What's your opinion of Los Angeles, in general?

[Bicoastal]

I'm a native, going back there for the Holidays, and.....GOD I miss it! Am I allowed to say I miss LA?

The weather, the diverse sprawl, the car culture, the unparalleled Mexican food, the casual chic, the sunsets, the close proximity to nature, the underrated Downtown, the ability to laugh at itself (because everyone other city is already doing it...)

Sigh...

[Redstone]

1. TOO MANY PEOPLE! There is NO amount of money that could make me live there.

Of course, if you like the place, I'll not say you shouldn't.

Redstone

[Bicoastal]

3. In all fairness, New York has WAY more people...

...and EVERYONE wants to live there, which is actually what I'm doing right now.

(Hence the screen-name)

Still, the general grayness of NYC does tend to grate on one's nerves ocassionally...

[ronnykmarshall]

12. I LOVE NY as well.

My dream would be to have a house in the Hollywood Hills and an apt in the Upper West side.

[Redstone]

23. But, I have to say, at least New York is a real CITY. Los Angeles is more of

a conglomeration.

I'd not want to live in NYC, either, but would choose it over LA any day. But if I HAD to live in a city, and had my druthers, it would be Boston, with Montreal a close second, or maybe even first.

Redstone

[Tektonik]

45. It does have way more people, but the LA metro area does have a ton of people

the LA metro area has about 13 million people, whereas the NYC metro area has about 18 almost 19 million people.

[Capn Sunshine]

11. well, you are an exact diagonal opposite from us

I suppose Maine is a tad farther North. But , I enjoy living within a couple of hours of the border, and you've got that going for you!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

My dear Bicoastal!

I love LA!

Omigod, I'm channeling that song!

I forget who sang it, but I love it...

This place is home to me now...

I really don't want to live anywhere else!

And of course you're allowed to say you miss LA, sweetie...

It gets into your heart, and it doesn't let go...

:hug:

[Nailzberg]

9. Randy Newman sings that.

And he probably loves LA cause of all the soundtrack work he gets.

[some guy]

2. "Take a driver"

I don't mind Los Angeles, as long as I don't have to drive, or know how to get from one place to another.

I loathe driving there. But then, I don't much like driving in most cities, so it's probably only exacerbated in L.A.

[ronnykmarshall]

14. I love driving here.

It's like a Disneyland ride.

My middle finger has muscles in it I never thought I had.

[some guy]

30. Right!

If I ever have to go out there again, I'm contacting you. You can be my driver. :)

"My middle fingers has..." :rofl:

[Nailzberg]

4. The reason there is a car culture is you have to drive out of LA to find culture

However I'm not digging my car out of three feet of snow anymore. I moved here for work. Now if the writers strike would end I could get back to doing that.

[ronnykmarshall]

16. I hope it ends soon as well.

Any word?

Any new talks yet?

[Capn Sunshine]

28. You could try the subway

there's all kinds of cul-chah at the end

[porphyrian]

5. Nobody walks except the homeless. -n/t

[Capn Sunshine]

6. I LOVE LA

I've lived all over the hemisphere , and I have places in several semi rural and rural environments....there's nothing like LA. It's my home base, my native playground and I totally empathize with you , because no one who lives here ever leaves forever. I kissed the ground literally when I got off the plane from my last (two Year) consulting job.

Close second - would be # 1 except for limited $ potential) San Diego

[KitchenWitch]

7. I chuckle that a city of 4 million people (LA) has such a small skyline

I think Minneapolis' skyline is the same size...

[Bicoastal]

15. Yeah, but our skyline doesn't become encrusted with icicles 5 months out of the year...

So :P

...Actually, I've always wanted to try living in the Twins. Incredibly friendly people and plenty of publife, so I hear...

[KitchenWitch]

21. Yes, the nightlife and local music scene is awesome.

And between the tunnels and the skyways, if you are in DT Mpls, you can cover about 15 square blocks of downtown without having to set foot outside.

[Capn Sunshine]

32. no..you just need to widen your view

LA SKYLINE:

(Santa Monica Mountains)

[ohiosmith]

8. Hate it now. Lived there in the mid-late 60s. Liked it okay then. Lived there again 89 to 99.

With very few exceptions, phoniest bunch people I have ever know.

