Does anyone living in Los Angeles feel this way after many years of living here? (Pasadena: home, neighborhoods)

[bond1978]

I've lived in LA for 30 years and have a lot of memories of the place but I'll tell it to you like this: the problem here is that their aren't any places in the city to live and that makes the quality of life very difficult. The nice areas which are few and far between are very expensive and tha bad areas which are the majority are also actually expensive. The traffic does not get to me because that you can get used to and most of the people are low class. Anything east of Staples Center is not worth living in.

[jzt83]

Originally Posted by bond1978

I've lived in LA for 30 years and have a lot of memories of the place but I'll tell it to you like this: the problem here is that their aren't any places in the city to live and that makes the quality of life very difficult. The nice areas which are few and far between are very expensive and tha bad areas which are the majority are also actually expensive. The traffic does not get to me because that you can get used to and most of the people are low class. Anything east of Staples Center is not worth living in.

Not even Pasadena, Arcadia, South Pasadena, etc?

[Duluth07]

I've lived most of my life in Duluth, Minnesota (120,000) which is 165 miles north of Minneapolis (lived there too; much bigger city but again too much like Duluth). My background and passion is fitness, health and holisitc healing, so the 'fruits and nuts' California totally applies to me. And I'm gay. And the selection here SUCKS - nothing since 1996!

My aunt and uncle live in Cave Creek, AZ (right by Phoenix) and I see so many folks there with California license plates. It baffled me that so many people are leaving California for Arizona - why? Taxes? Crime? Housing affordability? I don't get it. So at the fitness center where I worked out at during the month of May that I was there in '07 I spoke to one of those Californians (she's about 55) who just arrived in Phoenix. Just divorced, did her stint as a corporate something-or-other, liked the fast pace and the stuff in Los Angeles but for her Phoenix provided some kind of comfort and quiet. I asked what the difference was, having never been to Los Angeles (but after seeing the picture of the Venice Beach Hotel & Suites, that block is totally up my alley - that lifestyle where a tiny room is like $2150 a month, then looking at the disaster that is Little Tokyo Lofts which is, what, right next to Skid Row?)...people come to Phoenix because they did all that dynamic stuff - they worked hard, they stuggled, they used their degree and used it well. They're not in Phoenix to come up with innovative ideas or change or new ways of doing things. That's what she missed about Los Angeles - you could always count on excitement because there's that kind of energy. That's what has me interested in Los Angeles. Everyone there has a story (at least in Phoenix hardly anyone I talked to was born there, not sure about Los Angeles). In Minneapolis it was the same way - you'll hardly ever find a real Minnesotan in Minneapolis (they're all from Philadelphia, Denver, Kansas City, Madison, etc., drive out about 50 miles and you see the 'real Minnesota')...

My only thing is, while (I'm 34) I'm trying to appreciate what I do have rather than what I don't (no partner or even knowing what falling in love would feel like, I do have a degree but am finding that's about the worth of a high school diploma now; I am really into fitness but so is half of LA; I have no car, and my needs are a place within walking distance of places I want to be, gay places, gay people, and just a place I can be myself.

When my aunt moved to San Francisco in 1969 that was possible - one could get off the bus, find a dinky apartment at the YWCA and find a job, and be happy with that. Now if your credit isn't perfect, if you don't have the first, last and deposit for the apartment (you'll need, what, about $10,000 just to get started?) you're screwed. It's like there is no way to get off the ground because how is someone just starting out going to have all those life lessons learned before they even get out and try life? That's what's changed and I think (in terms of California and definitely New York) we will not see the same energy coming there over the next 30 years because those young people won't be able to afford to even dream about living there.

[helloheather28]

yup i like it more now then before.

[AliveandWell]

When I think about it, the more time that passes by, LA feels like a special place to me. Maybe it is because I've been here for so long. The number of concerts that happen in LA is quite amazing and I think its great even though concerts are usually expensive these days.

I try my best to focus on the good that there is out there instead of the bad. I've come to know that a place is what you make of it. If you have the right attitude, you can make it work pretty much anywhere. I'm grateful to be living in a city/metro area that is so world class. This place isn't special without a reason. LA rules

[smilinpretty]

I lived in the Los Angeles area for 32 years. I miss it but I do not miss the traffic. I could not afford to move back.

I have fond memories of it. God Bless you, Los Angeles.

[JCisLord]

Just to piggyback on all of the good vibrations that the Beach Boys have spoken about, California in general, and the Pacific Ocean is incredible. I would even venture to say that it is Awesome. I come from Colorado where I have just discovered that California has a better quality of living. If you would only compare the amount of hours that a Coloradan can spend outdoors per day for 365 days in a row with the number of hours any Californian may spend outdoors, I believe that people who see how much time people get to be outdoors in California is a remarkable difference in amount of time. So, when you add things up at the end of your lifetime, Californians on the whole, will probably spend more time outside with beautiful weather compared with Coloradans, unless of course you consider wild drops in temperature a pleasant desire of your heart. By the way I have lived in Colorado for 42 years, and just visited California for the second time in my life--the first time was 33 years ago for less than a week. I ran to the ocean this week, looked at how blue the water was and immediately saw a great improvement on the green algae ridden waters on the east coast, then dipped my feet in. I found that the water temperature at Newport Beach to be about 10 more or less degrees warmer than New Jersey's water in the summer.
I also cannot match the beauty of the flowering plants in California compared with Colorado.

[JesusisLord]

Originally Posted by buckeyenative01

Newman's song is both an ode to and a criticism of everything LA.

I still think its funny to listen to 35,000 drunken Dodgers fans massacre the song after a victory, though

Yes but by the end of the game there's only 350 Dodgers fans. The parking lot is 97% empty.

[Lovetheoutdoors]

I lived in L.A. for many years (as a young kid to a young adult) and, somehow along the way, I got fed up with it. So I moved. Now I can't wait to return as the saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder" is very true. You don't know what you have until you don't have it anymore.

[AliveandWell]

Well, I just celebrated my 26th year of being in the LA metro. Obviously, 26 years of living in one place is a long time and I just always try to make the most of every situation. Yes LA has its flaws too just like any other place, but that's just the way it is. No place is perfect.

I was actually brought here by my parents so I did not move here by choice but I owe my survival to my ability to adapt and the ability to be flexible. If I was close minded, obviously I would not have been able to adapt and I would be one unhappy man. One man's junk is another man's treasure and for me LA is a treasure.