Honest ?

[brian_2]

I guess it comes down to how we define "middle-class."

[fastfilm]

Local DJ Steve Jones (formerly of the Sex Pistols) offered his wisdom on just that topic. Quoth he: "Middle class is when the kids have their own bedrooms, whether in an apartment or house. Poor is when they don't."

The anomaly that baffles most people unfamiliar with L.A. is that so much of the available single-family residential housing was built as post-WW2 bedroom communities, so it appears as if more of this city were indeed middle class. Scratch the surface of the majority of most areas outside of the affluent pockets, and you'll find a lot of desparate people.

[proteus]

Originally Posted by jlrobe

Although I dont agree with everything therealangelion has said, I do think that LA is not all that bad.

I will be relocating to south redondo beach, and I will be working just outside of manhattan beach. I have been to manhattan, redondo, hermosa, and venice beach and they all seem quite nice. I have also been to santa monica, westwood/wilshire/UCLA, north west LA, west hollywood, silver lake, and los feliz. None of those areas seem to be ultra rich (by san francisco bay area standards), and most of them have a significant amount of good neighborhoods.

Now East LA, gardena, hawthorne, carson, south LA, bellflower, half of echo park, some strecthes of fairfax, and stretches of downtown do seem to be like you described, but that is certainly not all of LA. Even in those areas, there are rare nice neighborhoods.

Now, pacific palisades, malibu, palos verdes, brentwood, bel-air, larchmont, and beverly hills are as you say very expensive and ultra wealthy.

Carson's "rare nice neighborhoods"... Carson has two ZIP codes. Half of the city is 90746 and that covers 5 distinct neighborhoods. Here is the crime rate for those 5 neighborhoods which make up half of the city of Carson
Livingchoices.com: Real Estate - New Homes, Homes for Sale, Apartment Rentals (http://www.livingchoices.com/community/communitydetails.aspx?mid=4480&zip=90746 - broken link)
If you plug in ZIP codes from Beverly Hills, Malibu, Long Beach, Pasadena, Westwood, etc - you'll find that 1/2 of Carson is safer than any ZIP code of these cities at a fraction of the price. My point is, safe neighborhoods in Carson make up half the city - hardly rare. The perception is tainted because many resent or can't digest nice, safe neighborhoods which are mostly black. This is why few would believe that Ladera Height's 90056 has a higher per capita income than the ZIP code that serves Rancho Palos Verdes. Truth trumps reality when crime happens.

[Sorcerer68]

On topic, if money were no object, I'd stay right here. Actually, I'd probably buy an enormous Craftstman in Pasadena. I've lived in other places and experienced lower housing prices, wide open spaces, clean air and less traffic. And you can have it. I also experienced much higher housing prices, groceries triple what they are here and higher gas. It was pretty there and I nearly died of boredom. I'm back in L.A. to stay, no more moving around. Most of my L.A. experience has been South Redondo, Torrance, Glendale and Pasadena. I now live in an area I considered icky 15 years ago but thanks to gentrification is now hip and hot. Coming back to L.A. was like an out of body experience.