If L.A. is "fake" then what cities are "real"? (San Francisco: to live in, internship)

[NJerseyBorn]

I'll end the debate right now and nip this in the bud........Moderator cut: see note

Here's the Deal...I'm a Smart / Level-Headed Guy...that's been every where so I have a very well Round perspective. Every City I have been says the same thing....

"The people here are so Materialistic and Pretentious...and Fake and Plastic"

And in a way...they are 100% correct...But is this realy a discription of the city???? Certainly not...it's the description of the American Culture and way of life. Watch a TV show...I don't care which one...Count how many Car Ad Commercials you see through out the whole TV show. Of course what car you drive will become important. Drive any where around you house...count all the Billboards you see??? Go to any checkout line and pickup any magazine...how many Materialistic and fake clothing ads do you see??? Of Course what you wear will become important.

My friends the reason you can go to any city in america, and you will hear people calling the culture fake....is Because the Whole Freak'n American Culture is Materialistic....I'm not knocking our country...I love my toys and lifestyle....but lets keep it real...

Your City isn't fake...."AMERICA" is!!!!! It is Capitalistic and Materialistic at it's core.....But I wouldn't live anywhere else, except this great country....Learn to accept American culture for what it is...or find another country...cause it damn sure ain't your city.

[BarcelonaFan]

Well said. Yes, the capitalist system has reached a zenith and it's on it's way down in a fury of materialism. Nothing is original, trends are repeated, markets have been saturated and workers have literally lost all dignity. It's a get rich or die trying world. Nothing is left except callous cash payment among people.

Yes, all cities have this excess of fake, glamour, and pretentiousness.

But I do feel that Los Angeles stands out though. Not West LA but the rest of LA is a genuine working class city that is not concerned with the crass materialism of West LA. It's amazing how these two worlds do not meet even though they're in the same city.

[LUCIFER#666]

Hello everyone,

As many of you know, who I am to be the Prince Darkness aka 666 aka LA/WC hater on this blog.

Watch this link video on this SNL skit about the Californians:

The Californians | Video | Saturday Night Live | NBC

I love how SNL portrays specifically the stereotypical LA folks.

[LUCIFER#666]

Here is this YouTube video link about LA's horrible traffic & infrastructure:


AMERICA REVEALED | Traffic Trouble in LA | PBS - YouTube

Watch & listen to the helicopter pilot explains about how LA folks try to live up this vehicle culture as sense of freedom, individualist, narcissistic, smug, & celebrity status to be fake. The pilot said that LA needs to come up with a solution to control its traffic nightmare on the highways to be clogged up. He strongly suggested for LA to build a mass rail transit system in order to move people around the city. LA must realize it. This is why many major cities across the globe to criticize LA's terrible public transportation system. Wake up LA!

[Back to the 'States]

LA has more grit and character than sterile DC, SF, Boston, Chicago.

[LUCIFER#666]

Originally Posted by Back to the 'States

LA has more grit and character than sterile DC, SF, Boston, Chicago.

"So you claim" - Ali G.

"I know folks, who smoke crack & they make more sense than you" - Ex. Convict, Austin Powers, Gold Member.

[Justabystander]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

Native Midwesterner here. I love LA; I also love the Midwest (well, at least Minneapolis.). I would happily live in LA again if we had a stable, secure, well-paying job; it's tough to raise a kid in LA, and right now I am comfortable with the fact that at this stage in life we'll be back in Minneapolis. (I'm only mentioning that since there was a reference in there somewhere to Midwesterners claiming expertise in CA...). I loved CA, still have friends and family in LA, and hope to be a regular visitor. In fact, LA has felt the most like "home" to me anywhere outside of Minneapolis.

Back to some of the other comments...anyone who claims LA residents don't volunteer is looking at his or her own set of friends and drawing conclusions. If you hang out with only "fake" people, then maybe, just maybe, you have a really skewed opinion. I worked in a nonprofit in LA (and volunteered at some other places, too), and can attest that yes, there are lots of people who volunteer. Not to mention lots of people without plastic surgery, etc. With a huge city and metro area like you find in LA of course you're going to find lots of fake people -- you'll also find lots of other types of people. That's the nature of a huge city. If you're mostly encountering people you consider to be "fake" (and don't like it), then there's an easy fix: meet some new friends. Maybe get a new job.

