Is Los Angeles a dump??? (San Diego, San Francisco: appointed, apartments, rental)

[the one]

spent a night out in downtown and for the first time i have a blister on my ankle!!! shoulda wore socks!!! dam heat. so i started over by 3rd and main. ended up at the libraby bar over on 6th and hope. then went to a diner a mere 5 minutes away(drive) in the echo area. some parts inbetween looked bad, some looked good, others jus looked like LA. but i never feared for my life. ended up at home round 4, and it goes with out sayin that i made it out alive!!!!

some posters here have multiple personalites, others scheme ways and start threads in order to bash LA, but take it from me, a person who runs the streets of LA a lot...

LA has something for everyone. all incomes, all colors, all languages, all sexes. i know the dump and pits parts of town and the only place i probalbly wouldnt live is the valley or off of alvarado. my standards are different, but having been born and raised here i see LA for what it is. good, bad and otherwise.

once i cease to enjoy LA i will move. in the meantime i love it and cant complain. of course my perspective is dif from maybe some one in their 60's or someone accustomed to lily white LA (does that even exist anymore?)

LA has something for everyone. dont beleive the MPP (multiple personality posters)

[califantastic]

Originally Posted by sethihomes

It is the most beautiful place on earth.

Apparently you haven't seen much of the earth.

[Daniel_T]

I've never been to L.A. but a lot of friends who are from or near LA tell me it's not a nice place. I want to check it out but they tell me it's not worth it. Thought I would put me 2 cents in.

[430F1]

Honestly, most Los Angeles is pretty "dumpy" and downright ugly but it does have it's nice parts. Generally, have to leave Los Angeles and go up the coast or in the hills of LA to find the nice parts.

Whenever I invited my family from Europe they were always very underwhelmed and expected it to be like what they see on TV.

The lack of decent architecture is one of the things that contributes to the ugliness of LA. You want pretty? Then move to San Francisco or perhaps San Diego.

[CESpeed]

Originally Posted by 430F1

The lack of decent architecture is one of the things that contributes to the ugliness of LA. You want pretty? Then move to San Francisco or perhaps San Diego.

Wrong, Wrong and more wrong. And a pox on you for making me defend downtown LA. If when in DLA you look up, the only decent thing about it is the architecture. It's hard to find because the really nice architecture because it's in the older parts of L.A and thanks to greedy developers, there are fewer areas with the old architecture. West Adams, Elysian Park, Hancock Park are the areas with the nicest architecture in LA proper. Obviously if one goes to Hollywood Hills, Muholland, Beverly Hills and Bel Air those areas have wonderfuly architecture as well. Unfortunately, the historical society has been unable to have old Hollywood but they were able to save a few structures along Wilshire. If you are coming to L.A. to see specific things it's always better to arrange a tour because that kind of stuff is not obvious or easy to find, we natives keep those things for our enjoyment.

[BreaOC]

Los Angeles as a whole has nearly 17.5 million people. Some of it is nice, some of it is not. Movies show more of the good and bad parts of LA than most cities in the US. Usually you'll see a major city in a movie and it's made out to be this perfect place with no worries. But Los Angeles hardly tries to hide that it has bad areas. Examples- TV Shows: Cops, Gangland; Movies: Crash, Boyz 'N the Hood, South Central, and the recently released Street Kings. To name a few.
Show me a major metropolitan anywhere in the world with 10+ million people that does not have run down areas? To me the great areas of LA make living here worth it. NYC, Paris, London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai... these cities have numerous run down areas, what would make you think LA doesn't? Los Angeles is also a baby compared to all those other cities (which is how so many posters on here can compare LA to how it "used" to be). Being that most of the architecture here is post 1950's, yes the architecture here is rather boring. But a lot of the new 150+ projects in and around downtown are changing that. LA still has a lot of growing up to do, and decade to decade it is a completely different city.
And once again, I agree entirely with CESpeed, great, and very true, post!

[Lovehound]

Originally Posted by WSH11

Honestly, it is not even remotely close to being "the most beautiful place on earth", but I still love LA and will probably be here for a very long time.

I love LA!!

Yeah that was silly for sethihomes to say that LA is the most beautiful place on Earth. Yosemite Valley is beautiful. Monument Valley is beautiful. The Grand Canyon is beautiful.

Los Angeles is just a city, as ugly as many cities are, but with some nice benefits. I don't even love Los Angeles but living here has its benefits, and they are primarily (for me) access to good employment and good shopping.

It's not bad living here, and in fact it's good, but by no means is it beautiful. That word is just so wrong.

[mainer1]

During a recent trip to LA I found there were many things which I could understand people could appreciate it for- but overall, I felt as though it was way too crowded and overpriced. The Strand that runs down by Hermosa beach was nice, and I liked running there one day, but my friends had to rent a 1.5 million dollar house to get within three blocks of the water. The views were not so stellar- actually there were refineries in the distance, oil tankers off shore, (which by the way leave "tarballs" on the beach, and housing developments galore. I'm not slamming LA, I just could not understand why anyone would want to drive in that kind of congestion...smog, noise, etc.
California did not seem so "laid back," either. There is much talk about money, lifestyle, competitiveness, which is fine but to me it seemed a better place to vacation and then leave...not a place to call home. I would never want to work hard enough to afford a place in the tiniest "slivers" of land that are the periphery of the basin, somewhat isolated from the smog, worst of the congestion, and associated problems of living in Megapolis.

[Lovehound]

I had a friend who rented a small 2 bedroom duplex only a half block from PCH and a few houses up the first alley, right up the street from Hermosa Pier. I'm sure he had a reasonable price although I don't know what the rent was, but my friend didn't have great means, no better than my own (modest).

Hermosa Beach is party city. Catch the rays and volleyball and waves during the daytime, catch the bars and clubs at night. I doubt many of the residents care about the refineries (can't see them from there but you know they're in Manhattan Beach) and don't care about the tankers off shore. Tankers? I'm looking at those cute babes walking the Strand!

I'm not a party person but I know those party people in Hermosa and Redondo, and they just love it!!! Why would anybody pay that much to live there if not for the party atmosphere?

[mainer1]

yup, pretty babes abound, good weather, etc.,, but people are after money out there...seemed superficial maybe. people talked ad nauseum about money and how great the lifestyle is, and it is good perhaps- but not that good. there are good points to LA for single people, however. but you better drive a Porsche to land one of the status quo "aspiring actresses."