[babycoconut]

Originally Posted by JonathanLB

The greatest endorsement I have gotten about Vegas is how about 95% of people I know in Los Angeles are like, "Eww, why Vegas?" It's pretty funny because the level of stupidity astonishes me. Why Vegas, hmm, I don't know, could it be that it's the sunniest city in the United States? Could it be because 0% income taxes? Could it be because it has the most world-class chefs of any city in the entire world? Or maybe it's the low cost of living, the cheap housing, the great laws with everything from window tinting to alcohol to no front plates required to concealed carry laws? Maybe it's because the traffic isn't anywhere close to as miserable on a constant basis as Los Angeles?

OT but I got this response too from people when I say I am moving to Vegas. Most of these people either never been or if they have only been on the strip. But I don't tell them the things you have mentioned above because I don't want them moving there either. When they say "Eww" I just smile and tell them yeah I want to move to Vegas...I'm crazy huh...

[Buzz123]

They won't let me rep ya Jonathan, so reps!!!

[PSP2PDX]

Originally Posted by JonathanLB

I agree. I'm embarrassed that I will have to say, "Oh, yeah, I just moved here from California." I would prefer not to mention that to locals. Damn Californians! Ruining every neighboring state in some fashion lol.

I don't consider Vegas to be anything like Los Angeles, but what I would say is that Vegas means a lot to anyone living in L.A. basically. I shouldn't say anyone, that is a huge generalization, but what i mean is the vast majority of people -- especially in show biz -- consider Vegas to be where you go to party. Almost everyone I know makes a trip to Vegas at least once a year if not every few months. We hold a lot of our conventions over in Vegas (ShoWest, lots of show biz expos, etc.) and many of our celebrities go there to promote clubs, etc. It's natural that the two cities have those ties, because they are both in the business of entertainment -- Los Angeles exports its entertainment, but itself is frankly a very boring city, whereas Las Vegas offers its entertainment to anyone visiting. They are very different in that respect. What's funny actually is everyone thinks both cities are really fun, when in reality only Vegas is fun.

I don't see what's fun about Los Angeles at all. Sure, if you come from small town America, I guess so. But even when I moved here, I had traveled enough to know that L.A. was pretty boring. The clubs are pathetic compared to anything in Vegas, they are a serious joke, and what makes them even worse is that people actually hype them, like, "Oh man going to Drais tonight! BOOYA!" or "Yeah we're going to SKYBAR," like this is some big deal. Both of those places suck horribly. They are completely unimpressive. Just because they're in Hollywood does not make them good. In fact it makes them much worse because I hate driving to Hollywood, I hate trying to park there, and Hollywood itself is mostly crappy. With the exception of a few nice streets, the rest of it looks like a ghetto. That's what is so funny, you get people all over thinking how glamorous it is, but in reality it's mostly suburbs in this city, regular people raising families, which is super boring, and lame, lame bars, with a ridiculously early closing time by law, and even earlier closing times by many bars.

When people talk about how fun L.A. is, I really am not sure what they're talking about. It's overall just boring. It was more fun when I was about 7 and we went to Disneyland. As an adult, I can't even go to a strip club here because they aren't allowed to serve alcohol (LOL, ok yeah we needed a law telling us we can't drink there, thanks for that), and if I want to go out, I'm probably going to be driving to one of the 100 cities that makes up "Los Angeles" (County), and then I'll be stuck in traffic forever, and when I get there I can look forward to $20 parking charges no matter whether I park it myself in a lot or valet park it, and then I can also pay $15 per drink, of which I can only have a few because I'm driving and I'm also going to be kicked out of the bar by about 1:30 a.m. as if I'm 87 years old. Yeah, fun city! Then when I get home, still wide awake because that's not late for me, I will probably start drinking something that I bought myself, looking around at my tiny condo that still costs more than mansions in many U.S. cities, thinking wow I am so lucky to live in this great city.

