Seems folks who downplay the Los Angeles as a big suburb seem to only ever experience the Valley or the West side (London: credit, construction)

[Tim Randal Walker]

Review of comments regarding LA.

[Tim Randal Walker]

Perhaps LA is evolving its own distinctive version of urbanism?

LA as its own beast?

[Encino.Man]

I think that's because in common lore LA means Los Angeles county which is mostly suburban. The actually city of LA besides the valley is no less city like than Queens, NY. Mostly little single homes packed tightly, with some multi family homes and buildings thrown in. Also for a long time the suburban-ness of parts of LA were a strong point. In NYC if you want a 4 bedroom ranch on a family block you have to move to NJ but in LA you can stay in the city all you have to do is go over the hill to the Valley.

[Mr. Zero]

Originally Posted by Encino.Man

I think that's because in common lore LA means Los Angeles county which is mostly suburban. The actually city of LA besides the valley is no less city like than Queens, NY. Mostly little single homes packed tightly, with some multi family homes and buildings thrown in. Also for a long time the suburban-ness of parts of LA were a strong point. In NYC if you want a 4 bedroom ranch on a family block you have to move to NJ but in LA you can stay in the city all you have to do is go over the hill to the Valley.

I grew up in Queens, and it's a lot more urban than you might think. There are several NYCHA projects in the borough, and big apartment complexes in many neighborhoods. I grew up one block from an elevated subway line, with mixed use buildings (commercial on the first floor and apartments on the higher floors) lining the streets. The population density of Queens is more than twice the population density of the City of LA.

[Encino.Man]

Originally Posted by Mr. Zero

I grew up in Queens, and it's a lot more urban than you might think. There are several NYCHA projects in the borough, and big apartment complexes in many neighborhoods. I grew up one block from an elevated subway line, with mixed use buildings (commercial on the first floor and apartments on the higher floors) lining the streets. The population density of Queens is more than twice the population density of the City of LA.

I lived in the NY area for almost 2 years and I spent 9 months of that time living in Glendale Queens. Yes there is a lot of projects and buildings especially in Western Queens like LIC or Astoria, but most of Queens was laid out as the first "suburbs" of NY for people fleeing the tenement areas in Manhatan and parts of Brooklyn. Look at Maspeth, Glendale, Middle Village, Howard Beach, Woodhaven, Forest Hills, Rego Park, Bayside, Little Neck etc. it's mostly low rise single and two family attached or detached homes or small buildings..there are some big tower blocks thrown in but those are the minority. The only areas of Queens that are really city like like Brooklyn would be the western parts along the river, plus Jackson Heights and the area around Main St in Flushing.


Source: I lived in the area and I am in NY for work about thrice per year.

[Mr. Zero]

Originally Posted by Encino.Man

I lived in the NY area for almost 2 years and I spent 9 months of that time living in Glendale Queens. Yes there is a lot of projects and buildings especially in Western Queens like LIC or Astoria, but most of Queens was laid out as the first "suburbs" of NY for people fleeing the tenement areas in Manhatan and parts of Brooklyn. Look at Maspeth, Glendale, Middle Village, Howard Beach, Woodhaven, Forest Hills, Rego Park, Bayside, Little Neck etc. it's mostly low rise single and two family attached or detached homes or small buildings..there are some big tower blocks thrown in but those are the minority. The only areas of Queens that are really city like like Brooklyn would be the western parts along the river, plus Jackson Heights and the area around Main St in Flushing.


Source: I lived in the area and I am in NY for work about thrice per year.

First of all, I'm not trying to compare Queens to Brooklyn, I was only addressing the statement that most of LA is at least as urban as Queens.

Secondly, in describing Queens, as urban or suburban, you can't just leave out all of the higher density areas like the ones you listed (LIC, Jackson Heights and a Flushing) and then cherry pick some other neighborhoods that seemingly fit your description. You also left out a huge number of super-dense neighborhoods, like most of the neighborhoods along the 7 train.

Thirdly, several of the areas that you mentioned still have lots of mixed-use real estate and very high population density. Glendale is one of the least dense neighborhoods in Queens, and still has a population density of over 16k people/square mile, which is on par with Echo Park. Forest Hills has a population density of about 35k people per square mile. There are only two areas in the county of LA that are more dense than "suburban" Forest Hills: Koreatown and Westlake.

Finally, about 251k of the borough's housing units are in single family residential structures in Queens. However, over 560k of the borough's housing units are located in multi-family buildings (about 250k units are located in buildings of 20 or more units). There are a lot of single family homes, but it's not overwhelmingly so, and MOST of the residents of Queens live in multi-family buildings.

Sources:
http://www.city-data.com/neighborhoo...gewood-NY.html
http://www.city-data.com/neighborhoo...-Hills-NY.html
Population Density Ranking - Mapping L.A. - Los Angeles Times
http://www.city-data.com/county/Queens_County-NY.html
30+ years of living in Queens

[nmnita]

Everyone takes the statement about Los Angeles differently. I am not sure I would take the suburban statement as a negative, but I do think it is true. When people talk about a large city, like Los Angeles, they are talking metro area, not just the city limits. I was born and raised in L.A. and yes, I have been there in the past 5 years, so my opinion isn't based only on years gone by: it is one big sprawing area. Of course there are regions of the city like Korean town, China town, east Los Angeles, etc, there always have been, but still all in all it is very different from most huge cities, especially those on the east coast like NYC. This isn't bad or good,it is just the way it is.

[Tim Randal Walker]

I have come across different descriptions in different threads: LA is 1. "mildly urban" 2. "urbanized but not very urban" 3. "urban/suburban". Would it be a good description to call LA a hybrid?

[nslander]

Originally Posted by munchitup

Oh my God is this real?!?!?!?!?!?

It must be, it has links in the text.

The belief is very real:

TX Gov Orders State Guard to Monitor Possible Military Takeover of Texas

Majority of likely GOP primary voters could believe Operation Jade Helm 15 is probably a federal invasion of Texas - Salon.com

The United States of America. In 2015.

[RaymondChandlerLives]

Originally Posted by Mr. Zero

I grew up in Queens, and it's a lot more urban than you might think. There are several NYCHA projects in the borough, and big apartment complexes in many neighborhoods. I grew up one block from an elevated subway line, with mixed use buildings (commercial on the first floor and apartments on the higher floors) lining the streets. The population density of Queens is more than twice the population density of the City of LA.

Los Angeles is 4x larger though, LA's core 110 sq miles is about 30% less dense than Queens.