Los Angeles (Santa Maria, Martinez: housing, rental, travel)

[brian_2]

"The same goes for smog: it's everpresent in all locales except the immediate coast and parts of the West side."

Quite a few times in Santa Monica I would look out across the ocean and see a layer of smog extending a good mile or so off the shore. Smog doesn't always stop at the shoreline.

[Steel Man]

Originally Posted by brian_2

...Quite a few times in Santa Monica I would look out across the ocean and see a layer of smog extending a good mile or so off the shore. Smog doesn't always stop at the shoreline.

Has smog reached Barstow yet? I heard a while back that Victorville has smog.

[Des_Demona]

I just read through all of these posts mostly because I was EXTREMELY bored at work. I work on Wilshire in the middle of downtown LA and live in Simi Valley just 25 miles north of LA as my little "escape" from LA. If anyone is considering moving to LA... DONT! I mean, there are a few people who really enjoy the LA lifestyle like the rich and famous, independently wealthy who everyday have the maids walking their dogs and getting their groceries for them and don't have to actually LEAVE their mansions.

Middle class in LA doesn't exist, it does exist elsewhere in California for example where I live in Simi Valley (Ventura County right next to Chatsworth) or Chatsworth (LA county but certainly wouldn't count that is LA) where another poster lives but NOT in LA. There is the Poor and the Rich. If you don't make, like fastfilm says $110,000 a year, forget it... even then if you make that much you'll still likely be renting. Most people in LA are renters unless you are again extremely wealthy by Californian standards (not somewhere in the midwest). LA, Orange County (where I lived many years), Malibu and San Francisco Bay areas are all extremely hard places to live based on cost of living. Suburbs are usually better but STILL high.

LA itself is a craphole of violence, trash, crime, slums, selfish stuck up egoists who glare at you if you dare make eye contact (most don't). Nobody says hi to one another... and prepare to dodge one of the 90,000 homeless people that live in LA (the biggest population of homeless people anywhere in the country). My friend had a funny but sad experience with a homeless woman: She was walking in Westwood (you know, the nice part of LA by UCLA) when she was walking by a bus stop the woman jumped out at her and screamed right in her face "BIIIITCH!!! WHATCHOO DOIN IN MY MUTHA-FU*KIN CONDO!!!" refering to the bus stop as her condo. This is typical as I dodge the poor homeless people every day in los angeles on my way to work. It's certainly a statement to the health care and mental healthcare available to poor people in LA. It's a sad city full of really sad people... it's a dirty city and it's fun to visit, but I would NEVER recommend settling here unless you REALLY like smog and I mean you can literally smell the exhaust-filled air as you inhale and try not to, violence, poverty, hispanics (about 50% of LA is hispanic), gang activity, graffiti (although fun to look at, always indicates gang activity), sweltering sun (I hate sunny weather though), and forget about the beaches. Although the beach communities themselves are fun to visit (especially Venice Beach which I visit nearly every weekend) the water at the beach itself is so nasty and polluted it almost looks black. I would NEVER EVER go in the water at any beach in or near LA. The beaches are also extremely overcrowded on any given day. I feel like I die a little bit each day that I'm in LA - my personality, my health everything. In one year I will have saved enough to finally get out of California altogether and I know it will be a million% improvement no matter where I go.

To be fair now: There are lots of things to do in LA if you can get from place to place in all the traffic. There are museums, tons of clubs, an active nightlife, theaters, cafes, businesses, plenty of jobs in corporate environments, you just have to really not mind smog, heat, tall buildings, a complete deprivation of nature and really REALLY bad traffic. Like I said I drive 25 miles to get to work there and back and it takes me over an hour to get there. Not to mention most parking in LA is regulated by permits that you have to pay for so I park in a permit lot and walk to my job and while walking get regularly accosted from every direction by: Bible thumpers, homeless people, people promoting their latest theater production, the ***** going to the gym who runs me over, the drivers on their cell phones who almost run me over (I've nearly been killed twice and I've only worked in LA for 1 year now). It's just craziness... I am a person who requires a lot of activity and stimulation but LA is just TOO much for me. I NEVER thought I'd ever say that but it is. But I'm leaving soon and I relish the thought. I keep myself sane from all the helicopters, sirens, people screaming by reminding myself that I am LEAVING this place. My roommate feels the same way/same situation. That's my completely honest personal account of LA. Anyone living here who is making what I do ($40,000) will most likely give you the same story.

