By Vincentt Garofalo
I’ve been reading a lot of negative press about the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica in a few of the local newspapers. Complaints about homeless, complaints about noise, complaints about trash and just about everything else. I’m tired of all of the negativity, and for one thing, what you see on the Third Street Promenade on any given day is reality, plain and simple. Yes, there are homeless people. Yes, there is crime. Yes, the music is too damn loud. But I see it as the glass half full. We seem to be missing out on the magic of the Third Street Promenade. On any given day, you can hear many languages being spoken by some of the most interesting people you will ever meet. Where can you listen to a Tibetan monk chanting and playing an instrument you’ve never seen? Or how about watching a group of the angriest Christians who preach on a Friday and Saturday night in front of the dinosaur at Bravo’s restaurant? The Promenade is a place to meet your favorite celebrity and talk to them about their latest film being previewed at the local theater. One day I even witnessed a young man pushing a wheel barrel with a seven-foot lizard sticking out its tongue, and to my amazement, he removed the dragon out of the wheel barrel for a short walk and most people didn’t even seem to notice, or care. The best thing I’ve ever seen at the Third Street Promenade was the time MTV did a lunchtime concert with Alanis Morissette for 20 minutes on a warm spring day. And in about five minutes, 500 people gathered around to listen to Alanis sing like an angel. We must be able to get along with each other, especially during this difficult time in America, and I cannot think of a better place I have ever enjoyed playing and working in my lifetime. Maybe if people would take some time to talk with a homeless person before they make a judgment. To me, the Promenade represents the true spirit of America, a melting pot where everyone just gets along — rich and poor, young and old, insane a planets who visit the Promenade. Because I know that some of these beings are not from this planet.
Happy holidays.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 14, 2003. Read the original PDF.