Sorry to learn you had such a negative experience. You don't say where it was ... Hollywood Blvd? But I must say, of course mix-tapes (or CDs or whatever) aren't free. Isn't that generally understood? Putting the product in the customer's hand is one of the oldest high-pressure sales methods of all. Most people are reluctant to return it, especially when the salesman seems unwilling to accept it back. The idea is to feel obligated to pay for it. I don't blame you for feeling flummoxed. Something similar happened to me in Beijing. I wound up buying a copy of the Little Red Book for way more than it was worth. I really didn't mind, but the family who was guiding me around decided thenceforth I was too dangerously stupid to be allowed out on my own.

I first encountered the CD thing on the streets of Brooklyn.

I'm from LA originally, left in '94. Prior to that we lived in Hollywood, not far from Paramount Studios. There was crime, sure. Bad things happened. But many good things as well. Much depends on one's state of mind, how things are perceived. My son was born there. He & his mother could sit on our porch & watch a Hyundai park & disgorge a gaggle of men in Native American dress as they entered the nearby casting office/micro studio building. Old Hollywood.

I try to return on a regular basis. I couldn't believe how Downtown had transformed in 2012. There were nice shops on Main, boutiques, cool apartments, all west of Broadway ... unthinkable in old days when Skid Row & the Nickel dominated that part of Downtown. Middle class families came to MacArthur Park (also unthinkable), & Echo Park was downright beautiful (not to mention ridiculously expensive).

I was also there last year. Things aren't quite as good. With the International News & Books closed, parts of Hollywood are darker, more dangerous seeming. Still, keeping to the west can be nice for visitors. Then down to the Miracle Mile. I haven't seen it, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has finally opened a museum in the old May Company on Wilshire. Then the Tar Pics & Museum ... routine stuff.

I hated leaving LA & wish I could spend more time back. But I acknowledge it's not really a visitors' city. Aside from the museums & the afore-referenced beaches much of what there is to see & experience must be based on a developed appreciation.