LA is arguably the dumpiest looking big city in the US (Los Angeles: homes, neighborhoods)

[Babe_Ruth]

In the early 2000s, the city started cleaning up Hollyweird.. lots of cool, new development & revitalization (ie- Hollywood & Highland). But it has returned to Hellish form. Garbage, and homeless people camped out all over the streets.
Obviously, Hollywood doesn't represent the whole city, but it's a tourist magnet and could be a showpiece for LA. City just doesn't have the will to keep Hollyweird clean and attractive right now..

[V8 Vega]

that's what you get with the liberal let the homeless do what ever they want. I'm on Portland OR right now, actually Beaverton 7 miles west and my nephews were talking about how filthy Portland has become. They call it a curse word city now. Homeless, trash encampment graffiti are everywhere. Another liberal city.

[TimTheEnchanter]

There is a rich irony of someone who lives in Irvine criticizing areas like Pasadena, Beverly Hills, Bel Air and presumably Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Holmby Hills, Brentwood, etc on aesthetics when it comes to homes.

[Keknoob]

Originally Posted by OptimusPrime69

I mean, It's pretty shocking how dumpy, dirty, run-down most places in LA look. Even the "nice" areas of LA.... have a certain "seen better days" vibe to them...places like Santa Monica, Bev Hills, Bel Air, etc... Granted, those areas are still "nice" but they look....... old...or past their prime.

Not trying to hate on LA at all. Naturally, it has some breath-taking views and nature trails/. Naturally, LA is quite pretty, but the city itself is actually a horrible place. Depressing, trashy, homeless everywhere. Rotted and depleted... I live in Irvine and when I got home yesterday was all the more thankful I don't live anywhere in LA county. Even Pasadena.... Diamond Bar, etc... just look tired. The roads, the parks, the buildings... run down. Venice is another awful area to visit. Used to be a cool/funky/kinda fun/hippy-esque type place....alternative lifestyle type of place. Now, it's a literal toilet.

Sad sad sad. I remember when I was younger 5 to 10 years ago, I though LA was the place to be.... Now, I am so thankful I don't live there. Infrastructure is not maintained. Trash everywhere. Literally driving in the freeways and they're all covered in trash. Homeless encampments everywhere. Oddball nut jobs roaming around like night of the living dead. Truly disgusting. Even the street signs and signs on the freeways are covered in soot and graffiti..... the roads are all super bumpy and worn out. Place just looks so tired and gross....very ugly

Again, sorry, I was just so shocked when I went up to LA yesterday. I was in Pasadena. Griffith/Hollywood are and downtown LA. Also, swung through santa Monica. All of it was underwhelming and has deteriorated so much from the days when I used to go and be enamored by it all. If I had out of town guests visiting me in orange county and I would take them everywhere EXCEPT LA. I would literally be embarrassed... the sheer degradation.... the squalor, the soul-sucking nature of the trash and homeless.. of the run-down nature of it. Like, everyone just gave up....

Cool story, bro.

[djmanu]

You should travel to the north east (NYC.NJ) if you think LA looks old ...

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by OptimusPrime69

I mean, It's pretty shocking how dumpy, dirty, run-down most places in LA look. Even the "nice" areas of LA.... have a certain "seen better days" vibe to them...places like Santa Monica, Bev Hills, Bel Air, etc... Granted, those areas are still "nice" but they look....... old...or past their prime.

Not trying to hate on LA at all. Naturally, it has some breath-taking views and nature trails/. Naturally, LA is quite pretty, but the city itself is actually a horrible place. Depressing, trashy, homeless everywhere. Rotted and depleted... I live in Irvine and when I got home yesterday was all the more thankful I don't live anywhere in LA county. Even Pasadena.... Diamond Bar, etc... just look tired. The roads, the parks, the buildings... run down. Venice is another awful area to visit. Used to be a cool/funky/kinda fun/hippy-esque type place....alternative lifestyle type of place. Now, it's a literal toilet.