[Ms.Phitt]

Count me in as another person giving you the same story.

We despise this place more all the time, and we keep ourselves from going insane by constantly reminding ourselves that we're moving soon.

Des_Demona did an excellent job of describing things here. Nevertheless, there is so much to it that I still have a few things to add.

The police here are USELESS. It's not their fault, I don't think. They're just overloaded with 10 times the work they can possibly do and not nearly enough resources with which to do it. This means that whereas in most parts of the country, if you have someone suspiciously prowling around your property, you can call the police and if nothing else they will at least come out and take a report. Here, you call the police and then an operator calls you 2-3 hours later to see if the trespassers are still there. Well of course they're not, so as soon as you tell them no they just drop the case. No report, no nothing. So it is in this way that I have called the police several times now because I had gang members in my yard, right outside my window, and on my porch, and I am a woman and was home by myself, and STILL the police have done nothing. Zero. Zip. I've even taken pictures of them here and the police won't even look at them! The gangs and druggies have free run of the place. They p*ss in the parking area, hide things like stolen credit cards for each other all over the property, and check out what's in our cars. If you challenge them they simply ignore you and walk away; it doesn't matter because they'll just come back in a couple hours or days when they think you're not around. If you need a visual aid check the pictures of my middle-class neighborhood -- not a slum -- on page 4 of this thread.

The yearly wildfires are getting worse, and therefore the air is getting worse. Right now we have yet another HUGE wildfire in the area. It hurts to breathe, my throat is sore, I have severe sinus infections, and problems with my asthma. You can hardly see the mountains, even from the foothills believe it or not, and the sky is gray with smoke.

The summer heat is stifling, and getting worse. I almost had a heat stroke on more than one occasion this summer, because the sun beats down on you so intensely that it seems to suck the water out of you faster than you can drink it. Every year people show off by laying out aluminum foil on the sidewalk or on their car dashboards and COOKING an egg or other food on it just from the heat of the sun.

Every year, and with increasing frequency, the beaches keep getting closed altogether. This is because the bacteria levels are so high from all the sewage and waste being dumped in the ocean nearby that people have been getting sick. Skin infections, eye infections, ear infections, poisoning from accidentally swallowing water, you name it.

50 years ago, maybe, or more, this was a booming, bustling, beautiful city with sun, surf, sand, and Hollywood. Opportunities abounded and it was a mecca for the American dream. Every now and then you see an old building or picture and you can really get a glimpse of what a lovely place it was. And now it's just a gathering place for all the worst kinds of nastiness and trash humanity has to offer. It's really very sad.

[UB50]

If I lived in Simi Valley and worked on Wilshire Blvd. in downtown, I'd be taking Metrolink to work everyday! You might want to check it out. I've taken it from Chatsworth to LA and it's only a 30 minute trip.

[newportbeachsmostwanted]

Like MS.Phitt said, LA cops are useless!! One night on the way home there was a lady rolling in the middle of the street(Pacific Ave. , a major street in Venice) I rolled the window down and asked she was alright. She had said someone had just tried to kill her. I turned around because there was a cop sitting in his car two blocks behind. I tell the cop about the lady, and figure he's going to go help her. I come back ten minutes later. Cop still in same spot, lady still rolling!

