Culture Walk-Spotting is one of my favorite LA pastimes
Plus my favorite movie that got no Oscar love, and Nuguse Nugoes for the record again
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Shows!
[San Diego, CA] **HEADLINING** Margaret Star’s Musical Comedy Show at MicDrop San Diego - Clairemont neighborhood - Thurs April 3
[San Diego, CA] TBD - North Park - Weds April 16
[Los Angeles, CA] Hot Dates - Weds April 23
[DC] Fri May 16th show incoming!
[Future Shows] Fill out this form to lemme know what city you’re in if you wanna see me perform there! Takes 5 seconds! Helps me make my grand plans!
Hello Sternal Journalists,
If you’re driving around certain places on Los Angeles’ west side—Culver City, Westwood, Santa Monica, maybe Century City—you are bound to see one of my favorite things to spot in the wild. I call them CULTURE WALKS.
This is where the boss of an office decided or heard that it was good for the whole office to go someplace together. Maybe this is to lunch. Maybe this for a coffee after lunch. Maybe it’s just for a stroll. But the most important thing is that it would be best if everyone did it together. It’s good for the culture of the company.
And so, like I said, if you go to a place like Culver City right around lunchtime, you’re bound to see flocks of creative-business or business-creative professionals walking around and cultivating the culture of their companies.
I’m not making fun of this. I swear to God. I think culture walks sound fun and are probably a good idea for the emotional, relational, and physical health of your office. It is just astounding that every single one of these flocks of walks looks identical.
Like, here is an example:
I took this one myself and I made sure nobody’s faces are visible, but I am not exaggerating when I say it was the third such group I had seen in about five minutes of driving through downtown Culver City. And they all are comprised of the same elements:
couple of dudes in plaid
someone in a demin jacket with a hoodie element
an authoritative young grandmother-type
one nervous Gen Z
one way overly confident Gen Z
the boss (whose idea the walks were) walking in front, talking to nobody or talking to the same one or two people he/she ever talks to.
couple of guys in chinos to offset the mostly jeans
one very tall guy underdressed even for the clearly casual dress-code of the workplace. (This reminds me that the one time I had a job that was remotely Culture Walk-y, I was told that there was no dress code. On day two, I wore a tank top, shorts, and flip flops. They said, “Okay, maybe there’s a little bit of a dress code.” But I am convinced that if I was unnaturally tall, I would have been able to get away with it.)
nobody really talking too much to anyone in fact
the last blackberry still in use
Like I said, I’m not making fun of this phenomenon. I’m just pointing it out to you because, especially if you’re in L.A., you will see them and I guarantee you they will be comprised of these elements. Then you see them everywhere and you chuckle a bit whenever you do. It is a fun game. Enjoy it.
Am I missing any classic Culture Walk elements? Is this just an L.A. thing? Have you been the victim of a Culture Walk? Sound off in the comments! But for now…
Recommendations!
I Saw The TV Glow. Film. Recommended it a couple times before, but as it got no love from the Oscars and I have kept thinking about it in the ten months since I saw it (and I don’t think a lot of people saw it generally), I’m recommending it again! It’s weird, but no weirder than the Substance. Plotless-ish, but no more plotless-ish than a complete unknown. And it perfectly captures the feeling of obsessing over a weird Nickelodeon show with your friend who has cable. And it has a Fruitopia machine in it, which makes it especially 90s. I gotta rewatch it.
Yared Nuguse’s Indoor Mile at Boston University. YouTube Video. A couple SternJourns ago, I talked about my obsession with the world record indoor track mile rivalry between American Yared Nuguse and Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Nuguse broke the record and Ingebrigtsen broke that record five days later). Yesterday, Nuguse posted on Instagram that he had entered this race at BU with the caption “guess I am that petty,” implying that he would set out to take the record back. Did he do it? Find out!
Conan O’Brien’s Oscars Monologue. Also YouTube Video. I love Conan and was excited for this, and felt like he delivered. Also very much loved the “your move, Estonia” riffs. And “In Europe, they’re called Kilometers and Kilometry, but here we know them as Miles and Miley… Miles Teller and Miley Cyrus” was the greatest dumb joke I’ve heard in a long time.
Survivor. Television Show. It’s back, and it’s really good. If you’re searching for a feel-good low-lift watch in between prestige-signaling with Severence and White Lotus, consider popping back to Fiji. Feels like it’s gonna be a great season.
Alrighty, that’s all! Much love!
Julian!
My two favorite types of “culture walks” to spot in my charming little corner of Florida are: divorce parties and 60th+ birthday parties. Bonus points if the entire group appears to have used the same plastic surgeon.