If you must get in trouble, do it at the Chateau Marmont. (Harry Cohn)

I moved into the biggest apartment. I had a view of the city and the courtyard. I was the only tenant with a balcony. It was bigger than Rider’s apartment but it didn’t overlook the ocean like his so I don’t think he was jealous. It was great though. The two days of detox were a lifetime away and a small price to pay, but I guess once you get through something it always seems smaller and less significant than it was. The pain of drying out and the excitement of moving in; those emotions can only be reached through my memories, I’ll never live them again – that’s an interesting thought.

So my tenants started moving in at summer’s end: aspiring actress; aspiring director/producer/actor; Molly Ringwald’s distant cousin/aspiring actress; a pair of newlyweds who were aspiring for nothing – strange; hot aspiring actor (Nick, we’ll come back to him); slightly less hot aspiring actor roommate (William, we’ll come back to him too); three separate UCLA students who soon all attached to one another, then eventually hated one, as these things go; aspiring actor; aspiring actress; teacher – who knows how she got there; Hollywood heiress running away from her parents on their dime after being kicked out of the Chateau Marmont; model (that’s right, not aspiring, real model); writer; aspiring writer; agent; aspiring agent; aspiring actor; aspiring actress; actress. It’s a mouthful but I more-or-less remember all of them. I was younger than any of them but I was always sure to present myself as someone older. Coupling the position and the dim wits of all my new aspiring friends it was an easy sell.

It’s an interesting situation that I was in. Doesn’t it feel like a social experiment? Take the antisocial girl and throw her into an ant farm in West Hollywood. It’s not that I was antisocial per se, being alone was just what I was used to and I liked it. The setup of this new situation was perfect for me though: I was in control. I was the lady in the best apartment hovering over everyone and snatching away their monthly rent checks. It was great.