Then I start laughing, realize L.A. completely blows, and anyone who loves living here truly deserves this miserable city. I hope they all stay and leave everyone else alone. The horrible people in L.A., who are insufferable to say the least, deserve one another.

Jonathon, oh what a difference a few years time makes! I remember when you were talking about how fantastic Los Angeles was and how you would never move from there. I also recall how you described yourself as a born and raised Oregonian and complained about the weather so much that you couldn't wait to leave there. If you need a refresher about what you said, take a look:


"I'm a Californian now, after having grown up for 23 years in Oregon. I don't consider myself an Oregonian, I don't identify with Oregonian attitudes (I hate the cold, I don't like the climate, I'm not thrilled about the state in general), but I will always root for my Oregon teams: Blazers, Ducks, and Beavers. I went to OSU, but my dad went to U of O so I've been a Ducks fan for a lot longer than a Beavers fan. I live in L.A. but I reserve the right to still hate the Lakers Go Blazers! haha.

That being said, I never got the huge animosity I heard people throw around in Oregon over Californians, they are hilarious. There are certainly benefits to each state, I mean every single place you are going to find, every city, has positives and negatives, and a lot of these depend on how you weight things. If, for instance, you put weather at a low value, and safety and ease of travel at high value, that's going to make you favor Oregon. Living in L.A., it's not as safe of a city, and as far as I care this city can have its diversity, I prefer much-whiter Oregon. I don't like walking down the street and seeing nothing but Mexicans and Asians, or on a good day Persians and Armenians, whatever. I like to see mostly white people because I'm white. It's nothing personal but there's a reason crime is higher in Los Angeles and it's because of the minorities, who commit by far the most crimes, primarily blacks and Hispanics. Any city with fewer minorities is less violent, not hard to do the research on that one. Diversity is honestly overrated. That being said, I value great weather #1 on my list of important elements about a city, so for me Portland fails big-time on the most important criteria. The city planning in Portland is pretty good, I think, things are well laid out, the Pearl District is a nicer area of downtown that we yet have in L.A. (though I live in the nicest area of downtown L.A. and it will be way better than the Pearl within 5 years).

When I told people in Portland I would be moving down to L.A. for film, people were like, "Sweet so are you going to school down there?" "Yes, for a year." "Oh, cool. So when are you moving back up here?" "Uhhh, I'm not. I'll be moving there permanently." "Oh. ... Really?" They acted all shocked that somehow I wouldn't want to move back to Portland, haha, it's a funny attitude, like it's the greatest place in the world and everyone should want to live there.

Portland has two things working against it that make it very hard for me to want to be there: #1 terrible weather and #2 it was rated the worst singles scene in the entire United States recently, and I believe that because it's impossible to find enough good looking girls in Portland. Even my guy friends had so many problems, but when they moved away they could get a hotter girl easily. The main reason for this I believe is because Oregon is where couples move, like you meet your girlfriend somewhere else, you move to Portland to raise a family because it's a nice place to live and there are decent employment opportunities.

I live in Los Angeles, it's GREEN ALL OVER!!! Everyone has green yards, there is green all over the place, we don't have deserts and brown and all that until you get way, way out of the city, just like in Bend, Oregon, or something. You don't need RAIN for it to be green, you need water, and we have plenty of water thanks to it raining on the heads of all the suckers in Oregon and Washington. So they get to suffer while we get the great weather and greenery. There's all kinds of scenery here, we have mountains, we have beautiful green cities, we have palm trees (way cooler than pine trees, jesus), and we have beaches with actual beach-weather."

I've added some bolding to the more "colorful" comments that you made just for emphasis. Jonathan, I'm not trying to pick on you at all. I just want to point out that the grass is not always greener elsewhere. I've read where you have now grown tired of Vegas and want to move to Florida. After living there a while you may find the heat and humidity and BUGS too much to handle. No place is perfect and to be truly happy we accept the good with the bad. I hope that you find a place that makes you happy and you can prosper. Good luck!