Last Week, in Pacific Palisades-a wealthy upper class portion of LA, a few kids congregated as they normally do-behind Savon. They sip Jamba Juices and play on their skateboards. { I see kids there frequently) A Savon employee this week called the police because kids were being loud. The LAPD came and said that "skateboarders were a known threat to police", and peppersprayed the kids who complied with everything the officers said, just because they had boards. A middle school girl saw it happening and ran accross the street to help the sobbing, crying kid on his knees throwing up.. She too was pepper sprayed.. Sad, sad, sad.. Story is this week in Palasadian Post.
http://www.palisadespost.com/content...?Story_ID=2225


I also believe the LA crime rate is a false justification. I have felt much safer in cities like San Francisco, or San Diego where crime rates are higher. I feel that our low rates are because hardly anyone calls the cops, and hardly any cops make arrests.

[Ms.Phitt]

Originally Posted by newportbeachsmostwanted

She too was pepper sprayed.. Sad, sad, sad..

The police are so completely stretched to the breaking point that they often do just that - break. Then you have police brutality which has also become an increasing problem.

Originally Posted by newportbeachsmostwanted

I also believe the LA crime rate is a false justification. I have felt much safer in cities like San Francisco, or San Diego where crime rates are higher. I feel that our low rates are because hardly anyone calls the cops, and hardly any cops make arrests.

Well as you can see from stories like mine and Newport's, if there are lower recorded crime rates here that's all it means - - lower recorded crime rates. When the police are so buried with crime that they're unable to keep records on even a fraction of all the crimes reported to them, and when people see how useless it is and just stop bothering to call, then lower recorded crime rates really have nothing to do with the safety level in this city.

[premed429]

Originally Posted by Cali2ID

I told my wife that when we leave for the last time I want her to take a picture of me at the NV./CA. border facing California flipping it off! There is only one good view of L.A. and that's through my rear view mirror.

Thanks for the great idea !!!

LOL

[Caliguy2007]

L.A is Huge and Diverse with Millions of People,so it has problems just like any other City in this Country,but most of L.A is not a Ghetto and not only Rich People or Illegal Immigrants live there.

L.A is a Wonderful City with an Amazing Variety of Landscapes,Outdoor Activities,Shopping,Dining,Entertainment,Special Events,People,Neighborhoods and Culture.

If L.A was so horrible,the Population or the Economy wouldn't be growing,and L.A isn't even on the Top 10 List of Dangerous Cities in America.

I Love L.A :-)

[Ms.Phitt]

Originally Posted by Caliguy29

L.A is Huge and Diverse with Millions of People,so it has problems just like any other City in this Country,but most of L.A is not a Ghetto and not only Rich People or Illegal Immigrants live there.

What is your source of support for this statement? If you want to be believable, back your statements up with facts.

Originally Posted by Caliguy29

L.A is a Wonderful City with an Amazing Variety of Landscapes,Outdoor Activities,Shopping,Dining,Entertainment,Special Events,People,Neighborhoods and Culture.

Very true. For these reasons it would be a profoundly wonderful place if we could only get the severe problems with gangs, crime, pollution, and traffic under some kind of reasonable control. However, on the current path we're on, I really don't see that happening anytime soon. If anything, these problems are getting much worse. I have personally watched my neighborhood degrade into hardened gangland in the space of about 3 years. Read the previous pages on this forum. Many L.A. residents here have similar stories.

Originally Posted by Caliguy29

If L.A was so horrible,the Population or the Economy wouldn't be growing,and L.A isn't even on the Top 10 List of Dangerous Cities in America.

What is your source of support for this statement on economy? The last Census data I checked showed the economy and job growth both DECLINING. What Top 10 List of Dangerous Cities? Who compiled it? What year is it from? What criteria did they use? On all the Most Dangerous lists I've seen, L.A. is right up there either at the top or in the top 3. As far as population is concerned... people are continuously reproducing all over the world, so the population is growing almost everywhere. The fact that there is population growth here really doesn't prove anything.