Dating at USC as Depicted by La La Land
“A little chance encounter could be the one you’ve waited for.” — La La Land
Getting into USC was a dream, but actually stepping foot on campus turned me into a dreamer. And how could you not? In the sunny city that hosts the bougie Hollywood Hills, the magical “land” of Disney, hungry creatives and actors, and of course the godsend of an institution that adorns cardinal and gold (yes, I guess there’s that school with a bear mascot too), it’d be remiss to ask “what should we do today?”.
LA is truly the city of stars. No I mean, like actually, you might run into Schmidt from New Girl when pretending to be an aristocrat while perusing Rodeo Drive or run into Adam Sandler while enjoying butterbeer at the “Wizarding World of Harry Potter” at Universal Studios. (Yes, both of those things happened to me, and no I did not talk to them). Yet, beyond running into celebrities and fanboying your ass off, enjoying what the city has to offer as a dating hub completely transforms both your student life at USC and your cognizant, minute appreciations for the beauty that is Los Angeles.
In my reflection I believe, dating at USC is typified by the repetition of hindsight longings from moments relived.
In the infamous end scene of La La Land, we see Mia and Sebastian reliving their “what could have been” timeline. They journey through their first encounter and perfect the imperfects, or in this case fix their egregious start, ultimately ending up in the burbs with a child. A perfect love story. Of course, this is just a dream, and their paths didn’t follow this trajectory. It felt all too real.
Dating at USC to a certain extent mirrors this experience. There’s a lot of “what-ifs” that emerge when finding love in the city of stars. Here’s my take on how it progresses.
Starting at USC, you quickly come to recognize the platitude “work hard, play hard” truly embodies the culture at USC (unless you’re pre-med or Viterbi, then cut the latter). Companionship doesn’t escape both ends. Some of the finer moments of “young romance”, not young love because unfortunately (or fortunately) it didn’t matriculate to that point, were spent cautiously setting up study dates at Leavey Library.
I knew damn well that I would be more effective studying independently, but there’s nothing more suave than teaching someone how to balance a balance sheet (shout-out Marshall majors!). Even though I still remember and miss those moments struggling to stay awake and endlessly searching for an available breakout room, what I remember the most was making the excuse to go on a Starbucks run at the twilight hour even if I didn’t need caffeine, just to catch a guiltless ten-minute nonacademic conversation with the LA sunset beaming across my crush’s face.
Across less stressful times, as an underclassmen you come to love Wednesdays. On Wednesdays we wear pink… oh wait, wrong quote. Every Wednesday, local farmers and vendors set up their booths and fill McCarthy Quad with a vibrant array of produce, handcrafted products, and best of all: food. Sure it’s great for grabbing a quick meal on the way to your next class, but you could chow down on pad thai in ten minutes anywhere. As a freshman or sophomore, the equivalent of “you up?” is “want to hit farmer’s market?”. Okay, obviously that’s hyperbolic, but I still won’t forget the times sitting on the eastern hills of McCarthy eating way more pupusas than I should have, laughing and breaking bread with an interest that never materialized. (Cue “Here’s to the one’s who dream…”)
At this point you’re ready (but probably have been ready) to tackle LA traffic. You have a car or your friend has a car, or a friend of a friend has a car and you’re ready to ride along.
Now the far-to-reach neighborhoods and pockets of culture don’t seem that far at all. You can spend a weekend playing Spikeball at Manhattan Beach. You can hone your inner-hipster and hunt the best murals in Silverlake. You can escape Leavey Library, and check out all the yelp-rated 4.5 star coffee shops in k-town while excusing yourself to grab a delectable bowl of shaved ice at Sul and Beans. But it doesn’t stop there. You’ve graduated from the on-campus eats that all started tasting the same, and since you’ve been exposed to the unparalleled LA food scene you now carry an undeniable pretentious attitude around your documented best eats. Similar to the assholes who come back from study abroad and start every sentence with “when I was in Rome…”, you carry pride around whether you’ve tried an infamous dish in LA.
And that’s great, because there’s no shortage of restaurants to check out. But the most memorable meals aren’t necessarily the tastiest ones. Your date nights devolve into check lists of which restaurant to explore next. Sea urchin linguine from Angelini Osteria in your eyes isn’t prized by the bold, umami flavor it carries, but instead remembered by your partner’s anticipatory smile when the chef provides you a free pizza and other insalate when accidentally removing your reservation. Of course, dinner never ends with dinner. It has to end with dessert. Or in some cases, dinner is dessert?
You’ll find yourself strolling down the arts district by Little Tokyo surrounded by a breeze cool enough to keep the sweat off, but warm enough to comfortably sport a t-shirt and jeans. Eventually you’ll settle on grabbing a cone of honey lavender from Salt & Straw because ice cream can never go wrong.
Mellow dinner and dessert dates are great and all, but we’ve overstepped a crucial part of the dating scene in Los Angeles, especially at USC: the night life.
The sun has set and you’ve began to pensively stare off into the distance at Santa Monica pier…
Alright, more like you’re full as hell from a nice dinner, but you’re ready for show time. Even though party culture is pronounced at USC, it wouldn’t be fair to bucket all Trojans as a group of debaucherous ragers. Far from it, there are many options for late night extravagance. For some, the ideal night out is making it to the landmark Wiltern to catch The Local Natives or grabbing last minute tickets to a Lakers game. But regardless of whether you danced the night away at Mama Lion, listened to Jazz at The Edison, or enjoyed the skyline view at The Perch, your belligerent self will always end up at the same place as the concert goers or sports fans: the late night taco-stand.
Whether it’s Ave 26 tacos, El Flamin’ in K-Town, or Leo’s, enjoying 2AM Al Pastor tacos will have you dancing in the streets.
And when you head to bed you’ll grin at those moments sharing a hoodie while exchanging ten bites of a three-inch taco, before you fall asleep for a well-deserved rest. When you wake up the next day, you’ll replug and text that special someone: “want to hit Leavey?” And it starts all over again.
The fantastic thing about dating at USC is, everyone carries a different dream. We all go our own paths just like Mia and Sebastian. You’re in a city that has too much to offer, and a limited time to enjoy it, so shoot that shot.
Every night out, every meal enjoyed, every taco consumed is another memory that reminds you of a special moment with a special someone. Maybe the most salient times will be the late nights in the library, or maybe it’s the steam filled dance floor at a sketchy spot in K-Town. Either way, once you graduate, you’ll long to relive these moments again and again, but smile because you had the chance to live it.
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