is L.A really that bad? (Los Angeles: appointed, income, living)

[graciously]

yeah most la is like almost made for young person or like a place for.

[msnorman67]

I LOVE L.A. Don't really understand the question.

[UB50]

I love LA too. I didn't at first, but I grew to love it.

Does it have problems? Sure it does, but I find the good things outweigh the bad.

[motoman]

The largest downsides to LA are the high cost of living and the traffic. If it weren't for those two things it would be difficult to complain about much.

You'll find on almost any thread related to someone moving to LA that cost of living and traffic are the two things people that live in LA stress. And the reason they stress these things is that most people moving here have no concept of 16+ hours per day traffic or $1,000 per month one-room apartments. And when you tell them they don't believe you. So you have to tell them over and over and over again. And they still don't believe you.

But again, other than those two things LA is a great place because it has so much to offer. Whatever it is you want to do you can find it here.

[motoman]

^^^ To add to my post above, LA is the first place I have ever been where I have been stuck in a traffic jam at 3 am. When I tell my friends and family things like this they really do look at me like I am lying.

The westbound 10 freeway really is stopped at 6 am. And I've seen it stopped, bumper to bumper, from downtown to Santa Monica (roughly 15 miles) going east in the evening as late as 9 pm.

Or driving around a Costco parking lot for 20 minutes looking for a place to park, after having just spent 10 minutes waiting to get into the parking lot.

Or it taking 20 minutes to drive 4 miles from my place in West LA to Beverly Hills, with NO traffic, an average of 12 mph.

Or it taking 2 hours to drive 40 miles from Irvine to West LA during rush hour, an average of 20 mph.

Or it taking 45 minutes to drive 15 miles to see my friend in North Hollywood, almost all freeway, on the weekend, an average of 20 mph.

Or it taking 4 hours for my coworker to get to work, 15 miles from his place, because they shut down a freeway due to an accident.

Or it taking my boss over an hour to get to work from him home in Pasadena (I'm not exactly sure where he lives) to north downtown LA, less than 15 miles.

Or driving to Solvang, 130 miles from my place, on a Friday afternoon and not getting out of traffic until about 115 miles outside of LA. It took about 3 hours I think, which is an average of about 45 mph for 3 hours, down a 65 mph freeway.

Or it taking up to 8 hours to drive from Las Vegas to LA on a Sunday because of the traffic coming into LA. It's 271 miles. That's as slow as 35 mph for 8 hours.

None of this is made up. And I'm sure many other people have plenty of other bad traffic stories. But again, most people think we're all lying. Hell, before I moved here I would have thought people were exaggerating as well. But no, it's all real.

It was the oddest thing too when I first moved here. I'd ask someone how far it was to some place and they would give me the time it takes to get there. I said no, how many miles? They didn't know. They just knew it took some amount of time to get there. I had never heard that before in my life. A friend of mine dated a girl that lived a mile from her work. It took her 20 minutes if she drove. I don't remember where she lived.

Housing is another issue and is the primary driver of the higher cost of living. But other things are more expensive as well. This is an entirely different thread, which has been talked about ad nauseum too.

[artistatheart]

I only skimmed the responses, but as far as I can tell, nobody mentioned the smog issue. My family and I just moved out of the greater LA area after two unhappy years. I was warned about the smog and general pollution in the area, but didn't really believe it could be that bad--it is. There are also the earthquakes, fires, mudslides, etc. As a single person, you might be willing to accept these things (I probably would have), but I wouldn't want to raise a family there.

[mkdude_08]

I agree with motoman about the whole traffic issue. For me, I enjoyed my years spent in L.A. although it is not a place I would choose to raise a family. If I made enough I'd consider Orange County, though.

[SurekRZA]

I Love L.A.

The positives outweigh the negatives for me. It all really depends on your economic situation and the type of person you are. Dont base your opinions of L.A. from this forum....you really need to come out here and experience it. Let me ask you: Do you like cities? Do you prefer mega global cities or mid size cities? Do you mind not being able to see the stars at night?
If you answered: yes, mega global city and no, then Im sure you would love L.A. too

oh and thanks to Charles, we can let this thread die.

Originally Posted by Charles

Search the forum. There are several threads almost identical to yours.

Is Southern CA really so bad?

LA is not bad! Advice for new people.

Is living in L.A. really that bad?

Is L.A. really that bad?

Is it really that bad???

Los Angeles...is it really that bad?

Is LA really that bad

[Lovehound]

Originally Posted by motoman

^^^ To add to my post above, LA is the first place I have ever been where I have been stuck in a traffic jam at 3 am. When I tell my friends and family things like this they really do look at me like I am lying....

None of this is made up. And I'm sure many other people have plenty of other bad traffic stories. But again, most people think we're all lying. Hell, before I moved here I would have thought people were exaggerating as well. But no, it's all real.

Everything that Motoman said in his post that I partially quoted above is true.

I hear that Los Angeles has some of the worst traffic in the country. I've driven in traffic in only a very few other cities so I can't tell you from personal experience, but this place is horrible. If LA isn't the worst traffic then it's surely near the top of the list.

Another example: The San Diego (405) freeway from the San Fernando Vally to LAX is heavy almost all the time, although worse in rush hours.

By the way, heavy commuting traffic starts at about 5 a.m. most places and lasts until 8 p.m. or later. There is no single "rush hour" anymore, due to so many people staggering their work hours to get out of the traffic. That works to some degree, but the more people that do it the worse it gets and the more hours the freeway is jammed.

Keep in mind that it's almost impossible for us to build more freeways, and we're running out of right of way to widen the existing freeways. Some stretches of the freeway are 5 lanes in each direction, and perhaps even 6 or more. I haven't driven every part of the freeway system recently so I'm not sure. Are you ready for 10 lanes in each direction. I wouldn't be surprised that happens some day. And by the way can you imagine being stuck in stop and go traffic on a 10 lane freeway?

Originally Posted by motoman

It was the oddest thing too when I first moved here. I'd ask someone how far it was to some place and they would give me the time it takes to get there. I said no, how many miles? They didn't know. They just knew it took some amount of time to get there. I had never heard that before in my life. A friend of mine dated a girl that lived a mile from her work. It took her 20 minutes if she drove. I don't remember where she lived.

That's just city people. I would be just as bad if I hadn't been going to the High Sierras and other camping places for all of my life. I'm also a licensed private pilot and that helps your geographic awareness a lot. You have to know exactly where the airport is or you're screwed. (VFR only. I don't have an IFR rating.)

Some people do not think geometrically. They relate to going to places in some kind of imprecise emotional terms. You get directions from them and they tell you "Drive to the Home Depot and turn left. Go a ways until you pass a big yellow house on your left and ... etc. etc. etc."

I tell them to just give me an address and I'll look it up on Google or get a freakin' map!

[LASam]

Originally Posted by donnalow83

I've been told by many that L.A isn't the right place for a fairly young person. Is it really that bad to where I wouldn't want to live there?

My fiance and I are fairly young and love it out here. I see plenty of other people our age enjoying themselves as well. I'm sure there's plenty of miserable people too... but they probably aren't out and about as much.