L.A. Love - my take on Los Angeles (San Diego: rental car, middle-class)

[destroycreate]

"Los Angeles sucks," - A declaration I've heard my entire life.

Being from San Diego, LA's southern, quieter, and tamer cousin two hours south, everybody automatically had to despise LA. It was like the ugly step-sister nobody wanted to invite to their birthday party, the armpit of the nerd in class who never bothered to deoderize. Always suffocating in traffic and smog, the city was a force to be avoided. San Diego to us on the other hand, was seen as an Apple Pie American image of middle-class perfection. Lots of republicans, safe streets, sterile tract housing developments, big yards, the beach of course, and family values. Secretly though...we may all have been jealous of the excitement the northern queen offered that our city didn't.

In fact, growing up LA held such an undeserved and negative image in my head that when my family and I did visit (which was seldom), I felt as though we were entering a vortex...another country or state. The pace of life seemed more hectic and the people more plastic. I was afraid to breathe the air, be murdered by OJ Simpson, be molested by a Hollywood male streetwalker. The sky always seemed to have that afternoon look--never fully bright-happy-day, but more so somber-sunny-afternoon...a constant smokey-orange sun. Tattered stocky palm trees lined the highways, industrial wastelands pumping black smoke into the sky thrived in their destruction while being intermixed between mile-long roads of car dealerships. Where was the supposed glamour?

But today I find it a different story. As I grow older, with each visit to the city - the more I fall in love with the place. I'm not saying I'd ever live there - that'd be a breach of contract as a San Diego native - but I must admit, there's something seductive about the City of Angels. There's a feeling in the air of "yes, I damn well am the most filmed city in the world" and that **** really matters there. LA is an important financial and entertainement cosmopolatain capital of the world, ready to challenge any world class city.

Whether it's the glorious seediness of Hollywood Boulevard, the numerous overlooked ethnic neighborhoods the city has to offer, or the kitschy street murals and boutiques in Los Feliz or on Melrose, LA is a fascinating place. Nowhere in the world is there a city of its size that defies all convential images of a metropolis...you can drive for hours throughout the different sections of the city and see maybe no more than 20 pedestrians on the street. Tokyo, New York City and Shanghai all have millions of skyscrapers and bustling urban neighborhoods. But LA is a city of the car, her citizens stubbornly refusing to give up the auto-dream, frequently voting against proposed expansions of the subway lines through their neighborhoods (which of courses prolongs the city's racial segregation - perhaps intentional), despite Angelenos spending the most hours in traffic than in any other city in America. It seems in some bizarre way that her citizens are almost proud of her endless problems.

Sitting above a massive fault line that could spasm a major Earthquake at any time, LA moves on -constantly evolving, still sprawling, still polluting. People flock from all corners of the globe for the nil chance to appear on screen or in print. Living constantly on the edge makes life more exciting, right? Race riots and brush fires and traffic jams make the city...almost charming after awhile.

Personally, I love how everytime I visit the city there's a new neighborhood to be discovered that I never knew existed. A common misconception, especially amongst European travelers, is that the city is just endless sprawl. It might look this way from a rental car on the crumbling 405 Interstate, but in reality the city is quite dense and has many districts, all with a unique vibe and feel. Japantown, Koreatown, Westwood, The Jewlery District, and Boyle Heights for example, all have a very distinct aura worth experiencing.

There is a darkness of the city I find attractive, a falseness I find beautiful. I'm not here to provide a guide to the city or an elaborate explanation of my opinions, but I recommend that next time you visit, dig a little deeper than the Disney-like Santa Monica Pier or stoic Rodeo Drive. Admire the classic Art Deco architectural styles of Beverly Hills or the blighted neon of Hollywood at night, or grab some Filipino Grub in Filipinotown. Check out the boisterous body builders pumping their muscles right on the boardwalk of Venice Beach and risk getting mugged (which probably is as opposite to a beach paradise atmosphere than what you'd imagined), or shop on the ecclectic yet posh Robertson Boulevard--maybe even catch a glimpse of Vanessa Hudgens shopping with Kristen Stewart.

All in all, LA is not a hellhole. She's got her problems - after all, she really is just a teenager - but like any hormonal adolescent girl, she really does also have her pleasant sides.

PCP

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

you can drive for hours throughout the different sections of the city and see maybe no more than 20 pedestrians on the street.

You must have missed Downtown...

[QwertyFarmer]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

All in all, LA is not a hellhole. She's got her problems - after all, she really is just a teenager - but like any hormonal adolescent girl, she really does also have her pleasant sides.

PCP

Your post is so eloquently written and I think draws a better picture as I have ever read of LOs Angeles. Thank you

As a child I had always dreamed of going to Los Angeles, I was there for the first time at 16, I was dropped off at the airport to fly back to my mom after my dad had miss managed a cross country vacation and had stayed in CA longer than I was supposed to be gone (divorced parents.)
I vowed I would return someday.

