted as part of life in New York City. At least I never gave it much thought.

Living here in Los Angeles, the vast expanse of space makes me feel disoriented and at loose ends. I seem to have developed a reverse kind of paranoia concerning bacteria and germs. Anyone getting any closer to me than a foot or two makes me jump the other way.

But I have long since bid adieu to New York City. I love Los Angeles and have no intentions of ever leaving.

ELSIE ANZALONE

Lakewood