Anyone else think LA is going down the toilet? (Los Angeles: neighborhood, private school)

[Ms.Phitt]

Originally Posted by TheRealAngelion

The posts here are quite amusing. I wonder how many of the folks who are responding to these threads on LA actually live there.

Yes, I actually live there. Not L.A. county. Not L.A. metropolitan area. Los Angeles, the city. And it's a dirty, trashy dumping ground for all society's scumbags, low-lifes, and sadly, the destitute poor.

Originally Posted by TheRealAngelion

It has everthing under the sun to see and do.

Yes, *if* you have the money to go see and do them.

Originally Posted by TheRealAngelion

There's a lot of interesting neighborhoods and areas in and around the city limits and I like the diversity of people you find there from all over the country and world.

No one is arguing this. If I had to name one thing I actually will miss after I move, this would be it. To the previous poster who asked if there really is such a thing as an Ethiopian restaurant, I'm pleased to report that yes, they actually do exist here... Ethiopian, and dozens of others you never thought of. I'm one of those people who really loves to learn about other cultures, so in this respect I agree that L.A. is fantastic.

The trouble is, there comes a point when the negatives become so intense that they overcome even the greatest of positives. That, my friend, is what people like me here are talking about. Having fantastic diversity takes a back seat to the fact that I cannot so much as take a walk down my own street in broad daylight because it is infested with gang members... and to the fact that I have had them surround my car threatening me with baseball bats... and to the fact that they are constantly coming onto the property to hide from police, exchange stolen credit cards, and the like... and to the fact that we hear gunshots several times a week and wonder if we'll be next... and most of all, to the fact that believe it or not, this is just the middle-class neighborhoods... we're not even talking about the slums or ghettos yet.

What good are great diversity, great food and great entertainment when you have to live your life in constant fear of getting shot, mugged, or raped anytime you leave your home to enjoy it??

How about the nasty attitudes most people have here, with all their pushing and shoving and refusing to let you merge your car in and cutting you off and cussing you out?

If you feel you can live with this insanity, knock yourself out. Come on down! I'll send you a beautiful postcard from my new home so you can see what you're missing.

[TheRealAngelion]

Ms. Phitt, I'm sorry you live in a lousy area of LA. I suggest you move to a safer neighborhood. I am from LA and lived in different parts of the city at different times in my life. There are bad parts (sounds like you live in one), but there are also many good parts. Before I moved to San Diego, I lived in Park La Brea in the Fairfax District near The Grove and Farmers Market and absotutely loved my neighborhood.

[Ms.Phitt]

Originally Posted by TheRealAngelion

Ms. Phitt, I'm sorry you live in a lousy area of LA. I suggest you move to a safer neighborhood.

Thanks, I will. And it will be located outside of California.

Originally Posted by TheRealAngelion

There are bad parts (sounds like you live in one), but there are also many good parts.

No, as I said before, I live in a middle class area where people of average income tend to live. This is not a slum or low-income area. The bad parts are far worse than here!

Seriously, I challenge you to name one non-lousy part of L.A. that does not require you to be financially elite in order to live there. Support your example(s) with an estimate of rent/housing there.

I also challenge you to name one intersection in Los Angeles where you would be comfortable with your mother, sister, or wife waiting there after dark for an hour for you to come and pick her up.

And most people here are nasty. If you're brave enough to walk down the street, and some other brave soul comes from the other direction, and you say "Hello" or "Good morning," they either completely ignore you or look at you like you're some kind of disease-ridden insect. People here would happily shove you out of their way or force your car onto the shoulder rather than show any common courtesy. It sucks. I've been to different areas around this country, Canada, and Mexico, and the only place I've seen that's anywhere near as nasty as Los Angeles is Chicago.

[NYSD1995]

After reading this thread this is the big impression I get:

these aren't city people.

LA is a big city, just because it looks and feels so suburban doesn't mean it's not a big city.

