Do you think Los Angeles is misunderstood/misrepresented? (Highland: apartment, neighborhoods)

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by thebordella

You know, there's one more LA perception I wanted to mention: smog. Again, people back east believed that I'd be choking my way through clouds of pollution every day.

Scientifically, I know that smog is an issue. The levels of unhealthy particulate in the air in the LA basin are measurably higher than other cities, and as we all know this is amplified by the natural inversion layer caused by the local topography. We also know that the air quality has measurably improved by impressive amounts -- something like 85+% -- compared to the 70's.

But that's the science. Personally, I have to say I really have not noticed an issue. I know that air quality varies around the region and I have spent most of my time west and southwest of downtown. I've spent considerable time in other major urban environments and years in what most people would consider the fresh air of the country. And with that said, my own personal experience breathing the air in LA has been unremarkable. Walking around, hiking in the mountains, whatever, I really don't notice any difference from anywhere else. Except for NYC, where I most definitely do feel both grimy and a burning sensation in my eyes and lungs after a day in the city.

I also think there is reason to be optimistic about LA air quality continuing to improve. A significant proportion of toxins are from vehicular emissions and these have dropped dramatically as technology has improved (a current model car produces something like 99% fewer toxic emissions than a car from 30 years ago -- and that's just for combustion engines). Every year more old cars will come off the road permanently and more new ones will replace them, so really the air will only continue to get better.

I agree, though recently the smog / marine layer has been brutal! In the winter smog seems to be almost non-existent.

That being said, I think I can feel the smog sometimes, I'll have a bit of a burning or tingling sensation in my nose. But that could just be allergies, I have no idea.

Also, the layer of grime that settles in your apartment / home is no worse here than it was in Boston - in fact I think it was worse there.

[jm1982]

True , I think smog is really the least of our worries...but it is one big complaint you here from people that don't live in L.A
It's not common at all to hear from someone living in L.A "Oh the smog is just terrible..smog is really affecting me today"

Another thing that is REALLY overstated is earthquakes. The last earthquakes that affected anyone significantly was like 20yrs ago. College freshmen weren't even BORN for our last major earthquake.

But I think the stereotype that L.A is full of celebrities but also full of gangmembers is interesting.

It seems with gangs at least they used to be more of a problem back in the day. There are lot's of reasons for this.

I think I agree with the poster that said all cities are pretty much misrepresented by the media.

[Mr. Opinionated]

I had one friend from Oakland comment during a recent visit about the blight in some of the south areas; "Man, I see so many old buildings down here, making Oakland look nice to me!"
I had to bite my tongue, feeling that he was exploiting the stereotype that L.A. is full of money and riches everywhere. But while historically famous for the movie industry, L.A. is no more like that than the rest of the world. There is plenty of envy and jealousy to go around while the city gets lots of hype from the media. People tend to profile the place as either an extreme cluster of ridiculously dangerous blighted or wealthy Beverly Hills/Bel-Air communities. It can be those and whatever falls in between, as part of it's overall identity.

[jm1982]

Yeah...the sad part though is those blighted areas at about 200k+ for a house.

If I'm going to live in the ghetto..I want it to actually be cheap/affordable!

Lot's of homes for $300k+ in areas most people would consider ghetto, Panorama City, ETC

Average home in Panorama City is $350k http://www.redfin.com/homes-for-sale...1,2&uipt=1&v=8

The cheapest home on the market in that area is now $340k.

[DynamoLA]

I think L.A. is misunderstood/misrepresented by people who don't actually live here. Most of the time, these people seem to just go on several stereotypes (some have already been said) that may have been true 20-30 years ago, but aren't true today, including:
- L.A. is super-smoggy
- L.A. is full of crime
- Nobody takes public transit and/or public transit does not exist
- Downtown is a ghost town
- L.A. is not dense and full of suburban homes
- L.A. has no culture
- Everyone in L.A. works in the entertainment industry

All of these things are demonstrably not true, yet are oft-repeated, mostly by people using lazy sterotypes.

I've learned to stop correcting these people (mostly), because they believe what they want to believe, and I actually have a life outside of a message board.

[kashmirgirl1976]

L.A. is a city where you have to find where you fit. There's something for every personality. I think that's where the misunderstanding lies. Some folks feel that when they get here, their personality will be handed to them. Figure that out for yourself.

[nighthouse66]

Originally Posted by PDF

I'm in the middle on this one. I was here for an exploratory trip last summer and found a Los Angeles that was so much unlike the one I always heard about. However, living here is very different and now my opinion of the city is more in line with how LA looks on paper.

This is a fantastic city, though. Hidden gems can be found in every corner of the city. LA has one of the better transit systems in America outside the major ones, though this one hates taking it. So many people don't even know LA has a subway.

People here are friendly. You have your fakes, but the Hollywood types do not dominate the city like everyone says.

What do you think? I'm beginning to think Los Angeles isn't misunderstood at all, the city has exactly what it advertises on paper. Though some things are clearly under/overstated and you kind of have to visit to get a feel for the place, unlike say a regular urban city.

