January

My favorite month in Los Angeles.

January is perhaps the most beautiful month to live in Los Angeles. The days are creeping longer, the air is crisp and fresh, the San Gabriels are blanketed in snow, and the coast is bright, sunny, and warm. While the rest of the country buttons up for the long winter months ahead, Angelinos enjoy some of the best weather of the year.

January is hope.

Last weekend it was 89 degrees and sunny. This weekend it was 53 degrees and rainy.

Last weekend I wore shorts and a t-shirt. This weekend, sweats and a jacket.

Last weekend I swam in the Pacific Ocean. This weekend I hiked through the snow.

January is dynamic.

These unexpected summer days in the middle of winter are a gift. The warm breeze blows in through open windows—heat welcomed inside rather than kept outside. One feels able to enjoy the warm spell as a temporary relief, not the beginning of another blazing summer. The rain comes again soon.

January is untamed.

Higher up, the desert landscape receives a fresh dusting of snow. It seems so alien, and yet it happens every year. A thirty minute drive along the Angeles Crest carries one out of the city and into the clouds. People don’t realize LA is a sleeper mountain town. Don’t let the secret slip.

January is solace.

January is the month of angled light, of vibrant sunsets, of blue skies. It is the month of fleeting moments, clarity, and fleeting moments of clarity. It is the month of beginnings and endings—reminders that the world is not changing, the world is change.

January is breath

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