Thoughts of Los Angeles gave me comfort as a kid.

It was the late 1980s and my parents had just moved our family from New Zealand to Brisbane. For me, as a 10-year-old, south-east Queensland might as well have been a different planet. It was the smells. The sounds. The bugs. The colours. The heat. Dear lord, the heat.

My brothers and I sat in our uncle’s house in Ashgrove, becalmed, our cousins introducing us to the technique of misting yourself with a spray bottle.

Los Angeles’ celebrated LACMA. The city still has its heavy-hitting attractions. It’s just that the heavy-hitters are a little different these days. Credit: Getty Images

But our cousins also introduced us to their music. It was Jane’s Addiction, Suicidal Tendencies, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers – pretty much Los Ang

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