Photo: Abandoned Couches, 2007

For the longest time I felt I had no right to say anything because once upon a time Abandoned Couches actually dedicated a couch to me -- after I complained about the camera-subject distance (never mind that myriad couches went unblogged in Echo Park, not to mention Montecito Heights, East L.A. SiIver Lake, Lincoln Heights and Chicago) and even that one wasn't from EP! Perhaps I was flattered and grateful for the attention. I wasn't thinking skeptically, like a journalist, though to be self-fair, it's only once or twice a month on a crescent moon that I think of myself in terms of the J-word. But that was Feb. 2007, and what have they done for Echo Park lately? Precisely: nothing. I see WeHo, Culver City and Hollywood Hollywood Hollywood couches on the blog -- seems their Peggy is quite active -- and meanwhile couch after couch in Echo Park goes ignored. Would they tolerate this in Brentwood?

Okay, okay, seems I'm a little upset. Take a breath. I have to admit there are steep hills here and Abandoned bloggers seem to work on two wheels. And I have to admit there are fewer couches than there used to be. Prices go up (yes, the neighborhood is still getting gentry-fried) and the number of abandoned couches go down. There's a sub-chapter about this in Samuelson. ... Or maybe we deserve it. Maybe our couches just aren't on point. Maybe it's the couches themselves that deserve oblivion.

Deserve is such a funny word. De-serve. Sigh. Try to go to sleep.