There is nothing to do for fun in Los angeles for residents (San Francisco: camp, to live in)

[18Montclair]

I always have a blast in LA...Why not try to explore LAs numerous walkable neighborhoods spread out across the city. That should keep you occupied for a very long time. LOL

You should also look into exploring new restaurants that you've never been to before. Go with friends, it makes for a fun night.

[1200RT]

Originally Posted by cityKing

The thing is, that people who live in the city such as NYC don't really care for all the outdoorsy stuff as much. LA people talk that they have all this scenery and this and that, but how many people REALLY go hiking and take advantage of all of that ? I've lived in cities with mountains, deserts, etc, sure it's nice to look at. But using the scenery as an excuse to why it has an advantage over a city where everything is "driving distance" is non sense. If you are going to be in a city, you want walkability, urban setting, not having to deal with traffic, congestion, and sprawl. If I want to live in a in a city with Mountains and outdoor stuff, LA would't be my ideal place.

Quite a few.

[cityKing]

The thing is, that people who live in the city such as NYC don't really care for all the outdoorsy stuff as much. LA people talk that they have all this scenery and this and that, but how many people REALLY go hiking and take advantage of all of that ? I've lived in cities with mountains, deserts, etc, sure it's nice to look at but I never really cared for actually hiking and doing any of that outdoor stuff. Using scenery as an excuse to why it has an advantage over a city where everything is "driving distance" is non sense. If you want to live in a in a city with Mountains and outdoor stuff, LA is not the best choice. If you want to live in a city with an urban setting, lively downtown, and not have to use a car all the time, Again, LA is not the answer. If you with clear warm beautiful beaches, LA is not the choice. LA loses 3x. LA has a lot going for it, but I never saw it as the "best" of anything, I've always thought of LA as the "jack of all trades" meaning it has a variety of stuff it's good at, but not really great at anything in particular.

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by munchitup

Last time I checked there are - at most - 5 cities in the US with reliable 24/7 public transportation. NYC, Chicago, maybe Philly, maybe SF, oh and Los Angeles. Yes the frequencies are relatively sporadic and it is a skeletal system but if you know what you are doing it gets you home. 24-hour Owl Service

I was an idiot and missed the last Red Line train into Hollywood this weekend, so I had to take the 4 bus. I figured I wasn't going to get home until 4 AM - it took 20 minutes to get from Grand / Cesar Chavez to Santa Monica / Vine. I'll repeat, Los Angeles is one of the only cities in the country you can do this in. Yeah it would be nice to take a subway that runs 24/7, but in the middle of the night buses are almost as fast honestly. It was really easy to get to the bar in Boston, but unless you are going home at midnight sharp, you are totally out of luck getting home.

If you live at Santa Monica/Vine I think you would want to take the 4 from Downtown LA to there anyway.

There is owl service in LA (I've taken the owl 4 and 20 dozens of times throughout the years) which is nice, but only if you're going along Santa Monica Blvd and Wilshire. Streets with plenty of day service like Sunset, Olympic, Melrose, and Pico have no owl service. And getting from the valley and back? There's that highland bus that runs once an hour, and the red line is done before the bars close!

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by disgruntled la native

If you live at Santa Monica/Vine I think you would want to take the 4 from Downtown LA to there anyway.

There is owl service in LA (I've taken the owl 4 and 20 dozens of times throughout the years) which is nice, but only if you're going along Santa Monica Blvd and Wilshire. Streets with plenty of day service like Sunset, Olympic, Melrose, and Pico have no owl service. And getting from the valley and back? There's that highland bus that runs once an hour, and the red line is done before the bars close!

Yeah, you are S.O.O.L. if you live in the Valley. I agree the Owl Service isn't amazing or anything, but my point was mostly that 24/7 PT in LA is better than just about any other city in the U.S. other than Chicago and NYC (DC too probably, forgot about them). Probably not cost-effective to run Owl Service on Sunset - you have overlap with the 4 through Silverlake and Echo Park, and then Sunset and SM are only like .5 apart. Actually I just checked, the 2 bus does have once an hour Owl Service. As do Melrose (10), Pico (30), Beverly (14), Venice (33), Adams, Jefferson, etc. etc. Like I said it is skeletal and sporadic, but almost every city in the US wishes they could have even that level of service.

I live at Hollywood / Wilcox, we walked from Santa Monica Blvd (up Vine because Wilcox at 3 AM is pretty creepy).