[ronnykmarshall]

10. Welcome home!

I love LA.

Where did you move to?

[Bicoastal]

48. Santa Monica.

And I didn't move there--that's where I was born and where my family is.

[Bicoastal]

49. d'oh!

ignore

[Bicoastal]

50. Sorry, misunderstood your question....

...I'm in New York City right now, getting my MA at NYU.

[Oeditpus Rex]

13. It ain't Barstow

But I guess it'll do.

[ronnykmarshall]

19. Well Miss Barstow beat out Miss LA ...

for the Miss California-USA title.

A bit of a scandal too!

[MonkeyFunk]

17. I never used to like it

but I went there a couple weeks ago for the first time in many many years and I had a GREAT time. Made me rethink the place altogether.

But damn, there's a lot of driving.

[mike_c]

18. I don't like LA....

In fairness, I've never lived there-- I only drive through the basin on my way south to San Diego and Mexico. It's a fifteen or so hour drive from my house and the only part I really dislike is from San Fernandino to somewhere south of Riverside. Crowded, congested, smoggy if the Santa Ana isn't blowing, maddening if it is.

I can see how it would have been WONDERFUL back in the 1930s and 40s, before it became a megalopolis.

[Blue_In_AK]

20. I don't care for LA, but

Santa Monica where my daughter lives is pretty cool.

[MrCoffee]

22. i wanna live in los angeles, but not the one in los angeles

not the one in south california, they got one in south patagonia

[redqueen]

27. I love that song.

[MrCoffee]

31. if anyone was going to get the reference, i figured it would be ceile

i'm impressed that you know it. well done.

[Mojambo]

24. Never been there. n/t

[Flaxbee]

25. I love it -- I think it's a love only natives can have, just because it will

always be 'home'. I'm from southern California, mostly San Diego and LA, but it's just the more laid-back feeing, being close to the ocean, friendliness. I was back there for the first time in 8 years in September and the first sunset I saw I just sobbed. I hadn't realized how much I missed it. Don't miss the traffic -- but I miss LA and San Diego a lot.

I moved from LA to NYC, then got married and moved to DC, then moved to western NC where I'm going crazy. I need to get back west, I think - it's just in my blood. Don't know how I could afford it at this point, and to be honest the housing prices just piss me off, but I'd love to go back, find a cute little Spanish style house in the hills with bouganvilla everywhere, and settle in forever.

edited to add the flowers ;-)

[Shakespeare]

26. I love LA so much I moved BACK after living in NorCal.

I was surprised by how much I missed it, too. It's a big, sprawling, fascinating city, and a better restaurant town than SF or NY (LA's ethnic neighborhoods just can't be beat). I live in Hollywood, and every single day think about how much I love where I live.

And the bit about no culture is absolute bullshit.

Enjoy your visit!! :hi:

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

29. I lived in Orange County

for 17 years. Loved the weather, the food, the desert but man it got CROWDED! :)

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

33. It has a sense of self through its freeways

I've lived here since 1970. Time and again, if I ask someone where a certain store is located or what small community within L.A. they reside in, they will tell me it's up the 405 freeway near the Marina Del Rey turn off, or up the 101 after the 134 or some such. Where the inhabitants of other cities might orient themselves according to major monuments or statues, major buildings, parks, sides of a river, major bridges, islands and the like, it seems to me that people in L.A. determine where they are and how they have a sense of this sprawling place almost uniquely by the freeway system. Personally, I'm glad I work at home now and don't have to endure the incredibly difficult morning commutes on the freeway system. When I drive one of my old cars around, I stay on the surface streets.

[IzaSparrow]

34. Don't forget the smog!!!

gotta love the smog. I've heard it's better to breath out of the tailpipe of a honda civic than to breath in LA (citation needed). True?

[ronnykmarshall]

36. Not really

It's better than it was back in the 70's - 80's.

