Does L.A. look like Africa in some places? (Los Angeles: middle-class, 2014)

[diallomacedo]

Has anyone else noticed the 10-mile stretch between Carmenita road and Firestone boulevard when driving on the 5 towards Los Angeles from Santa Ana. If so, have you noticed the resemblance between these neighborhoods and the cities in West Africa. In particular Accra, Ghana. The houses resemble the shanti's. The landscape is desert like, and many of the side walks are simply dirt roads. The electricity is above ground towers. How does a first world nation have so much resemblance with a nation that is still in its first 100 years of development?

[Monkeymike]

No, plenty of areas in the US have above ground power. Are you serious with this?

This is your 4th post just tonight comparing LA to Africa.

[StreetLegal]

Nonsense. The OP has never been to Africa or a less developed country. I have and there is a big difference.

[bpeeps]

Actually OP, before Pangaea separated into continents, Los Angeles was connected to what we now know as Africa. True story.

[notmeofficer]

South Central Los Angeles is near and dear to me.. having spent much of my career there
Poor people.. many older poor really decent people who... held by the chains of gangsters in their neighborhoods.... still found the will to keep their homes and yards neat... there used to be gardens here and even some orange trees
Two riots... and a plethora of societal changes and many of these houses remain... and many of these people have died off and been replaced by other minorities.. and in some places it does look like shantytown Mexico...

At one time this was a most beautiful suburb of L.A.. lots of aerospace workers and rows of neat housing

We as a society get what we want...

Sad

Now.. Ive been deployed in the third world during disasters... Haiti a couple of years ago... THOSE places are like what you describe

[NickofDiamonds]

If you can past the point of viewing the African dirt like view, you may notice that Cal trans in in the middle of rebuilding and widening that stretch of the 5 Freeway and it is a construction zone.
Hint: look at the Orange signs posted alongside the roads !

5 Freeway widening project still has 4 more years to go

http://thesource.metro.net/2014/08/2...idge-now-open/

[yamota]

is it true they filmed part of "Black Hawk Down" in Downey?

[munchitup]

Seriously - not only that but Carmenita and Firestone are like a mile apart, not 10. And that area is not in Los Angeles proper. And it does not look like Africa, more like lower-middle-class suburbs.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ca...f4ddc9b93c8cc6

[diallomacedo]

Originally Posted by munchitup

Seriously - not only that but Carmenita and Firestone are like a mile apart, not 10. And that area is not in Los Angeles proper. And it does not look like Africa, more like lower-middle-class suburbs.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ca...f4ddc9b93c8cc6

No... I have been to Accra, Ghana and that mile stretch definitely looks like Africa. It is the poorest thing I have ever seen in the continent of the United States. Los Angeles is very very impoverished. It's really bad.

[diallomacedo]

Originally Posted by StreetLegal

Nonsense. The OP has never been to Africa or a less developed country. I have and there is a big difference.

Yes I have been to Accra, Ghana and Monrovia, Liberia and yes, L.A. (in some parts) does resemble Africa. It really does. It really really does. People from L.A. like to think that they don't live in the least developed part of the United States, but they actually do. In terms of the supplemental poverty measure, the measure of poverty in terms of consumption, L.A. and Cali is by faaaaaaar the poorest entity on this land mass minus Mexico. It's too poor, and people don't realize that its poor. They think plastic signs for shopping centers, and cheap materials for housing instead of brick is the standard, no it is not the standard, it is the government not spending any money on infrastructure and it is simply POOR.