Actually, it was a “Hollywood/Circus” thing - balancing atop an inanimate object.
Hollywood, beaches, hiking in the HollywoodHills, GrifithPark, weekend trips to Vegas - quite exciting for a couple of Ohio kids. We were so poor, weekend entertainment was walking Sunset/Hollywood Blvds and just watching the people shows.
My wife-to-be and I stayed almost 5 years before returning to Ohio. Even back then, the descent into cultural depravity was beginning to be visible.
I came very close to being born and raised in southern California, but my parents settled in Portland instead. That was a great place for a long time; now I’ll probably never go back even to visit. (My 50-year high school reunion is in September, but I never went to any of the others either, even when I still lived in Oregon.)