LA is like the elephant in that proverb- you have twenty guys feeling the elephant up and ALL of them swear that whatever part of it they are grabbing is the ONLY part that exists.

people love hyperbole and sweeping statements. and like all sweeping statements, they are only true some of the time.

its all that, and more. its everything you think, and nothing you think, all the time. in other words, its a zen koan. i bet in a year, you will have changed your mind, and in another year, you will have changed it again, until you realize that the city changes all the time and everything happens here, therefore, you can never really know it. the neighborhood i live in is the oldest in los angeles and people who grew up on the westside or have been here for decades sometimes have never even heard of the place. the place is so huge and ungainly and a such a mess of constant change that its more like an experience than a city.

[BarcelonaFan]

LA has a lot of stereotypes that it surprisngly doesn't really care to fight off. For one the crime thing is horribly overblown to proportions not seen for any city.

The other is that no body walks but that is if you tend to ignore the millions of immigrants and people who do not have a car walking and taking public transit. Sometimes I wonder when I hear people joke, "dur hur no one walks in LA" if they think that the majority of the Hispanic population is invisible to them.

Yes, LA looks like it's still stuck in the 80s. I watched Down and Out in Beverly Hills two days ago and the place looked relatively the same, LOL. The opening scene looks like it was shot today for the most part. Yet, I still think LA does a pretty good job of not letting the town go to complete waste.

Anyone notice that even when they build new apartment buildings or renovate older ones they still tend to have that older look?

Why do Hollywood writers hate this city so much? They play up these stereotypes and just talk down about people in LA, not just the smarmy rich Hollywood crowd. I saw an episode the Cleveland Show which lampooned LA and they were just so spiteful. Do they think that is all there is to LA? Do they just never leave their bubbles in West LA to notice the charm of the rest of the city? Everyone else is a criminal, a junkie, a wannabe actress, a hobo, a cop, etc.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by BarcelonaFan

LA has a lot of stereotypes that it surprisngly doesn't really care to fight off. For one the crime thing is horribly overblown to proportions not seen for any city.

The other is that no body walks but that is if you tend to ignore the millions of immigrants and people who do not have a car walking and taking public transit. Sometimes I wonder when I hear people joke, "dur hur no one walks in LA" if they think that the majority of the Hispanic population is invisible to them.

Yes, LA looks like it's still stuck in the 80s. I watched Down and Out in Beverly Hills two days ago and the place looked relatively the same, LOL. The opening scene looks like it was shot today for the most part. Yet, I still think LA does a pretty good job of not letting the town go to complete waste.

Anyone notice that even when they build new apartment buildings or renovate older ones they still tend to have that older look?

Why do Hollywood writers hate this city so much? They play up these stereotypes and just talk down about people in LA, not just the smarmy rich Hollywood crowd. I saw an episode the Cleveland Show which lampooned LA and they were just so spiteful. Do they think that is all there is to LA? Do they just never leave their bubbles in West LA to notice the charm of the rest of the city? Everyone else is a criminal, a junkie, a wannabe actress, a hobo, a cop, etc.

LOL at first when I saw the Cleveland show I thought you were referring to Hot In Cleveland*, which really plays up those LA stereotypes (for the record the Cleveland Show might be the worst heap of crap I've ever laid my eyes on). I'm not sure why writers hate LA so much, most likely because they are transplants or something. I bet if I was writing a show while I lived in Boston and it was set there, 75% of the jokes would come at the city's expense too.

*My wife makes me watch it, I swear

I'm sure you've seen it, but for a contrast with 80s LA and the LA of today all you need to do is watch the opening of Lethal Weapon. Also crazy is the destroyed Hollywood sign in Argo. It's so hard to believe that the sign actually looked like that in the late 70s/early 80s.

I agree that the apartments are pretty distinctive for the region (though I grew up in the general Southern California area so they aren't as distinctive to me) though I can definitely tell which era the building was built in, for the most part (well at least the 50s-00s buildings).

[thebordella]

While I agree that Hollywood writers contribute to negative misunderstandings about LA, I have some theories about why this happens.

I don't really believe that movie and TV writers "hate" LA. But they do have to appeal to their audience.

LA is a bright and shiny place. The sun, the ocean, the palm trees. From a storytelling perspective, it is always more compelling to employ contrast. Setting stories about dark, unpleasant things against this backdrop is an effective formula.

Most of the audience for movies and TV shows do not live in LA and will never visit in person. To them, "LA" is a place that has been constructed by fictional stories cumulatively over decades. This is the LA most people know, and so writers continue to employ it because the fictional LA is a character people recognize. This is essentially a self-perpetuating phenomenon. It doesn't matter how much the fictional LA diverges from the real LA because the fictional version is a storytelling device for audiences, not a documentary about the city of Los Angeles.

On top of all that, writers don't want to alienate their audience, they want to build sympathy with them. To lampoon, critique, and take down LA is a way that writers can bond with the audience for their movies and TV shows -- an audience who is mostly made up of people who don't make 6 figure incomes living in architectural houses surrounded by palm trees in an endless summer. Making fun of LA is "punching up". Whereas if writers made fun of the places most audiences actually live they would come across as elitist jerks.

At the end of the day, who cares what people in other places think of LA? It's not exactly a ghost town around here.