Aloha DTLA!

Alexander hanging out in our South-facing window.

The good thing about Aloha is that it's been used to mean 'hello' as well as 'goodbye' and so with this explanation, we announce that we've made it official. Sean & I put in our 30 day notice this morning. We're giving up our spacious, light-filled loft in the Old Bank District.

When Sean & I made the decision to leave the SF Bay Area & Berkeley for SoCal, it seemed like the logical choice, given how much traveling Sean was doing with work. It seemed like he was away or traveling more than he was home. We made the move thinking "nothing's permanent.." Well, that's what I told myself. That was eight years ago. We never imagined ourselves living in a live/work loft situation in DTLA. Since then, we find that time and experience changes things. Now I can't imagine why we didn't move to Downtown LA sooner.

We loved calling the Historic Core and the Old Bank District home. It's a little slice of what life should be everywhere. Where neighbors talk to each other, where we get involved in our community and take an interest in each other and how we can make life better for one another. I can't say I did much of that myself, but I really liked being a part of that environment. The creative and self-determined and civic-minded.

I enjoyed the time I was helping blog about our neighborhood, meeting new people and learning about the businesses around DTLA. I loved attending community events like Hope For Firefighters, National Night Out, or the Public Safety BBQ at 7th &Fig. Sean loved going to Art Walk and exploring the pop-up galleries and creative spaces around Gallery Row. We had favorite places we loved to go eat: Starry Kitchen, The Nickel Diner, Pete's Cafe, Syrup Desserts, Blossom, Wurstkuche,(as well as Royal Clayton's which will be re-opening in its new location on Spring later this year) to name just a few that we enjoyed regularly these past several years.

We made so many friends here, we found a home, and community. That said, why are we heading back to the Bay Area? Well, it's home. The decision to leave Berkeley for SoCal was made with our heads and not so much with our heart. Sean's family is from the Bay Area.. and while I'm not from there, I fell in love with the City and pretty much everything about living there. With Sean's work travel it made sense to move to SoCal.. but we missed home and it was a topic of conversation that came up over the years. "Do you think we'll ever move back to Berkeley?" Who knows? "Do you think they'll let you transfer back?" Who knows? At first it didn't make sense to move back, as there was still some traveling involved with his work.. The last couple years he's been telecommuting (when he's not having to travel now & again). So with our place being a true 'live/work' loft situation, the topic came up a few times. Working from home, Sean & I could live anywhere.. While we have been very happy where we live, we realized that the time might be right to see about moving back to Berkeley.. or to the Bay Area in general (San Jose came up a couple times). So Sean looked into it, and here we are.

We found an adaptive reuse 'live/work' loft space to live in Emeryville,Ca. Many of our friends know Emeryville as Pixar Headquarters. =) It's also where Peet's Coffe & Tea is based, Title Nine, Leap Frog, and Jamba Juice among many others.. Emeryville is also a very small city: Incorporated in the late 1800s.. It has a police and fire department, but no public library or newspaper! Sandwiched between Berkeley and Oakland in the Eastbay, it may not need a paper but this is where community blogging comes in. Blogs are essential to sharing information and news around Emeryville. While I can't say what I personally will do along the lines of blogging, I do intend to keep posting updates.. I just won't be posting about DTLA so much. While I fully intend to visit to DTLA pretty often, I don't expect to make like I can keep up on the goings-on. We're relocating pretty far away; things will be missed.

I don't know if I should keep updating this, maybe change the name of the blog to something more Bay-centric? I don't expect DTLA friends & neighbors to be interested in what's going on in Emeryville.. I do have a wordpress blog that I started when I was doing research for the move back, but then it doesn't make sense to me to keep up two blogs about what is most likely to be the same topic. Honestly I just don't know.. Maybe some folks have suggestions.. Until such time, we're keeping busy.

I've been scavenging boxes from the neighbors and I got another moving kit coming in from Costco. We're looking into movers now and contemplating a visit from "Out of the Closet" for some of our furniture. I'm doing a lot of sorting, dusting, organizing.. Despite all that, the place is a mess.. and looks more untidy than it did before I started. The cats are getting a little upset about the constant movement of 'stuff' around the loft.

We're anxious. We're excited. We're happy. We're sad.. We're stressed. This is a good thing. We'll be missing so much about downtown and yet we know this isn't goodbye forever. With friends and community we found here, it's just "so long for now.. see you soon.." Aloha.


Kiki loves a warm patch of sun as it comes through one of our many frosted glass windows.