I had been thinking about a place in Silverlake for a while, and my lease just expired. But I have no idea where to look! What's good, what's safe, what's convenient. So I wrote to the editor at LAblogs. And look what happened! What a cool guy. I hope that people have some advice they're willing to share.

I think that, normally, I might have just started cruising the hood and looking for signs. But a week ago I had an experience in Silverlake that gave me some reservations about the area, and was pretty upsetting in general. I haven't written about it yet, and I think it's been clogging me up. It's somewhat graphic, just so you know.

Last Friday, I went to Tiki-ti on Sunset in Silverlake, with friends. I drove alone, and found a great parking spot on the same side of the street as the bar, about half a block down.

We had our drinks, Toro Toro, and parted ways. One of my friends (a guy) asked if I would like him to walk me to my car. I could see it from the door of the bar. The streetlights were bright.

"It's half a block," I said. "What could happen?"

I started walking, and noticed three yound men heading towards me. The two on the outside were sort of pushing the one in the middle back and forth. They looked like rowdy guys on a Friday night. I kept my distance, didn't make eye contact, and focused getting to my car. Just as we were passing each other, they got pretty rough. They knocked him into the wall of a closed office building. Fucking idiots, I thought.

Then, from behind me, I heard scuffling, and the sound of a body hitting the ground. I turned, and saw the two men ferociously beating the third, who was on the sidewalk. He was on all fours, and the others were kicking him in the back, stomach, and (sickeningly) head. The kicked him over and over again, and I saw a stream of blood come from his mouth suddenly.

"Stop!" I said. One of them looked at me, the other continued pulling his leg back and launching it into the victim, as if he were kicking a field goal. The man finally fell onto his stomach, blood pouring from his face.

When he made eye contact with me, I realized what he was seeing: that I was alone, that I was a woman, and that I was five feet tall. He communicated something to the other man, who reached into their victim's back pocket and took his wallet. I grabbed for my phone, while turning and running to my car. As a habit, I always have my keys ready when leaving a bar. The whole time I ran (couldn't have been twenty feet, but felt like forever), I kept imagining he'd suddenly be behind me, stop me from getting into my car, something awful.

I made it to the car, got in, and was already dialing 911 as I locked the doors. Even though they arleady had his wallet, and he was seemingly unconscious, they were still kicking. Two other people from Tiki-ti had seen this, and were walking towards them. At this point, they left their target to fend for himself. I pulled my car into the driveway next to him (KCET's Gateway of Knowledge, if you can believe that) and got out. The two other people from in front of Tiki-ti came over too.

The man was motionless on the sidewalk, a small pool of blood had collected around his face. His arms and legs were splayed, as if he had flown into an enormous windshield. One of his shoes had come off. At our approach he stirred. I was on hold the whole time, and when an operator came on, I realized how badly I was shaking. As I told her the story, the address, I watched those two bastards saunter across the street to a parking lot. In no apparent hurry, they tried to get into a store. The store was closed. So they just walked away.

I got transferred three times. Thirty minutes later, the cops showed up.

The guy was okay, the paramedics took care of him. He had a badly gashed chin they put a stitch on, and his face (even that soon after) was swelling and distorted. But he was talking, walking. His friend, who was going to meet him at Tiki-ti, came and sat with him too. His wallet had his home address in it. A house he lived in alone.

I felt so bad for the guy, and so frustrated that I hadn't understood what was going on sooner.

So, long story long, you can see where my current reservations arise from.

Anyone with advice, please write to me. Even (especially) to tell me if what I saw is the exception, or the rule.

Thanks!

Helena