If L.A. is "fake" then what cities are "real"? (Los Angeles: appointed, big home)

[drive carephilly]

Originally Posted by Chicano3000X

Everyone things people in LA are a bunch of yuppies and hollywood hill folks. We resent that side of L.A.

We are as tough and grimy as any New Yorker.

Life is pretty tough alot of times for many here. People arent basking in the sun 24/7. And if we are in the sun, we are working an 8 hour shift. Or taking the bus.
And we are miserable.

Our streets are dark at night, hollywood isn't all glamour, no one here cares about the stars in Hollywood, and we'd be happy to raze Beverley hills and launch Paris Hilton to the sun.

I'm east coast born & raised (mostly in and around NYC) and I actually like LA.

The criticism about LA is that the people are vapid, flaky, superficial and wear their heart on their sleeves - and it has nothing to do with coming from Hollywood or West LA. I've known a lot of people from all over CA (and even Oregon) who have a lot trouble adjusting to the culture here. They don't understand why everyone doesn't want to be their BFF after the first week of meeting - and it's just not how we roll.

I've been out with friends from here visiting friends in SoCal who get bent out of shape by our sardonicism. There are a few people in and around SF who get us but that's about it.

People on the east coast get annoyed by west coast folk who say "life is hard here" because no matter how "hood" you think your neighborhood is you still live in the suburbs and to us you're just trying to act hard. You still live somewhere you never have to shovel snow or deal with a gray, dreary winter for 4 months. However bad you think it is there it's always worse here. I've never seen **** like this
Philadelphia, PA hoods - YouTube on the west coast.

[BarcelonaFan]

I have to admit LA ppl are weak. I always thought I wasnt macho enough in Texas but in LA I'm like Mark Whalberg by comparison to some of the guys here. I'm talking about straight guys too

[RaymondChandlerLives]

Originally Posted by drive carephilly

I'm east coast born & raised (mostly in and around NYC) and I actually like LA.

The criticism about LA is that the people are vapid, flaky, superficial and wear their heart on their sleeves - and it has nothing to do with coming from Hollywood or West LA. I've known a lot of people from all over CA (and even Oregon) who have a lot trouble adjusting to the culture here. They don't understand why everyone doesn't want to be their BFF after the first week of meeting - and it's just not how we roll.

I've been out with friends from here visiting friends in SoCal who get bent out of shape by our sardonicism. There are a few people in and around SF who get us but that's about it.

People on the east coast get annoyed by west coast folk who say "life is hard here" because no matter how "hood" you think your neighborhood is you still live in the suburbs and to us you're just trying to act hard. You still live somewhere you never have to shovel snow or deal with a gray, dreary winter for 4 months. However bad you think it is there it's always worse here. I've never seen **** like this
Philadelphia, PA hoods - YouTube on the west coast.

Ooh, you have to deal with cold weather for a few months out of the year, how scary tough you's guys are! Here's the money I was going to use to pay my rent, please don't hurt me.

Btw, NYC, your old stomping grounds, is one of safest big cities in the country (been that way for a while now)--why do so many of you continue to act like it's 1977 and the Bronx is still burning? It's pretty embarrassing at this point. Manhattan is a safe hipster/yuppie enclave, and Brooklyn is on the verge of following suit--unless you live in one of the few bad neighborhoods still left in NYC, save the tough guy act for someone who still buys it. You're trying too hard.

[RaymondChandlerLives]

Originally Posted by BarcelonaFan

I have to admit LA ppl are weak. I always thought I wasnt macho enough in Texas but in LA I'm like Mark Whalberg by comparison to some of the guys here. I'm talking about straight guys too

It's the Invasion of the 9 foot Tall Texans! Hide the women and children!

And seriously, Mark Whalberg? That's who popped into your head as the epitome of hardcore bada**? Marky Mark? The Good Vibrations guy? Something tells me you're not quite ready to run the streets of South L.A. just yet.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by BarcelonaFan

I have to admit LA ppl are weak. I always thought I wasnt macho enough in Texas but in LA I'm like Mark Whalberg by comparison to some of the guys here. I'm talking about straight guys too

Are weak and macho necessarily polar opposites?? If so, I think you just insulted half the worlds population.

I think its more just there isn't the pressure to appear macho in California. If a guy is into fashion of whatever there nothing considered wrong with that. Whereas in other parts of the country he might be mistaken for being gay. Like RaymondChandler said, putting on the tough act is more characteristic on the east coast.

[BarcelonaFan]

Originally Posted by RaymondChandlerLives

It's the Invasion of the 9 foot Tall Texans! Hide the women and children!

And seriously, Mark Whalberg? That's who popped into your head as the epitome of hardcore bada**? Marky Mark? The Good Vibrations guy? Something tells me you're not quite ready to run the streets of South L.A. just yet.

Something tells me that you need to keep working on those sardonic quips some more. The lack of wit tells me you're the type that's dying to put someone on blast at a party but aren't quite quick enough to do it.

I'm glad you're getting enough practice here, though. Keep it up kiddo.

