It has been said that "Los Angeles is 72 suburbs in search of a city". LA culture is driven by a plethora of disparate foreign influences. Even though the Irish influence in LA is less distinct than in cities on the east coast, on St Patrick's Day everybody from every alien culture is suddenly Irish. I have a Korean friend who swears that she's a quarter Irish on her mother's side. It's an odd, if comforting experience to see everybody suddenly claim allegiance to the sod, even if it is just for a day.
Shamrocks and leprechauns make good media fodder. The media machine goes into a frenzy over the Irishness of it all. If you can ignore the banality of the "lucky charms" commercials and come to terms with the "authentic" Irish stew (with green chillies, of course), then you can revel in being the real article and lap up the attention at one of the local Irish establishments.
You know the Irish in LA because they're the only ones who don't wear something green. That would be like a surrender. As the night comes to a close, you realise that worse than not getting Paddy's Day off is the fact that you don't get the next day off to recover either. On the 18th, you can walk down Hollywood Boulevard and all the plastic shamrocks will be gone, along with all the green jerseys.
Conor Kavanagh (32) works as an animator with Warner Brothers. He has lived in Los Angeles for almost four years.
