Every weekend around this time, we ask ourselves, "why are we here?" Then we crack open the Times and learn about places that remind us "at least you aren't there." Take Los Angeles, featured in tomorrow's Arts section. Not only does the town seem to lack necessities like zoning laws and a newspaper, the ocean's garbled vomit by the shore also leaves rather anemic the lifeblood of any respectable post-industrial metropolis: i.e., art-school grads! Yet, reports Edward Wyatt: