My family recently made a trip down to Los Angeles for college visits for my daughter. We stayed at an Airbnb near Culver City. It was a middle-class LA neighborhood tucked in between freeways and struck me as oddly quiet and motionless as I took my dog out for walks. The mix of different house and landscaping styles but the 1950s houses stood out. I also saw many American flags arranged in strange ways, which was peculiar after living in San Francisco. I hardly encountered any residents as I walked around the neighborhood and I began to imagine extraterrestrials living in these homes and pretending to be Los Angelenos. What would they be doing here and why would they make these lifestyle decisions?
