Los Angeles Pics, pt. 2 (spiders, around, walking)

[gypsystar]

Westwood Memorial Cemetery


Downtown



Farmers Market


Hollywood









Malibu

[LizzyNola]

These photographs are excellent!

Looking at them bring s back memories of street/locations I have not seen for awhile, and I live here! LOL!

Thanks sooooooooooooo much for the BEAUTY SHOTS~ You need to seel some of these!

Good luck~

[LizzyNola]

This shot is just too beautiful~

[IT_TieuTu]

very nice picture. Thanks a lot


http://www.gallery1409.com/

[Hollywood Inquirer]

Bravo! Encore.

[ZenMaster2008]

SGV

[Perkins Well]

Because there's more to Venice than the boardwalk.

[Gabe3]

nice pics Perkins Well

[Summerz]

Nice indeed, thanks.

[BornIntoThis]

Most of these pic collections are grotesquely misleading. I'm an LA native and someone who has done an unfashionably copious amount of "walking in LA". I can assure you that the "walking tours" posted here create a false impression of what it's really like to walk through these areas. Context is crucial. Nowhere is that more true than in LA.

Sure, some of the places, houses, streets featured in the pics are nice. But what you don't see is the "neighborhood" two blocks away that looks like a movie set for an uber-graphic war scene in a brutally impoverished developing nation (except far less romantic).

There are hints of the truth in the photos though. Take note of the Porsches in the driveways of decent, but otherwise unremarkable homes. That's because if you can afford a decent home here, you can probably afford a European sports car, too. For a decent home in a decent neighborhood, expect to pay around a million, give or take a hundred thousand or two (most likely give).

And keep in mind that "decent neighborhood" means something different here than it does in many other places. Notice any children riding their bikes or playing in any of those pics? Here's an eye-opening exercise: come to LA and get a list of the best neighborhoods. Drive through them all and count the number of children you see playing outside. I doubt you'll get past zero. Oh, and speaking of third-world conditions, stop by some of the local public schools while you're at it.

I was born here, went to college here (UCLA), played in bands on the Sunset Strip (The Roxy, The Whiskey, The Viper Room, The House of Blues, The Key Club), lived in the hip part of Melrose during its heyday, worked as a bartender at a trendy restaurant on the beach in Venice, etc., etc. As a young, single person, I had a blast doing many of these things. If that's the type of experience you're looking for, then LA might not be such a horrible idea.

But if you're married with children (or even settled down with a serious gf and looking at marriage/kids in the next few years) moving to LA would probably be an extremely bad idea. On the other hand, if you have a couple million dollars or so, replace "extremely bad idea" with "very bad idea".

(By the way, if you're an unestablished male, planning on getting even slightly involved with The Industry and thinking about bringing a girlfriend, don't. Just...don't. I've met many a bro' who has brought along the GF from Podunk, USA to LA. All met with tragic ends. Unless your girl is butt-ugly and hundreds (yes, hundreds) of pounds overweight, expect there to be many, many more "opportunities" for her than there are for you. If "young and attractive" even loosely describes her, chances are she'll be gone in a year. "Not my girl!" you exclaim. Well, I guess if your girl was working as a supermodel in New York City when she met you, then fine. Otherwise, yes dude, your girl.)

In any case, the last thing you want to do is to form an opinion of LA based on pictures, or any other type of media for that matter. This is an area in which we cannot be trusted. Lest you forget, we are, above all else, a company town. We're "good" at what we do, and what we do is facade. Believe the hype: in LA, image really is everything.