Get out if you can!!!! (Los Angeles, Santa Barbara: rent, income, crime)

[michael james]

Name is Michael and I live in Missouri, from SanDiego. Have lived there my whole life. I have been to St.Louis Missouri twice and you think compton is bad St.Louis is much worse. St. Louis ranks as number one most dangerous city in the united states. Go to infoplease.com and type in most dangerous cities and you will see. Iv'e seen some stuff happen in St. Louis that is very small in LA or Chicago combined.

[TrueDat]

Originally Posted by rb4browns

My wife and I moved to Dallas from L.A. (Pico-Robertson) this summer. While there is muh I miss about Southern California (I grew up in San Diego) I don't miss the cost of living (we're renting a nice 3bdr condo with w/d in a nice part of town for $900 a month), the unaffordable houses (we're going to buy a nice $250k house next year), traffic, smog (my car stays clean for weeks after I wash it, not the black film that shows up from the smog the next day) and the threat of imending doom by earthquake, flood, drought, riot, etc.

At the same time I miss our friends, the vibrant energy of L.A., the weather, the beach and the "cool factor" of L.A. But overall we're happy we left.

That's funny. I used to live in the Pico-Robertson area as well and now live in Dallas. Pico-Robertson represent!

I miss the heavily Jewish feel of the area, with the markets, synagogues, and crowds of well-dressed people walking on Saturdays because they're not allowed to use cars on that day.

[Caliguy2007]

I used to live in L.A,and I still go there once in a while to visit friends,and honestly I never saw anyone covered with tatoos like that.

They do have Gangsters in L.A,but you need to go to the Ghetto Areas to see them mostly.

Originally Posted by Charles

You must have caught on....

Those are the joke names they use when they're walking little old ladies across the street, scribing their golf cards, clubbing for their ACT and SAT test study sessions, and volunteering for the John Birch Society.


These dudes can provide additional information.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Caliguy2007

I used to live in L.A,and I still go there once in a while to visit friends,and honestly I never saw anyone covered with tatoos like that.

They do have Gangsters in L.A,but you need to go to the Ghetto Areas to see them mostly.

I see people covered with tattoos, but it wasn't until last night that I ever saw someone who was covered in gang related tattoos to anywhere near that extent, when I got off the 405 to make a stop at a liquor store in North Hills during one of my increasingly rare excursions deep into the bowels of the Valley (as opposed to the southeastern part). And he wasn't quite as covered as the guys in the pix.

Anyone who's covered in those type of tattoos to that extent (which is beyond the extent of said cholo who I saw last night, he was coming into the store as I was leaving) is serving time, generally a pretty long stretch.

[FarewellLA]

I'm one of those Californians moving to the midwest......Columbus, Ohio here I come!

[majoun]

Originally Posted by FarewellLA

I'm one of those Californians moving to the midwest......Columbus, Ohio here I come!

A very rare bird, indeed. The people there will probably wonder why you're moving there, considering that the number of them moving here still exceeds the number of us moving there.

Wouldn't be surprised if you want to come back ASAP....

[sabungero]

Southern California to Brandon Mississippi for me...'tired of renting here, and impossible to afford a 560K+ house in my area.

[dzakrewski]

Originally Posted by madmj

You can get all you need to know from some of the people on this board. Yes, I do bash L.A. and that's because it's an extremely dissapointing city. Like it or not maybe some of you should try and live in other cities. It is my general observation that the Angelenos just take things blindly in stride and bury their head in the sand. Nobody cares out here. It's the most selfish city in the world. Travel first then respond. And please don't come at me with knowledge when your screen name is that of a movie character.

The city generally lacks any true 'community' feeling. It's very transient and that contributes to the reason why nobody cares. When I was here back in the 90's it was a much different place. Yes it had it problems and was dangerous but so is every city. It was then on an upswing. Currently it is on a down swing. If you choose not to see this then your watching too much t.v. Open your eyes, read what's going on politically, demographically, crime stats, real estate booms. It all there but most people out here would rather watch Entertainment Tonight than spend 20 minutes in an intelligent conversation.

As for those mocking the OP who wrote 'get out while you can' you are all demonstrating the exact point I'm making. Why don't you think about it. Ever hear of kids and school? How about college and semesters. Employment contracts and spousal obligations. There are lots of reasons people are somewhat forced to be in a place for a certain amount of time. If you would stop living in pirate LALA land you might understand this.

Traffic is the worst in the nation. Again. People drive around with bumper stickers demorilizing our president, all the while talking on their cell phones in their SUV's on the 405. Then the media has the gall to talk about being a green city. It's a joke. It's all one big unintelligent joke out here. The only real reason to live in this city is for the entertainment business. If you are in that particular field than it's a different story. However unlike most other metropolitan areas it only has that one leg to stand on. Think about it. Sports teams are a bust out here. Nobody shows up. Go watch an Angels game in September and take note of the stands. Then go across the coast and watch the Cubs. Guarentee there are more watching the Cubs than Angels even with the Angels in first place. This is the nations second largest market and they can't hold an NFL team. Why? Because it would be a big bust. Traffic is so disgusting that people don't want to leave home to deal with it. Again contributing to the selfishness and 'I don't care" attitude that permeates the town.

God. This is sums it perfectly. After 16 yrs here, I'll be on my way out in '08

[KnoxTown]

Originally Posted by michael james

Name is Michael and I live in Missouri, from SanDiego. Have lived there my whole life. I have been to St.Louis Missouri twice and you think compton is bad St.Louis is much worse. St. Louis ranks as number one most dangerous city in the united states. Go to infoplease.com and type in most dangerous cities and you will see. Iv'e seen some stuff happen in St. Louis that is very small in LA or Chicago combined.

Correction... East St. Louis!

[Hungry For Cheese]

Originally Posted by dzakrewski

God. This is sums it perfectly. After 16 yrs here, I'll be on my way out in '08

haha I agree with madmj

I will be out too, but after California pays for my BA in Economics in 3 years.