I love and hate Los Angeles. I spent an amazing year living a block from Venice Beach, consistently amazed, inspired, and daunted. Five years later, I’m back for a long weekend, and I’m reminded that the creative energy here is unparalleled anywhere else I’ve been in my extensive travels to cities around the world. Talent abounds - and not just with “Hollywood” types, but with entrepreneurs, creators, and techies of all shapes and colors. With all this creativity comes unbelievable amounts of wealth. As is all too familiar in America these days, with wealth comes insane amounts of inequality.

Money is in your face everywhere in LA. The world’s coolest brands call this place home - from the All Birds and the Zadig and Voltaire on Abbot Kinney, to Versace and Rolex on Rodeo Drive. Look up real estate prices and get gobsmacked by what it costs to build a life here. Come order a coffee at Blue Bottle and taste how expensive simply being here can be.

Nestled between these trendy shops are endless tent cities. I saw countless people in my three days here that were clearly struggling with life, with the demons in their own minds. I saw a man picking up rocks in the middle of Santa Monica Boulevard, blocks from those trendy shops, his face caked in blood, half naked. He was a lost soul, and everyone, myself included, went about their day ignoring his insanity.

During my nearly two years living in California, between LA and San Francisco, I was baffled by the homelessness. I’ve lived in NYC, Miami, spent extensive amounts of time in Tel Aviv, London, Berlin, Moscow, Austin, etc. and there is nothing like the homelessness in major cities in California. I tried to read up on the issue, and was essentially left with: “it’s complicated.”

Meanwhile, Larry Ellison from Oracle is building a monster mansion on the cliffs of Malibu. Elon Musk made his billions in California...and is spending it on Twitter. I live well by the comparison of many, but I wield infinitesimally small amounts of power compared to the Elons of the world, those shopping on Rodeo drive, and those buying average homes in Venice beach.

I then remind myself that I left California, because I couldn’t figure out how to integrate into a community here. As a sober techie, if I couldn’t find a home here, what chance does the guy with blood on his face have? So get your shit together Cali, figure out how to turn that wealth into welcoming communities, because Florida can only handle so many of you moving our way before you realize how many guns we all have.