[IzaSparrow]

62. found a source...

don't know how this compares with civic exhaust, but...

from Wikipedia:

"As a result, pollution levels have dropped in recent decades. The number of Stage 1 smog alerts has declined from over 100 per year in the 1970s to almost zero in the new millennium. Despite improvement, the 2006 annual report of the American Lung Association ranks the city as the most polluted in the country with short-term particle pollution and year-round particle pollution.<33><34> In addition, the groundwater is increasingly threatened by MTBE from gas stations and perchlorate from rocket fuel. With pollution still a significant problem, the city continues to take steps to improve air and water conditions.<35><36>

[Duer 157099]

35. LA's fine. The sun shines most the time. Feeling is laid back.

Palm trees grow and the rents are low (hah! rent's are low????)
But you know I keep thinking about
Making my way back

Well, I'm New York City born and raised
But nowadays, I'm lost between two shores
LA's fine, but it ain't home
New York's home but it ain't mine no more

***************

Maybe your theme song too?

[Tikki]

37. Love, love it here....just wish that folks who....

live here and don't love it could make the move elsewhere...


Tikki

[Initech]

38. I love LA

Sure it's a shithole but I cant think of any place I'd rather live. I just wish the cost of living wasn't so ridiculously high.

[huskerlaw]

39. I love it.

Yes, it sprawls, the traffic can be horrible...and there are tons of people. But the diversity, culture, weather, etc...I just love it.

Some people hate it, but you know, that's fine. We have enough people here already. The haters can stay away. ;)

[hyphenate]

40. My reaction is the complete opposite!

I was there for 15 years and was glad to get the hell out. Rents too high, too hot in the summer, hypocrisy and nepotism in the entertainment industry, too much vanity, too little compassion.

My old apartment went under new owners, and went from $850 to $1100 overnight. I had to leave after 12+ years. And this was a one bedroom!

My mom, sister and nieces are still out there, and frankly, I wonder why. One of my nieces works in the City of Commerce and lives near San Bernardino, and the other just paid over $400,000 for a house in Chino. I had a very difficult time getting around in the last few years I was there, and the system of state and government medical help was completely and totally non-existent. I remember that video from about a year ago with the woman in the wheelchair who was essentially left to die in the ER, and I nod, knowingly--my own experiences in the ER were horrendous, and I almost suffered a similar fate (when I went into the ER after having a mild heart attack, I was told I was having a panic attack and to stop hyperventilating).

It might be colder here in Massachusetts, but I really believe that more people are on the same economic level, and if they're not, they're cognizant of it and most people don't boast or brag about how much money they have or how much they paid for something. (In L.A., they go on and on about how much their freaking designer handbags cost!)

After a year and a half in Hollywood at one point, and 13 years in the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys (lived in one, worked in the other), I got a pretty good picture of the general living conditions, and was very happy to come home to New England again.

[begin_within]

41. Los Angeles is...

... a brand-new jet-black stereo system sits on the gold carpeting of an apartment, playing Rod Stewart's "Maggie May" while the sun floods the white curtains and just as the mandolins play their part in the song, a breeze blows up the curtains and a brilliant shaft of sunlight floods the room... unexpected glamour around every corner blurs the distinction between afternoon and evening... who is that?... a car door shuts and some impossibly gorgeous person enters the house next door for some unknown reason... but it was nobody, and there is nothing going on... there's always the feeling that something exciting must be happening, even though nothing is actually happening... Asians laugh quietly in amusement as you actually drink the hoisin sauce that you were supposed to dip your spring roll into, but nothing matters... a city bus suddenly arrives at the corner, and several serious people get off and walk to their destinations, while the bus driver silently performs his job and drives on... people seem to enjoy the fact that you have nothing to do with them and they can ignore the fact that you're just a few feet away.... there's an unwritten law that it's illegal to be out of shape...

[Tikki]

46. Los Angeles truly is a state of mind....

...and she has always moved my mind....


Tikki

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

42. I love it

Born and raised in Orange County and completely unapologetic about it, I have been all over North America and around the world and I haven't been anywhere I like better.

And I secretly love being looked at with disgust by the assholes in San Francisco and New York. I am from the land of cartoon fibre glass landmarks and shopping malls larger than Manhatten Island and the same chain resturant every 4 blocks and I love it.

And as for those who want to talk about diversity, I grew up with half the population of Iran and South Vietnam!

[Tektonik]

43. I was raised in LA's valleys and desert suburbs, I mostly miss the desert.

I miss the tumbleweeds, I miss the little lizards running around, I miss seeing black widows, I miss car rides to Edwards AFB and stopping in Rosamond, I miss the Chinese restaurant in California City, I miss Little Rock, I miss Charlie Brown Farms even though you can buy some Confederate paraphernalia there, I miss the poppies, I miss the amazing looking McDonald's in Acton, and I miss the excitement of when the car ride from Palmdale to LA was fucking over.

