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I love Los Angeles. I think it is the greatest city in America and anywhere that tries to emulate it is just that, an emulation. You can't reproduce the real LA.
I think the "pre-sunbelt" sprawl you are referring to is definitely a California (or at least West Coast) phenomenon.
For example, the city I'm from has a residential stock almost identical to that of South Central and it's located a few hundred miles from LA. Same thing with San Jose being one of the most dense metros in the country but lacking many "very dense" areas. Los Angeles on the other hand has no lack of "very dense" areas.
I feel like San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley look a lot like the San Fernando Valley (most of which is city of LA), just with tech campuses replaced with movie studios.
However, the Santa Clara Valley doesn't have the same 10,000 ppsm density as the San Fernando Valley. It's good to note that both areas were mostly developed around the same time (50s-60s onwards) and both used to be major agricultural centers beforehand.
If there is, point me to it because I haven't seen it yet. I'm free the week after next, may as well check out this so called "LA like" city. Could always use more favorite cities outside of the west, New England, or Austin.
If there is, point me to it because I haven't seen it yet. I'm free the week after next, may as well check out this so called "LA like" city. Could always use more favorite cities outside of the west, New England, or Austin.
Basically with this thread, you can find similarities of any city in any other city if you force it hard enough. I can say something like "Los Angeles is a lot like Montreal because both have large non-English speaking, Romance language speaking populations" or "Ulan Baator is a lot like Chicago because they are both relatively cold during the winter". Obviously, the places that are going to be the most like the LA area are places that are close to the LA area. Phoenix, Las Vegas, and San Diego are the obvious ones thrown out, but consider the SF Bay Area (which barely anyone has thrown out).
If you want to go to a version of the San Fernando Valley, just drive a few miles south. Seriously, most of the Santa Clara Valley/Silicon Valley looks almost exactly like the San Fernando Valley. Much of the Inner East Bay reminds me of the SE LA County (Long Beach = Oakland, San Leandro = Bellflower, etc.), 680 corridor = wannabe OC. San Bernardino County has many of the same socioeconomic indicators as San Joaquin County, same with Riverside County and Stanislaus (with IE, I only really mean the areas west of the San Jacinto mountains and south of the San Bernardino Mountains, which contain 90% of the IE's population but less than 10% of the land area). Of course its hard to found a real analogue to San Francisco or Central LA, nor do all these analogs fit 100% but it isn't as much of a forced comparison as some of the other areas that are being thrown out.
I can't speak for Houston or DFW because I haven't been there. I'd have to see it to make my judgment. I would honestly think that most American metro areas have features of LA because LA is an American metro area, unless I'm missing something.
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