i, Too, am a transplanted Midwesterner who grew up in North OC. I think that the comments about LA being "fake" go to the perception of celebrity and that most think and act like a Paris Hilton or a Kardashian. This is so not true, and I have found that at least with my upbringing in an upper middle class neighborhood where people were from different states and backgrounds, people were as real as they are here in the Chicago area. Every town has its neighborhoods where "fake" people abound, some examples are Beverly Hills, NY's Upper East Side, Chicago's Gold Coast and Miami Beach. Can you honestly say that folks in Bellflower, Montebello, Northridge and the City of Industry are mostly "fake"? My experience with the people that I grew up with in NOC are that they are as real as they get, with trips to Costco, Albertson's and Carls Junior on a regular basis. Yes, if you take a trip to Rodeo Drive and ask for directions in certain stores you will feel like you are on the planet Mars with Klingons nipped tucked and botoxed, but my general impression is that LA can be as gritty and real as any city, and the inhabitants as down home as most.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by BarcelonaFan

While I do not fully agree with Chicano, I do share his sentiments that the town does have it's share of yuppies and yippies. The annoying Prius, Honda Fit, driving, Buddy Holly sunglasses wearing, Cat Power bumping in their car listening, who have a humble arrogance about them that just masks a load of insecurities.

Originally Posted by 415_s2k

I f'ing hate this yuppie/hipster hybrids with a passion, but after having lived in both SF and Seattle, I have to say that these people are a pretty small subsection of LA... I mean, these people make up like 80% of Seattle. That smug, snarky, smarmy, self-congratulatory cool-nerdness covered in a veneer of civility... ugh.

That was one of my biggest annoyances of having lived in San Francisco. The city that yuppies run amok. It's just another form of 'plastic'.

Most likely when people talk about 'real' vs. 'plastic', it seems to basically refer to the quality of the people. Regardless if they are superficial about superficial things, or superficial with intellictual veneers, it'll still come across as you're talking to someone who is less of an actual human being if they can't connect in a human way.

I have no idea where L.A. fits into that, but with a such a large city, I'd imagine it has a little bit of everything. On visits, I'd definitely seen the annoying people side. On the other hand, there seems to be a strong undercurrent of really cool people who live in L.A., and I mostly see it in some of the amazing bands that come out of L.A. - Janes Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Guns-N-Roses, etc.

[DistrictDirt]

What does "fake" even mean? This is as real of a city as any I've ever lived in. Its filled with real neighborhoods and real people working hard to get by. Look at any of PWright1's photos on the LA Pics thread and you'll see a city filled with regular people like any other.

If I had to guess, I'd say the "LA is fake" trope was borne out of the perception outside of LA that everyone here is a celebrity or a wannabe. Which is just lazy thinking. The entertainment industry accounts for less than 10% of Los Angeles's GDP, and within the industry only a small fraction of the workers have the roles that I suspect people brand as fake - actors, musicians, comedians, etc. They seem to forget about all the artists, production assistants, set designers, audio engineers, etc that make up the bulk of the entertainment workforce.

To me, LA feels more "real" than the other cities I've lived in (Washington DC and London England) in that you find yourself crossing paths with the working class and the poor much more here. There is a massive wealth disperity in LA and a big homeless problem. I live in Downtown LA which is rapidly gentrifying but you will still be asked for change by the homeless several times a day and if you happen to cut down an alley while walking your dog you just might see someone sitting there smoking crack (yes, this happened to me last week.)

Again, I'm not sure how you define "fake", but I for one haven't found it in this crazy city and I've been here for 4 years now.

[LUCIFER#666]

LA is "FAKE" b/c of its high % population to be very artificial & flaky. When a person arranges a plan to meet up with someone at a certain date, place, & time; therefore, he/she expects this person to be there. Unless he/she contacts his/her meeting to be a little delayed ahead of time then it is fine. However, when this person flakes out & he/she doesn't show up at all then this is very inconsiderate. The person spends his/her day, money, & time to arrange this meeting in order to make it happen. This is one of the reasons why LA is "FAKE" due to poor time mgmt.

YES, unfortunately the Hollywood culture didn't help to portray this image. Sadly this is how out of towners will feel very disappointed when they visit LA. The glitz & glamour is not what it is cracked up to be unimpressive. You will see LA's true gritty & ugliness.

Oh I forgot to text here about how LA folks are not "CULTURED" to be defined as "KNOWLEDGE & WISDOM." Those stereotypical LA folks "DON'T CARE" to be defined again as "LAID BACK" of what is going on around the globe, or have a philosophical conversation. It seems for them to be self-centered with their superficial celebrity status, multiple plastic surgeries, road rage, or too busy to be stuck in traffic, etc.