Is it me or is LA easier to make it than NYC? (Burbank: crime, unemployed)

[jm1982]

Well that is one of the reasons why people stay rich and powerful. They have the time to get involved as you say. This is a lot of the reason why some neighborhoods or schools are good...residents or parents actually have time and have the resources and money to get involved. That's great if you can work full time , go to school and be involved in civic events. Sounds like you are getting all you can out of the city which is great. There probably aren't too many people doing that.

[drshang]

I think the major reason for this is LA tends to have two categories of people in my experience:

- transplants who come here chasing dreams and trying to win the proverbial lottery

- natives who refuse to accept that they need to move somewhere else if they want to start/build their career

Even someone in the category of you, BarcelonaFan, is someone who HAS experience that you brought here. This is way more desirable than someone who graduated and hasn't been able to find a real job, or someone who came here and has to work a crappy job and not developing real skills or any confidence they can succeed. Most people develop basic social skills and networking skills and business skills just from being exposed to the business world in a real, professional level capacity.

There is a big difference between someone who was successful in one career changing to another from the bottom, and someone who has never been successful in any career starting from the bottom. And in this case, by "successful" I mean someone who has obtained and maintained some college graduate level professional job. Often some of the basic skills in one professional field are fairly easily transferable to another, especially soft skills.

[BarcelonaFan]

Originally Posted by jm1982

Well that is one of the reasons why people stay rich and powerful. They have the time to get involved as you say. This is a lot of the reason why some neighborhoods or schools are good...residents or parents actually have time and have the resources and money to get involved. That's great if you can work full time , go to school and be involved in civic events. Sounds like you are getting all you can out of the city which is great. There probably aren't too many people doing that.

Well I also owe it to willing parents who will subsidize the rest of my income if I need the time off or if I need some extra help with school or my civic engagement. So I am lucky there.

The point is exactly what you said. That is why rich people stay rich and powerful. They exercise and utilize the time they have from not toiling to good use.

What is the one thing that seperated the great wise kings of old and the serf? Was it really a divine right? No. It was time. The kings, the merchants, the aristocracy had all this time to sit around and develop art, philosophy, economic and political beliefs. They had the time, the money and the patience to develop themselves while the serfs toiled for them.

It's no wonder why the biggest leap in mankind was during the middle 20th century when wages were high, public investment wasn't curbed and people had more time to do things. Unions and the labor struggle got us out of the dirty textile factories working 12 hour days. We didn't go from third world to first world because of some benevolent rich owners and politicians who gave us gifts of comforts! It was because during the Depression there was a huge labor struggle and concessions were TORN from the teeth of those owners and the politicians capitulated to a mass movement. By then State planners figured it was time to use the extra wealth of the nation to actually build the country and create a middle class.

Dang it, I went into another off topic rant!

[jm1982]

Yeah that's true, also I can see why they got a lot more done in the 1950s, less distractions like the internet for example. If they wanted to interact with people you had to do it in person instead of sitting in your room txt message or on facebook.

Drshang, I agree about those two categories. I am a native..but it's becoming clearer and clearer that moving might be the best option. I do have a job , but it's not a job that pays enough to live in a decent area unfortunately.

[taydigga]

Originally Posted by nightlysparrow

Entertainment people are always saying that it's 'who you know' in the industry that gets them ahead. So I would add intense networking as a necessary skill in LA.

This is so true. I'm working on a documentary and it's all about who you know if you want to get your foot in the door. Having said that, I'm not an absolutist so hard work goes a long way.

[taydigga]

Originally Posted by BarcelonaFan

But that's LA.

That's the industry related scene. People who work in the industry but I find that the typical LA person isn't like that.

[BarcelonaFan]

I agree there is a big difference between entertainment industry people and the LA native in another field.

[taydigga]

Originally Posted by marilyn220

I agree that LA is a very open and not as close minded as NYC is.

Born and raised in NYC, lived in LA for several years and recently relocating back to NYC, I can compare the differences.

Yes, if you can get a decent paying job or willing to live with roommates, then LA is the perfect place to live. Even the very rich areas of the city is open to hanging out with people who aren't. It's not as snobbish as back east.

With that said, I would never, ever move back to LA again. I felt like I was doing major prison time living there. Always worrying about how I was going to pay my bills, trying to keep a roof over my head, having to decide on if I should purchase basic necessities over simple luxuries, etc. It was just a major mess.

At least, I could say I did try to make it work and met some really cool people. Most LA folks are laid back and chill.

Now with that said, I would MOST DEFINITELY move to Santa Barbara!!!

I absolutely LOVED that city. Absolutely beautiful, beautiful city.

I could be a bum there. LOL!

Nice response. You've changed your fastball since last time I saw you post. that was a really objective post, wasn't totally LA bashing, even gave it some props and you only related you experience and didn't make it seem like it's what everyone's will be like. Kudos!

[taydigga]

Originally Posted by yamota

hmmm another let's compare LA to New York thread...we don't get too many of these

Why even bother to comment.

[taydigga]

Originally Posted by jm1982

But it seems NYC'ers would be overworked /too tired to get involved in stuff as well right?

Also NYC has a lot of transplants as well, I would say with similar "delusional dreams" not all those people will "make it big" so to speak...so does that make them delusional?

Has a point there Barcelonafan. I mean just because people move here with dreams and pursue them doesn't make them delusional. A lot of these people by the time they are in their mid-30's give it up and get serious about life, if not before then. Let's not bash the transplants...I'm one of them.