Sad sad sad. I remember when I was younger 5 to 10 years ago, I though LA was the place to be.... Now, I am so thankful I don't live there. Infrastructure is not maintained. Trash everywhere. Literally driving in the freeways and they're all covered in trash. Homeless encampments everywhere. Oddball nut jobs roaming around like night of the living dead. Truly disgusting. Even the street signs and signs on the freeways are covered in soot and graffiti..... the roads are all super bumpy and worn out. Place just looks so tired and gross....very ugly

Again, sorry, I was just so shocked when I went up to LA yesterday. I was in Pasadena. Griffith/Hollywood are and downtown LA. Also, swung through santa Monica. All of it was underwhelming and has deteriorated so much from the days when I used to go and be enamored by it all. If I had out of town guests visiting me in orange county and I would take them everywhere EXCEPT LA. I would literally be embarrassed... the sheer degradation.... the squalor, the soul-sucking nature of the trash and homeless.. of the run-down nature of it. Like, everyone just gave up....

I live up in the Bay Area but have visited LA a lot so can compare the areas. When considering how "dumpy" something looks, its important to consider 1 - architecture/upkeep and 2 - natural surroundings.

1. Architecture/upkeep - I do agree that parts (not all) of LA look like they've seen better days. I have relatives in the SFV and when I've visited in the past few years, all of those strip malls looked extremely dated and somewhat run down. This isn't unique to the SFV either, as I've seen this a lot of this near the freeways (the 5 south of downtown LA through parts of OC as an example). If I were to compare to other cities, I'd say the sunbelt cities look a bit better in this regard, mainly because they look newer/fresher. Many of the rustbelt cities look worse, but different. Whereas they look like a post industrial apocalypse, LA seems to have more of a 50s/60s vibe that's seen better days. We have some of that here in parts of the Bay Area (San Jose has plenty of strip malls), but its just more extensive/widespread in LA due to sheer size. I would agree that parts of the upscale areas see a little bit of this as well. It just feels like old money in LA that's rested on its laurels vs here in the Bay Area where its more of a mix of new money/innovation. The one exception is downtown LA, which I think has done a nice job with newer architecture/improvement.

2. Natural Surroundings - If you're near the mountains (Pasadena, Beverly Hills) it just gives you a nice backdrop. We have a lot of that here in the Bay Area, where you'll see mountains almost wherever you go, which makes even bleak areas (e.g., parts of Oakland) look nicer in comparison. In LA, it seems that if you're away from the mountains or the immediate coast (which includes most of the LA basin, along with parts of the SFV, SGV and IE), it just seems flat and bleak. When the air is smoggy it makes it seem even worse. It basically looks like it could be in parts of Dallas or Houston, only with more dated architecture.

This isn't a post to knock LA. I really enjoy visiting it and will do so again after COVID is over. But, if I were to ever move there, I feel I'd have to be extremely selective about where I'd want to live.

[Ergo Para Bellum]

Originally Posted by TimTheEnchanter

There is a rich irony of someone who lives in Irvine criticizing areas like Pasadena, Beverly Hills, Bel Air and presumably Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Holmby Hills, Brentwood, etc on aesthetics when it comes to homes.

I am not sure I would put Pasadena in the same category as the other areas listed. It seems to me that Pasadena has some issues that those other areas do not.

[ATLForr]

If we disregard the homeless and Skid Row, LA isn’t that bad. Have you been to Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Baltimore? LA is heaven compared to most areas in those cities, even with all the homelessness.

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by djmanu

You should travel to the north east (NYC.NJ) if you think LA looks old ...

And Boston and Philly look even older.....

[Keknoob]

Originally Posted by Ergo Para Bellum

I am not sure I would put Pasadena in the same category as the other areas listed. It seems to me that Pasadena has some issues that those other areas do not.

The topic is aesthetics when it comes to houses. If anything Pasadena actually blows those areas out of the water when it comes to architecturally significant housing stock. Pasadena was literally developed as a winter retreat for wealthy industrial magnates.

Green and green were based out of pasadena, along with wallace neff, batchelder, myron hunt, and marston.