Characters & Locations
Part 1
California Argentina
(The First Time Though The Simulation)1991 - 1995
Just turning 21 years old Lloyd fell in love with a guy from Argentina who was visiting the United States for the first time. He was a friend of Lloyd's classmate in a college film production class in Los Angeles.
Lloyd and his classmate, a girl who was studying abroad from Argentina, had just finished filming a pretentious black and white avant-garde student film called "Josef K". It was a silent film in which the titular protagonist wanders around a surreal landscape where he is haunted by visions that follow him and direct him on his journey. This leads him eventually to his grave where he looks up startled to see his name being inscribed letter by letter onto the tombstone above him.
Around that time an actor friend of Lloyd's classmate came to visit her and to see the United States for the first time. After being introduced, Lloyd and the actor from Argentina spent three months together in Los Angeles during the winter of 1993. Lloyd became his tour guide and showed him all the sights including spending two weeks driving the California coast between Los Angeles and San Fransisco.
When the actor from Argentina departed, Lloyd began to listen to Spanish language audio cassette courses everyday for hours to learn basic communication skills. He would walk 40 minutes back and forth to work and around Pasadena, California always with his Walkman on him as he tried to teach himself the Spanish language of his first boyfriend. Within 6 months he saved up enough money for a plane ticket.
Without fear or any concrete plan for what would happen next, Lloyd was on a plane flying from Los Angeles to Argentina in South America. It was his first time outside the USA and only his second time on an airplane. The 17 hour flight that transported him to the other side of the globe wasn't only far away in space but also somehow that Argentina of 1994 was existing in a different time.
Those first few months were an extreme culture shock that nothing else in Lloyd's life had prepared him for. He realized something quickly that was true in every country he would visit in the future. Everyone he met would made him feel so special and privileged to be from the United States. Everyone wanted to meet and talk with him about what life is like for someone in the USA. Everyone wanted to be his friend. The United States is like a myth to the people on the rest of the planet. Lloyd also realized, almost immediate, how he could use the language barrier between him and everyone else as a kind of disguise to hide his introverted, paranoid awkwardness.
"Let Your Mind Go and Your Body Will Follow."
- L.A. Story 🌎
The boyfriend from Argentina
was an actor and teacher of high school drama with a million friends and everyone loved him. He also acted in small theatrical productions and was always surrounded by crazy actors and artists. He hated being on stage but somehow he was always the center of attention. With him every weekend in Argentina there was something to do. Always some party... or dinner... or rehearsal... or event... or something... always something as Lloyd followed his boyfriend and tried to figure out how to understand everyone and be understood. The beginning was difficult because of the language and culture differences. His boyfriend's crazy Argentine friends became Lloyd's friends and that made Lloyd feel less crazy.
Upon arriving in Argentina one thing became immediately clear... no one... absolutely NO ONE could pronounce, read or write the name "LLOYD". In Argentina Spanish two L's sound like JA and a Y sounds like JA. JAOJAD looked and sounded like complete nonsense to everyone. So in an effort to be better understood "Lloyd" became the phonetic and easy to read/write/pronounce version "Loid". And that version stayed with him the rest of his life.
The South American experience ended after almost 3 years because of his boyfriend's dramatic deportation at the Los Angeles International airport.
California
Early 90s
Loid in Front of Graffiti on a Wall
San Francisco, CASummer 1992
Leandro & Loid on the Left with Loid's oldest Friend and other College Friends
PasadenaWinter 1993
Argentina
Early 90s
Aerolineas Argentinas. Loid's First International Flight.
Ezeiza International Airport, Buenos AiresWinter 1994
Old car on a street
Buenos Aires 1994Colectivo (Bus in Argentina)
Buenos Aire 1994First Night in Buenos Aires
1994
Carlos Gardel Impersonator Singing Tango on the Street
Buenos Aires1994
Random Characters on a Street
Buenos Aires 1994Child Hanging out of a Window
Buenos Aires1994Tango Dancers at a Street Market
Buenos Aires1994
A Cat Among the Tombs in La Recoleta Cemetery
Buenos Aires 1994A Tomb in La Recoleta Cemetery
Buenos Aires1994Path of Tombs in La Recoleta Cemetery
Buenos Aires1994
The Tomb of Evita in La Recoleta Cemetery
Buenos Aires1994
Child on a Colorful Balcony
La Boca, Buenos Aires 1993Woman on a Bench
La Boca, Buenos Aires 1994Child on a Colorful Balcony
La Boca, Buenos Aires1994Loid on "Caminito" in La Boca
Buenos Aires1994
Tango on the Streets
Buenos Aires 1994To the Center of the City
Buenos Aires 1994Loid's Reflection on a Street Corner
Buenos Aires1994
Rosario, Argentina. Loid's boyfriend's city
(4 hour drive west of Buenos Aires) 1994Sinking Ship
Rosario 1994The Spanish Steps
Rosario1994
Abandoned Train Station
Rosario1994
A Black Cat on an abandoned Train Track
Rosario 1994Loid's boyfriend on an abandoned Train
Rosario 1994Abandoned Train Station
Rosario1994
Friends posing near another abandoned Train Station
Rosario, Argentina1994
Friend posing in an Abandoned Train Station
Rosario, Argentina1994
The final scene in Loid's boyfriend's play "El Gato Negro" (The Black Cat)
Rosario, Argentina1994
Cast and Crew of Loid's boyfriend's play "El Gato Negro" (The Black Cat)
Rosario, Argentina1994
A Cobblestone Street at night
Rosario 1994Mis Amigos Son Unos Atorrantes (My Friends Are Whores)
Rosario1994Loid's Boyfriend's Friend Saying Goodbye
Rosario 1994Loid's Boyfriend's Friends Saying Goodbye
Rosario 1994Loid in an Abandoned and Decaying Structure with Graffiti.
Mi Amor Te Amare Por Siempre (My Love I will Love You Forever)
Rosario, Argentina
1994