EAT YOUR (HEART) OUT, N.Y. TRANSPLANT LOVES L.A., TRAFFIC AND ALL.Byline: BRAD A. GREENBERG Staff Writer Yvonne Velez loves L.A. You get the message from her convertible sports car, her spiritual leanings, her career rebirth. Even her license plate proclaims it: ``I (love) LA'' Velez is a classic California dreamer, a New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of transplant who still believes life is better near the Pacific. All those reasons to hate Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. -- the traffic, the smog, the people, the home prices -- Velez overlooks. All she sees are sun and sand and a slower pace of life. Slower. ``Wow,'' the 58-year-old Chatsworth resident said she thought after arriving, ``this is where I am supposed to be.'' Velez had left behind the poor Puerto Rican Puer·to Ri·co Abbr. PR or P.R. A self-governing island commonwealth of the United States in the Caribbean Sea east of Hispaniola. childhood in the Bronx; the completing of college and a master's in finance while toiling away at full-time jobs; the long and cold days. In 1980, the aeronautics aeronautics: see aerodynamics; airplane; aviation. company accountant was transferred to a Burbank office. Tired of New York winters, she jumped at the chance. She quickly noticed the coastal differences, for better or worse. ``In New York, Mrs. Goldstein would come over -- `Do you have a cup of sugar?' -- and she would stay and talk for an hour and forget the cup of sugar,'' Velez said. ``Here, you could live next door to someone for 10 years and never meet them. ``I had a mission: to bring a little bit of home to L.A.'' Ten years later and burned out on bean-counting, she left Bendix Corp. and began soul-searching. ``What am I going to do when I grow up again?'' she asked herself. Five feet tall, with a tanned, muscular build and tightly spiraled golden-brown hair, Velez had become a health nut and an amateur bodybuilder. She was embracing LaLa Land and wanted to turn her new lifestyle into a standard of living. She settled on massage therapy Massage Therapy Definition Massage therapy is the scientific manipulation of the soft tissues of the body for the purpose of normalizing those tissues and consists of manual techniques that include applying fixed or movable pressure, holding, and/or and physical training, later added assisting women during childbirth, and created a business: Yvonne's Touch. The career change became a major factor in her happiness. Though self-employment carries its own stresses -- inconsistent income, higher health-care costs -- it meant not having to deal with a boss, making her own hours and choosing when and where she wanted to work. Velez has opted for clients who live near her home, which has afforded her a relatively traffic-free life -- a good thing in L.A. ``The key to life in Los Angeles is learning how not to commute a long distance,'' said urban historian Joel Kotkin. The most recent report by the Texas Transportation Institute The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) is the largest transportation research agency in the United States. Created in 1950, primarily in response to the needs of the Texas Highway Department (now the Texas Department of Transportation), TTI has since broadened its focus to found that the average Angeleno loses 93 hours per year -- 2 1/2 workweeks -- sitting in traffic. The Bay Area is runner-up with 72 hours lost per year. Another common knock on Noun 1. knock on - (rugby) knocking the ball forward while trying to catch it (a foul) rugby, rugby football, rugger - a form of football played with an oval ball rugby, rugby football, rugger - a form of football played with an oval ball L.A. is that it's a lonely place, and that its suburbs are the most lonely of all. Friends of Velez, however, describe a vibrant and dependable woman eager to assist neighbors with the trash or fix their washing machine (storage) washing machine - An old-style 14-inch hard disk in a floor-standing cabinet. So called because of the size of the cabinet and the "top-loading" access to the media packs - and, of course, they were always set on "spin cycle". . ``She is always there like Johnny on the spot, helping,'' said Vicki Ahlers, a 66-year-old neighbor. ``She is the type of person everyone would love to have as a neighbor.'' In 1999, Velez decided her life again needed some new seasoning. Desiring a car that would let her savor the Southern California sun The Southern California Sun were an American football team based out of Anaheim, California that played in the World Football League in 1974 and 1975. Their records were 13-7 in 1974 and 7-5 in 1975. Their home stadium was Anaheim Stadium. , she chose a white Mitsubishi Eclipse  It has been suggested that and be merged into this article or section. with a black convertible top.
``I was entitled to a fun, little, black-and-white convertible,'' she said. ``And black and white is like the yin and the yang.'' In picking a customized license plate, Velez listed 12 possibilities. She didn't think her top choice -- ``I (love) LA'' -- would be available, so she placed it at No. 12. But as the DMV DMV abbr. Department of Motor Vehicles checked No. 1, No. 2 and on through No. 11, the clerk had the same response. ``Sorry. Taken. Taken. Taken.'' No. 12 was available -- and a rare find. ``I wouldn't be surprised if somebody offered her $10,000 for that,'' said Richard Barnett Richard David Barnett CBE (23 January 1909 - 29 July 1986) was the Keeper, Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities of the British Museum. Education: St Paul's School, London; Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. , president of GreatPlateExchange.com, a site through which collectors can buy, sell and trade vanity plates vanity plate n. A license plate for a motor vehicle bearing a combination of letters or numbers selected by the purchaser. . A few months later someone spotted the license plate and offered Velez $1,000. ``Sorry. Not tempting enough,'' she recalled saying. ``Then he asks, `Do you know Randy Newman?''' Newman, whose publicist pub·li·cist n. One who publicizes, especially a press or publicity agent. publicist Noun a person, such as a press agent or journalist, who publicizes something publicist said he was too busy for an interview, wrote the 1980s hit ``I Love L.A.'' ``From the South Bay to the Valley/From the West Side to East Side/Everybody's very happy/`Cause the sun is shining all the time/looks like another perfect day ``I love L.A.'' Velez does not know the Oscar-Emmy-Grammy-winning composer. But she shares his sentiments about their adopted hometown. ``Most New Yorkers, or most people from out of town, they hate L.A. I truly, truly love L.A.,'' she said. ``I'm a transplant and I love the place. Pollution and all, I love it. High real estate prices and all, I love it.'' She later added: ``I feel like I have been on vacation 26 years.'' brad.greenberg(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3634 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Yvonne Velez wouldn't take $1,000 for her license plate. Tina Burch/Staff Photographer |
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