Claus Benjamin Freyinger

On a ridge behind the Hollywood sign, there’s a lone pine growing up from a bald dirt patch that locals call the Wisdom Tree. Los Angeles may be a city with no center, but this spot marks a split in the city’s media economy. To the south is the L.A. we know from tourist pictures: Hollywood, downtown L.A. beyond it, and—on a clear day—off to the right, a glimmer of ocean. To the north is the Valley, which is a place we all know even better, even though almost none of us know we know it.