At 18 my girlfriend and I headed for Sacramento from Texas in her Ford station wagon. I lived in Sac for less than a year and proceeded to gravitate further West. I ended up in Marin county for another year and then landed in Santa Barbara. I spent almost 8 years in Santa Barbara and found it to be an amazing adventure. We would regularly go to LA for the clubs and such and it was always this big exciting evening every time. I started to long for the dream I had always had and when the opportunity arose I took it and moved to Los Angeles. I was so thrilled all the time. There are so many places to go anytime of day or night. You can make a new friend every day, and lose one. The hustle and bustle has a type of energy that seems almost symbiotic. I will always love LA and I come back to visit about every three months.

I live a different adventure now as a part time farmer, part time internet sales, and part time waitress. I love a full plate. I sincerely hope that fault line waits about 60 years before it breaks, I would hate to lose LA.

PS We used to visit San Diego too, but unless it was for Pride it was always a tame affair.

[nmnita]

Very well written, but a little over dramatic to say the least. In fact so much so, you have missed much that does give Los Angeles a bad name. I do not think it is as bad as some report, I am referring more to the many delightful burbs, not the downtown area. For vacationing, L.A> is great, for living in the city, I don't know that it is the place I would want to spend the rest of my life.

Still, although I may not agree with your take, you did do a great job of putting your thoughts into words.

Nita

[yukiko11]

Great post. I was born in Hollywood in 1950 and lived in many places in LA before I moved to Seattle in 1992.
The only problem I ever had that made me move was the air pollution and the violence.
After all these years, I don't think either has changed.

[matt345]

Very well written post on an extremely misunderstood city. Two comments though:

Originally Posted by destroycreate

But LA is a city of the car, her citizens stubbornly refusing to give up the auto-dream, frequently voting against proposed expansions of the subway lines through their neighborhoods

Last November, votes in LA county passed Measure R by a 2/3 majority - this is a 1/2 cent sales tax funding mass transit improvements. Maybe this sentiment was true in the 90's, but people (for the most part) seem to supportive of mass transit. They are currently working on extending the subway down Wilshire to Westwood and from Hollywood to meet up with that future Wilshire subway. For the most part, the project has received support, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Beverly Hills of all places have all expressed their support for the subway expansion. Also, LA is about to open an extension of the Gold Line and is currently building the Expo Line between downtown and Culver City (eventually to Santa Monica).

Originally Posted by destroycreate

San Diego to us on the other hand, was seen as an Apple Pie American image of middle-class perfection. Lots of republicans, safe streets, sterile tract housing developments, big yards, the beach of course, and family values.

You make me glad I don't live in San Diego!

[jc76]

Originally Posted by nmnita

Very well written, but a little over dramatic to say the least. In fact so much so, you have missed much that does give Los Angeles a bad name. I do not think it is as bad as some report, I am referring more to the many delightful burbs, not the downtown area. For vacationing, L.A> is great, for living in the city, I don't know that it is the place I would want to spend the rest of my life.

Still, although I may not agree with your take, you did do a great job of putting your thoughts into words.

Nita

Nita, I'm not picking on you so please don't take this wrong, but you seem to have about an 80% dislike of L.A. Am I wrong? If so I apologize, just curious though.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by jc76

Nita, I'm not picking on you so please don't take this wrong, but you seem to have about an 80% dislike of L.A. Am I wrong? If so I apologize, just curious though.

absolutely wrong, read what I said about our families and their dreams of success and what I said about friends and family who have left, many would not return but many would. As for actually living in Los Angeles, the costs, traffic and crime would keep me from every living there with the exception of a few areas that many of us could only dream about. There are lots of burbs that are wonderful. And to me, L.A. and the burbs run together. It isn't like NYC where you have rivers that separate areas, so if it appears I am picking on the city, I am not. I personally do not want to return. I was born and raised there, have been a Dodger fan since the year they moved to L.A. My husband was a sports writer and we used to go see them every few days, the same with the Rams. And the Lakers have always been my team. But if you were old enough to remember what it was like 40,50 or 60 years ago, you would understand.

Nita

[KnoxTown]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

You must have missed Downtown...

along with Hollywood and Santa Monica.

[jc76]

Originally Posted by nmnita

absolutely wrong, read what I said about our families and their dreams of success and what I said about friends and family who have left, many would not return but many would. As for actually living in Los Angeles, the costs, traffic and crime would keep me from every living there with the exception of a few areas that many of us could only dream about. There are lots of burbs that are wonderful. And to me, L.A. and the burbs run together. It isn't like NYC where you have rivers that separate areas, so if it appears I am picking on the city, I am not. I personally do not want to return. I was born and raised there, have been a Dodger fan since the year they moved to L.A. My husband was a sports writer and we used to go see them every few days, the same with the Rams. And the Lakers have always been my team. But if you were old enough to remember what it was like 40,50 or 60 years ago, you would understand.

Nita

I can understand that, I didn't know you have seen all those changes throughout the years. I'm a Dodgers fan as well and being in the heart of Cubs country, trust me I get tons of dirty looks for my Dodgers plate on the front of my car

I only know of the Los Angeles that I know today, and I love it, but maybe I would not like it anymore had I experienced all the changes you have. Once again I apologize.