I lived in Palmdale and Lancaster between the ages of 4 and 12.

I love LA for its diversity of people, lifestyles and environments. No other city in America is as diverse.

In LA you can be in the desert, at the beach, snowboarding, riding urban horse trails, climbing steep rocks, and gambling in casinos all with a bit of a car ride.

LA is a haven of cheap neighborhood restaurants where the food is really fucking good. I love eating in Alhambra, Chinatown, Reseda, hell even Chatsworth (where I lived during high school) had some damned good restaurants.

If only LA had a better public transit system (If one lives in N. Hollywood, downtown, the west side, along the gold line or blue lines, the transit is pretty good), it'd be perfect.

[bif]

44. Shithole. Utter shithole.

[ronnykmarshall]

52. How fucking rude.

OK, LA isn't everyones cup of tea .... but that's just fucked up.

[Gormy Cuss]

47. I avoid it like the plague.

The sprawl and the car culture aren't my cuppa. It does have lots of good points, but so do other cities. I'm more of a Boston/New York/San Fran cram-it-into-a-small-geography kind of person.

[Chovexani]

51. Agreed.

I'm a native New Yorker and can't stand LA.

To each hir own.

[ronnykmarshall]

54. Margret Cho lives here ......

[Chovexani]

60. So do you

Two bright spots. :D

[Tektonik]

55. but but you live in Phoenix!

LA isn't as bad as Phoenix! :P

[Chovexani]

59. It's not, that's the sad part

I can't wait to get out of here. :(

(Technically I'm in Tempe, which as far as I'm concerned is the only habitable place in this town. :P)

[ronnykmarshall]

53. Angelino that is a former San Franciscan that loves NY

Just sayin'.

[Gormy Cuss]

57. I know what you mean, ronnyk. I didn't say it sucks, just that I don't dig it.

I just don't get L.A. as a whole even though parts of it are great.

[Tektonik]

58. That's what's good about LA

There's parts of it for everyone to enjoy.

[Fire Walk With Me]

56. It is a tar baby.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_baby

[baldguy]

61. There's no "there" there.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

63. I had my first extended visit in 2001, and I liked it better than I expected

I met up with someone I knew from a "car-free" mailing list, someone who has lived for years in LA as a voluntary non-driver.

I rode buses and the subway all over, even at night, and no, I never felt threatened. It was great seeing all the ethnic neighborhoods and the variety of people, and I especially liked Santa Monica.

Ironically, for all LA's reputation as the center of the car culture, it's probably easier to get around without a car there than in Minneapolis.

I must say that the area actually LOOKS as if it's supporting more people than the eco-system can handle. Flying up the coast (I lived in Portland at the time), I saw the Channel Islands, and realized that the whole area had once looked like that.

I've been told by older people that Southern California was like heaven on earth in the 1930s and 1940s but began deteriorating steadily after that.

[Jersey Devil]

64. Being from the NY area, the strangest thing about LA

I remember the first time I went to LA and was crossing the street to get to my rental car, put my foot on the street and all the traffic stopped to let me cross! Holy cow! In NY that would have caused the drivers to step on the gas pedal and lean on their horns in an attempt to wipe me out.

I was thinking - this is so cool.

[Rabrrrrrr]

65. Not very interesting.

Sorry.

[reyd reid reed]

66. I lived there for six years...

and I don't miss it at all. The place drove me batty...but I suppose I'm a small-town girl at heart, so it only makes sense that LA would drive me to distraction.

Although I did kinda get a giggle out of the people dressed in down with their mittens and hats and scarves when it was a frigid 68.

Hey....so I'm easily amused.

[Common Sense Party]

67. Not terribly positive. Smelly, smoggy, congested.

Too easy to take a wrong turn and wind up in a bad neighborhood. Too much time on the freeways getting from one place to another.

I got married in Santa Monica, but other than that, I have no fond feelings for the place.

But I'm a small-town guy.

Most people I met in LA/Southern CA were incredibly nice, though. You have to go out of your way to find someone really rude.