You guys need to toughen up or move. Crime and grime will always spread to the point where a neighborhood stands up against it. Southern Californians love to complain but rarely get proactive.

LA is an awesome place. A dynamic world-class city. It has everything, the good and the bad.

If I wasn't already established in San Diego, I'd be living there right now.

[dreamofmonterey]

Originally Posted by marilyn220

I'll be honest, if I was rich, yes I would stay here, because I would NEVER have to mingle with the lower classes (except the help) if I didn't want to. But then I'd be a jaded/botoxed/anorexia looking ***** that wouldn't care about anything except fashion and impressing the upper class version of the Joneses.

See? That's the problem with L.A., you can literally "wall" yourself off from those around you and stay in your little world (even in the poor neighborhoods). You can't do that in most major cities. Thank goodness.

Sounds alot like S. Florida- what was great 20 years ago has been destroyed, paved over or botoxed- lol.

[hedgefundpirate]

What is funny to me is that you now live in San Diego.If L.A. is so great why did you move.I have heard many people tell me how wonderful L.A. must be but they ever are starry eyed and have not moved here or they moved somewhere else.I also find it amusing that people think people in L.A. are so smart and cultured.Honestly I think that West L.A. and Hollywood contain one of the lowest concentrations of IQ in the Western Hemisphere.

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by hedgefundpirate

What is funny to me is that you now live in San Diego.

I have always lived in San Diego since I moved to CA. I go to LA all the time.

[TheRealAngelion]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

After reading this thread this is the big impression I get:

these aren't city people.

Right on. Not only are the biggest whiners on here not city people, they are also very provincial and clueless because they have traveled very little or not at all to other major U.S. and foreign cities with populations of $1 million plus people. If they had that frame of reference, they'd see why LA in comparison to other mega cities is a great deal. They don't accept that LA is now a mega city that is now more urban than suburban in sensibility. They want LA to be the sprawling white suburb it was in the 40s and 50s, like Simi Valley and South Orange County are today.

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by TheRealAngelion

They don't accept that LA is now a mega city that is now more urban than suburban in sensibility. They want LA to be the sprawling white suburb it was in the 40s and 50s, like Simi Valley and South Orange County are today.

That's pretty much what I'm seeing too. Hey - Arthur Ave in the Bronx used to be all Italians... now it's 75% Dominicans. Little Italy in Manhattan is being taken over by Chinatown, Hipsters are moving into Wiliamsburg (a Hasidic neighborhood) and Bed-Stuy is seeing whites displace Blacks! Why should LA is immune to this type of change?

Times change, places change. You adapt or you leave.

[newportbeachsmostwanted]

Originally Posted by TheRealAngelion

Right on. Not only are the biggest whiners on here not city people, they are also very provincial and clueless because they have traveled very little or not at all to other major U.S. and foreign cities with populations of $1 million plus people. If they had that frame of reference, they'd see why LA in comparison to other mega cities is a great deal. They don't accept that LA is now a mega city that is now more urban than suburban in sensibility. They want LA to be the sprawling white suburb it was in the 40s and 50s, like Simi Valley and South Orange County are today.

Here's where you are wrong. You have justified the LA's problems due to size. Don't get me wrong LA is a mega-city. -A mega city where the daily issues are being ignored..

The benefits of living here are being downgraded everyday. The population density is almost half of San Francisco's.

Originally Posted by TheRealAngelion

They don't accept that LA is now a mega city that is now more urban than suburban in sensibility. They want LA to be the sprawling white suburb it was in the 40s and 50s, like Simi Valley and South Orange County are today.

If LA matched the quality of life in suburbia, coupled with it's current vibrancy and culture-I doubt we'd all be complaining. -I mean -hey, a middle class?! No traffic, safe, clean, yet still soo many cultural oppurtunities. No, LA doesn't need to be a white suburb, but it can strive to do the same things that these suburban areas are doing right.