LA is the greatest city in America, period. (San Francisco: homeless, rich)

[radiolibre99]

Yes I'm in that boat and it always feels as though you're stuck. Advancement is kinda hard in LA. The professional creative class as they're called can be a bit of a niche to break into too. You gotta fit their mold.

[Mashaly]

I love LA

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by Ingenere

I could see LA being pretty terrible for lower middle class people. The 50-100k earners.

Not a whole lot of fun when you can barely afford a 2 BR apartment and have a decent savings rate.

A 2 BR apartment in a good area isn't that expensive. Probably about $2,500 per month. Not bad if someone is earning, let's say, $70,000/year.

And I don't think $80,000 to $100,000/year is lower middle class even for Los Angeles.

[LordOfTheCars]

40 years ago maybe, today L.A. is a failure. You may have weather but your beaches are sick and anything to do with it's people is a reason to vacate.

[lanhan]

To anyone who is looking for a place to live. Broaden your horizon a bit especially in LA. Look around surrounding cities and you would find better living neighborhood and experience. LA is actually formed up by all these nice places but just city of LA alone. Everyone knows LA is a big place from a map or what people say but never realized the "real" size of it.

I agree LA now is a failure but if we can get up and work together, LA can really be the greatest.

[Hawaii4evr]

I agree, LA is the best city in the country. NYC is nice, but overrated. People there are stuffy and rude, and it's just not as creative, friendly or enjoyable as LA.

[RaymondChandlerLives]

Originally Posted by LordOfTheCars

40 years ago maybe, today L.A. is a failure. You may have weather but your beaches are sick and anything to do with it's people is a reason to vacate.

I love these angry at the world posts. You must be a Republican.

[HaemophilusAphrophilus]

Originally Posted by munchitup

I dunno, the reason I was looking at Highland Park is because it is so cheap. Didn't end up moving there (and part of it was feeling weird for moving to such a trendy hipster area), but I don't think you overpay for what you get in that neighborhood. Echo Park is another story though.

Its remarkable that even in the past 3-4 years Echo Park has changed A LOT-- especially considering its status in the mid 90s till whenever things picked up. I honestly dont get the whole hipster-bashing thing so I wont get into that but Echo Park is starting to look really nice instead of in transition/pretty nice

I dont want to get into a whole discussion about gentrification, its racial implications (though its diverse IMO), etc but I loved it

Highland Park also did change a lot and is starting to look like Echo Park only a few years back. These areas didnt go through any obvious grand changes but seeing the businesses and more street life was significant to me. Still surprised Highland Park didnt initially "gentrify" along Figueroa rather than York though, considering the Gold Line and that Fig is a nice looking street as well

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by HaemophilusAphrophilus

Its remarkable that even in the past 3-4 years Echo Park has changed A LOT-- especially considering its status in the mid 90s till whenever things picked up. I honestly dont get the whole hipster-bashing thing so I wont get into that but Echo Park is starting to look really nice instead of in transition/pretty nice

I dont want to get into a whole discussion about gentrification, its racial implications (though its diverse IMO), etc but I loved it

Highland Park also did change a lot and is starting to look like Echo Park only a few years back. These areas didnt go through any obvious grand changes but seeing the businesses and more street life was significant to me. Still surprised Highland Park didnt initially "gentrify" along Figueroa rather than York though, considering the Gold Line and that Fig is a nice looking street as well

Yeah that makes no sense to me.

[kasuga888]

Originally Posted by Fleet

A 2 BR apartment in a good area isn't that expensive. Probably about $2,500 per month. Not bad if someone is earning, let's say, $70,000/year.

And I don't think $80,000 to $100,000/year is lower middle class even for Los Angeles.

There is something call tax. Spending 30k just for shelter is alot if you are making 70k a year, its alot even if you are making 100k a year...