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by cityKing

The thing is, that people who live in the city such as NYC don't really care for all the outdoorsy stuff as much. LA people talk that they have all this scenery and this and that, but how many people REALLY go hiking and take advantage of all of that ? I've lived in cities with mountains, deserts, etc, sure it's nice to look at but I never really cared for actually hiking and doing any of that outdoor stuff. Using scenery as an excuse to why it has an advantage over a city where everything is "driving distance" is non sense. If you want to live in a in a city with Mountains and outdoor stuff, LA is not the best choice. If you want to live in a city with an urban setting, lively downtown, and not have to use a car all the time, Again, LA is not the answer. If you with clear warm beautiful beaches, LA is not the choice. LA loses 3x. LA has a lot going for it, but I never saw it as the "best" of anything, I've always thought of LA as the "jack of all trades" meaning it has a variety of stuff it's good at, but not really great at anything in particular.

I go hiking or some other outdoor activity every weekend. I've lived here only a year and I and many others I've met through meetup groups

Personally I feel LA is an excellent choice if you want outdoor oppotunities and wildlands to explore, but YET have the super cosmopolitan feel of a world class city. I was just sailing with a friend this weekend, and we had a huge pod of common dolphins and saw some sea lions on buoys. I've gone on several 8-12 mile hikes in the San Gabriels over the past summer, and do the smaller hikes from Griffith Park to Malibu Creek state park

Sure, I can have the outdoors with much less traffic, etc. in other smaller, western cities, but I don't really relate as well to the intermountain west (mountain man) culture or the Pacific NW (I'm so much more green than you) culture.

To me greater LA has that balance. Maybe you're right, but personally I love having that little bit of everything.

I don't think its nonsense to talk about places that are within driving distance. I love getting out of town for the sake of getting out of town. Maybe I'm in the minority, but whatever, I'm very happy here, and I take advantage of everything Southern California has to offer, I don't spend much money to do so.

[PDF]

Dang, there are way more 24-hour bus routes in LA than I thought. Now how many of these are reliable? Do they come like once an hour, or more frequent?

My only issue when I was in LA was that public transit was pretty much shut down at midnight. And I wasn't getting back until 2 or 3AM every night. But that's not just LA, that's pretty much every city besides New York.

[PDF]

Originally Posted by Tex?Il?

I go hiking or some other outdoor activity every weekend. I've lived here only a year and I and many others I've met through meetup groups

Personally I feel LA is an excellent choice if you want outdoor oppotunities and wildlands to explore, but YET have the super cosmopolitan feel of a world class city. I was just sailing with a friend this weekend, and we had a huge pod of common dolphins and saw some sea lions on buoys. I've gone on several 8-12 mile hikes in the San Gabriels over the past summer, and do the smaller hikes from Griffith Park to Malibu Creek state park

Sure, I can have the outdoors with much less traffic, etc. in other smaller, western cities, but I don't really relate as well to the intermountain west (mountain man) culture or the Pacific NW (I'm so much more green than you) culture.

To me greater LA has that balance. Maybe you're right, but personally I love having that little bit of everything.

I don't think its nonsense to talk about places that are within driving distance. I love getting out of town for the sake of getting out of town. Maybe I'm in the minority, but whatever, I'm very happy here, and I take advantage of everything Southern California has to offer, I don't spend much money to do so.

But I do get what he is talking about. People in NYC care about how urban the city is, the people there who don't have cars aren't really going to care about getting out of town. They want everything in the city.

I'm the type who would take advantage of both, but that's not most people.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by PDF

Dang, there are way more 24-hour bus routes in LA than I thought. Now how many of these are reliable? Do they come like once an hour, or more frequent?

My only issue when I was in LA was that public transit was pretty much shut down at midnight. And I wasn't getting back until 2 or 3AM every night. But that's not just LA, that's pretty much every city besides New York.

I think the vast majority of them are once an hour. But the Santa Monica Blvd bus I took (4) runs every 30 minutes, I bet Wilshire is that way too. It's been mentioned in other threads, but the biggest issue is getting N/S in LA - the lines that run in that direction are less frequent, I'm not sure there is a single N/S line that runs 24/7 and has 30 minutes frequencies at say 3 or 4 AM. Maybe the Vermont Ave bus.

Also, I'm not sure when you visited but a new improvement on the train lines is that on Friday and Saturday they run till 2 AM (though the don't coordinate the F'n Gold Line to connect with the last Red Line train - I missed the last train by literally 5 seconds.)

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by PDF

But I do get what he is talking about. People in NYC care about how urban the city is, the people there who don't have cars aren't really going to care about getting out of town. They want everything in the city.

I'm the type who would take advantage of both, but that's not most people.

Thats why I could not stand or fathom living in NYC or even Chicago. I like big cities for the social life that one can get when around lots of transplants of all cultural backgrounds who like doing the stuff I do. The rest of the west doesn't have the diversity of California, or the high number of transplanted singles, etc.

To, me LA works for me.