February 3, 2021
Hollywood to me has given me as much as it has also taken away. A town that is constantly teetering on the brink of chaos and never sleeps has been the town I have called home off and on the majority of my life.
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My Father’s parents were Holocaust survivors who had witnessed every one of their family members tortured and murdered behind the gates of Auschwitz — the concentration camp where most prisoners did not share this same fate.
After reuniting in Sweden after the war, my grandparents married and had two children (my father and his sister) and called Sweden home for 10 years before moving to Hollywood.
The pressure of being a first generation Jewish child of Holocaust survivors took it toll heavily on my father. To cope with the erratic behavior of his parents and their expectations, he turned to Heroine as a way to escape at a very young age.
With all of his demons my father was still able to graduate from UCLA and become a chiropractor. He had two children (my brother and sister) from his first marriage and called Hollywood home his entire life, excluding a small period of his life when he jumped ship to avoid the Vietnam draft and lived abroad for a couple of years.
My father would remarry and have two kids (my brother and I) and continue to live his not so normal day-to-day life which we all felt the brunt of.
The circle of addiction ended up ending my father’s life as he was prematurely killed by a drunk driver picking up a methadone prescription to help end his addiction. My sister would also succumb to an OD years later and my older brother(who found some fame as musician) still fights the swarm of addiction, which also ended the life of his daughter this past year.
https://www.laweekly.com/mickey-avalons-true-hollywood-stories/
The stories and life I have witness here have not always been pretty, mostly they are never. Although I find some sort of camaraderie with the people in this town. You rub elbows with the junkies, homeless, rich and powerful in Hollywood and although each seems to be different in their own way, I feel as though I can relate to all.
The only thing COVID-19 has done for Hollywood is put a mask on the crazies. Hollywood is always a center of madness and decadence. So all-in-all I would say besides businesses closing, it hasn’t truly affected the mental state of Hollywood.
The vaccine to me is iffy, I am thrilled something is finally out to combat the illness but also I think the first round of something is always a bit questionable to try out.
As a journalist Hollywood has been a great staple for me to grow up and live, stories occur daily and I open my eyes more and more I realize we all have our own story to tell whether its tragic or inspirational.
I guess one may say there is a true beauty to all of this madness after all.
