I liked it better when it was the same.

Manifest Destiny ran out of real estate.  In it's next iteration, it recoiled back from PCH as a wave of urban renewal.  You can almost follow it by the numbers in Santa Monica.  There once was a JC Penney on the Third Street Promenade.  Remember?  Next came 4th and 5th Streets as production services and professional firms left central LA.

Everything is different now.  I liked it better when it was the same.

Eastsiders often dismiss Santa Monica and vice versa.  Everyone is familiar with the demarcation.  East/West of LaBrea.  

I went street shooting on 8th and 9th Street last week and picked up on some of how it's still like it was before. A little hug across the border to the Santa Monica we remember fondly.