How come more people don't think LA is Overrated? (London: apartments, rent)

[theraven24]

Originally Posted by nslander

Because they have found happiness here. It's not their fault if you could not. Simple, really.

Yep.

[jessemh431]

Basically people only live here for the weather. If you can handle winter weather, there are much better places for you outside of California.

Californians Seriously Only Live Here For the Weather, Beaches - Goin' Out West - Curbed LA

Unless you entirely hate winter, I don't see the allure tbh. Nobody goes hiking or surfing every single day. The COL is extremely high. Job prospects in SoCal are not good. Unemployment is still high here. Traffic is horrendous.

For me, LA is not some heaven on earth like it is for others. I prefer a city where everything can be done by public transit or walking. The beach here is too cold--the water and the air. The Pacific rarely gets above 70-72 and the air temperature often is not over 75 at the beach. And unless you live walking/biking distance to the beach there's horrible traffic getting to it and you have to pay extremely high amounts of money to park anywhere. The city requires a car for most tasks.

Don't get me wrong. I love this place. I'm a native. It's my home. But I do think it's overrated I guess since I don't utilize the beaches and hiking and winter weather doesn't bother me. I'd rather live somewhere that has winter, but it is much more urban, job prospects are better, and COL is lower. Right now I have my eyes set on Chicago.

[Drake744]

Originally Posted by jessemh431

Basically people only live here for the weather. If you can handle winter weather, there are much better places for you outside of California.

Californians Seriously Only Live Here For the Weather, Beaches - Goin' Out West - Curbed LA

Unless you entirely hate winter, I don't see the allure tbh. Nobody goes hiking or surfing every single day. The COL is extremely high. Job prospects in SoCal are not good. Unemployment is still high here. Traffic is horrendous.

For me, LA is not some heaven on earth like it is for others. I prefer a city where everything can be done by public transit or walking. The beach here is too cold--the water and the air. The Pacific rarely gets above 70-72 and the air temperature often is not over 75 at the beach. And unless you live walking/biking distance to the beach there's horrible traffic getting to it and you have to pay extremely high amounts of money to park anywhere. The city requires a car for most tasks.

Don't get me wrong. I love this place. I'm a native. It's my home. But I do think it's overrated I guess since I don't utilize the beaches and hiking and winter weather doesn't bother me. I'd rather live somewhere that has winter, but it is much more urban, job prospects are better, and COL is lower. Right now I have my eyes set on Chicago.

To a native Angeleno, Chicago won't simply be "winter weather". Their summers are bad and their winters are awwwwful. Good luck with that. Cherish that last sunny warm day of the year somewhere around mid-September, because it'll be the last one for 6 months, where you'll be sweating and eaten alive by mosquitoes for at least half of the other 6.

[Bunjee]

Originally Posted by harrishawke

When I lived in LA, about 50% of all my friends left within a few years. I and they were financially successful. Even the ones that had lucrative hollywood careers left because they can fly in anytime they needed to be on site. Speaking of on-site, lots of Hollywood operations aren't even filmed in LA anymore. The backlots are still used, but many of the other operations are far from LA. I even bought some income properties that I may just ditch because most tenants couldn't qualify and I'm not getting the rents I thought I would. I agree there were some nice spots, but pretty much a couple miles in any direction there were pockets of ghetto again.

Hollywood Hollywood Hollywood Hollywood Hollywood.

[jessemh431]

Originally Posted by Drake744

To a native Angeleno, Chicago won't simply be "winter weather". Their summers are bad and their winters are awwwwful. Good luck with that. Cherish that last sunny warm day of the year somewhere around mid-September, because it'll be the last one for 6 months, where you'll be sweating and eaten alive by mosquitoes for at least half of the other 6.

Haha yes I know! I'm in law school in Louisville. Winter wasn't as bad as Chicago, but a windchill of -20 is still pretty cold. Chicago doesn't get much worse than that. And if it does, nobody really goes out anyways. I can put up with summer weather for a little while for the rest of the year. Only a few days get truly disgustingly hot and humid there. The rest of the summer is normal. Biggest bonus is it's lakefront!

[jmac1]

Chicago wouldn't be a bad place to live, I have thought about it. I was born there and I have visited many of times since, but it is so cold. The lake front in the summer can't be beat by any city. Totally populated and much better than any LA beach. Summers in Chicago are fantastic!!

[John_marts]

If anything it's underrated. I swear everyone I talk to on the east coast is either neutral or negative about LA. Never positive. Never. I completely love LA and the east coasters that hate it are just basing it off ignorance or can't see past some homeless people.

[jessemh431]

Honestly the winter doesn't bother me. This winter was record breaking cold of -20 in Louisville. Everyone was wearing like 4 layers and scarves and winter coats and long underwear. Maybe 2-3 days I wore long underwear. Most days I had on just a t shirt under my winter coat. It really wasn't as bad as I expected. I can definitely put up with the Chicago cold because the city is simply amazing. I would only do it for Chicago though. I wouldn't put up with that weather for a city like Detroit or Fargo or something like that though.

The lakefront is awesome in Chicago. In LA, the traffic makes it impossible to get to, but it's easy to take public transit to almost all the beaches in Chicago. The water is either the same temperature or even warmer than the Pacific in LA. It's more relaxing than fighting the large waves of the Pacific. And in NYC, I'm not sure if any beach is really that accessible besides Coney Island, and I'm sure almost every sane person in the country would agree that LA and Chicago have better beaches than that.

For me, LA is overrated. If it had Chicago or NYC's weather, I don't think anyone would live here.

[harrishawke]

I guess looking back, it was a fantastic place to goto college at and get a job, but it didn't take long after that all the negatives were just too much to deal with. Plus I think it's healthy to move around and experience new things every so often. While the weather is some of the best on Earth, it started to be less of a big deal, since I didn't goto the beach as much as I used to and work indoors most of the time.

[jessemh431]

Originally Posted by harrishawke

I guess looking back, it was a fantastic place to goto college at and get a job, but it didn't take long after that all the negatives were just too much to deal with. Plus I think it's healthy to move around and experience new things every so often. While the weather is some of the best on Earth, it started to be less of a big deal, since I didn't goto the beach as much as I used to and work indoors most of the time.

Exactly. With a desk job in an office building, the city itself is more important to me. A lot of people in LA have non-traditional jobs that allow them to be outside during the middle of the day, go hiking at random times, sunbathe at the pool in the middle of the day in winter, etc. A lot of the entertainment industry is like that. Writers, producers, actors, models, photographers, etc. The gigs usually aren't permanent and structured M-F/9-5 like a lot of jobs in other cities. Many allow you to work from home too.

But I know I'm going into a field that requires a lot of hours in an office building. I'd rather sit on a subway/metro and not have to fight traffic all the time. I'd rather have more options of a city around me. Cities like NYC, Chicago, DC, and a few other urban/dense cities allow you to experience a lot of things in a short amount of time in a small geographic area. The restaurants are open later and the clubs close later so I can squeeze in my nap before I go out on Friday. I can't do that in LA as easily

But if I had a non-traditional/non-office/non 9-5 or 6 job, LA might be different. I might be able to squeeze in those regular hikes and sunbathing days. But when I sit inside an office building all day, I'd rather have more city amenities around me. Also, even on the warm days in LA, nights cool off a lot. You don't get to experience the year round warm weather when you're stuck in an office all day. In places like Chicago, DC, NYC (Louisville too but don't plan on living there) summer nights stay warm enough to experience the warm summer days.