Anyways, I knew my comment was going to draw the ire of LA's "toughest" but really I only meant this is in jest because I come from a land where the men over compensate for their lack of wit and the air is filled with too much testosterone and machimso. It's an overload and I always felt like an underachiever in this regard. But I arrive in West LA and I cannot tell if some of the yuppie men are gay or straight. I am not saying that this is a bad thing but just that I seriously cannot tell.

And I never wanted to be that guy that thinks some one is "gay" because they're not man enough. That's stupid and I dealt with that a lot in Texas with people thinking I was "gay" or "metro" because I didn't don nut huggers and stetsons.

But that is what is happening and I caught myself doing it last week. Some of the yuppie West LA men seem like the metrosexuals that I was mistaken for back home. So if they thought I was "gay" (gay meaning not manly in Texan slang, not homosexual per se) or "metro" I can only imagine what some small minded small town Texans would think of West LA men.

As for Mark Whalberg, I meant his act in The Departed. By comparison to the Michael Ceras I see everyday in Burbank, this is how I feel; just a dyckish bully because everyone is so nice and genuine. And I meant that it was bad that I felt this way because in the greater scheme it's better than the meat heads I grew up around in Texas, Boston and NYC. I grew up in the first one, went to college in the second city and partied every other weekend in the last. So having to prove how macho you are was an every day thing.

So LA men are a refreshing site. Every guy I think is going to be a douche ends up being a nice genuine guy with no baggage. That feeling of being "on guard" at the club or bar is diminishing and I am more than thrilled about that.

[BarcelonaFan]

Originally Posted by Tex?Il?

Are weak and macho necessarily polar opposites?? If so, I think you just insulted half the worlds population.

I think its more just there isn't the pressure to appear macho in California. If a guy is into fashion of whatever there nothing considered wrong with that. Whereas in other parts of the country he might be mistaken for being gay. Like RaymondChandler said, putting on the tough act is more characteristic on the east coast.

Yes, that is exactly right. Being male in Texas, Boston or even NYC is unbearable. CA is a breath of fresh air.

It's just growing up and dealing with the machoism in all three cities, like I have. It's hard as hell to let that go sometimes.

And drive carephilly's post just epitomizes the unbearable over the top "we're so tough" mindset of NYC and Boston people.

Trying too hard to be tough!

[drive carephilly]

Originally Posted by RaymondChandlerLives

Ooh, you have to deal with cold weather for a few months out of the year, how scary tough you's guys are! Here's the money I was going to use to pay my rent, please don't hurt me.

yeah, clearly weather is all there is to it. it could have nothing to do with people being in your face all the time, living cheek by jowl and only being to get away from it by moving far, far away.

Btw, NYC, your old stomping grounds, is one of safest big cities in the country (been that way for a while now)--why do so many of you continue to act like it's 1977 and the Bronx is still burning? It's pretty embarrassing at this point. Manhattan is a safe hipster/yuppie enclave, and Brooklyn is on the verge of following suit--unless you live in one of the few bad neighborhoods still left in NYC, save the tough guy act for someone who still buys it. You're trying too hard.

hahahaha. Amazing. news dude. LA is the safest big city.

Sure, Manhattan got cleaned up. The already safe parts of B'klyn got safer. The crime didn't go away, it just moved further out or on to Nassau or Newark.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by drive carephilly

hahahaha. Amazing. news dude. LA is the safest big city.

Sure, Manhattan got cleaned up. The already safe parts of B'klyn got safer. The crime didn't go away, it just moved further out or on to Nassau or Newark.

No. It is not. Especially compared to Manhattan, the land of Starbucks, Au Bon Pain and trustfunds.

[BarcelonaFan]

hahahaha. Amazing. news dude. LA is the safest big city.

Sure, Manhattan got cleaned up. The already safe parts of B'klyn got safer. The crime didn't go away, it just moved further out or on to Nassau or Newark.

Then the Jersey folk you guys make fun of so much are the real tough guys. Manhattan is an island of unbearable wannabe tough guys. I'll give you BOSTON is tough, but NYC? Like Raymond said HIPSTERS AND YUPPIES galore. Not to mention bankers, ugh! Who the hell wants to be anywhere near those insufferable idiots?

NYC is overrated and overplayed. The tough guy act is just an act. Transplants that move there think they have to be "New York" and start acting tough in the most embarrassing of ways.

The accents, another act. Good god, I swear when I first heard that awful accent I thought the people were faking it. As though they wanted to sound like that. As though they were putting on a show for the tourists.

Passing people by and ignoring them without helping them with directions, another act. I got a taste of this first hand, when a "tough" New Yorker blew me off when I was asking him for directions, walked right past me, until I called him an S.O.B and he turned right around and wanted to spar. Apparently, this "busy" guy had no time to stop and help someone with directions but he had plenty of time to want to start a gladiator match in the streets! A cop passed by and he ventured off muttering how he would've kicked my butt, but I knew he was all show.

That's NYC. LA, fake? Please.