The TRUTH About Los Angeles?

[AnUnidentifiedMale]

Originally Posted by briefstop

I'm from California, and it seems every job I've had in LA is full of transplants. At my current office, I'm the only person originally from here. I believe not many leave, but it seems like a lot of people come to the metro centers. LA, SD, SF.

Well, your individual experience may vary from the other 37 million people who live in California.

No offense intended. The statistics are what they are.

[AnUnidentifiedMale]

Originally Posted by briefstop

No offense taken, but it's always been said that its hard to find an actual native californian in cities like LA, San Diego, and San Francisco.

Well, apparently, it's even harder to find natives in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Anchorage, and Orlando.

[uptown_urbanist]

It's been my experience in both LA and SF (and my friends' experiences in SD) that there are tons of people living in these cities, at least, who are originally from other states and countries. California may indeed be a sticky state, but it's also a magnet state, and I think that's pretty clear from one look around in the big cities. In LA both my husband and I worked with a lot of transplants as well as native Californians. In my office, non-native Californians outnumbered those born in the state. That same Pew study also says that 38% of people living in California were born elsewhere. I am guessing that that number goes way up in the major cities, as places like San Francisco, LA, and San Diego are all highly desirable places to live that in years past, anyway, had a lot of job opportunities.

[stuffavail]

Originally Posted by JordanUK

What really goes on in the L.A celebrity scene? The media portrays it as a glamorous city filled with stars and it's the city of dreams, but when you look into old LA (Marilyn Monroe time) you can see that it wasn't so glamorous then, there were drugs, crime and dodgy "behind-the-scenes" scenarios.

What REALLY goes on in Los Angeles? What's it REALLY like?

It can't be so glamorous...can it?

Post your stories here :-)

I was born and raised here. I have lived here and elsewhere and I have recently returned.

It is a gigantic city. It can be fabulous and frustrating, just like life.

It does not take 5 hours to cross town, but transportation can be an issue if you live and work in areas far from each other.

It is the center of the film making business and so in that way is a company town. The housing stock is varied from the most humble to the most glamorous. There are more restaurants than you can eat at in a lifetime. There is every ethnicity and every language spoken here.

In 2+ hours you can be in the snow, the desert, the ocean, or Mexico depending on your starting point.

The weather is terrific. There are many good theatres, tourist attractions, views, and fun things to see and do. There are many many travellers from Europe.

For those who only see crime and upset, I suspect they would see that pretty much anywhere they go.

Welcome to LA!

[AnUnidentifiedMale]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

That same Pew study also says that 38% of people living in California were born elsewhere. I am guessing that that number goes way up in the major cities, as places like San Francisco, LA, and San Diego are all highly desirable places to live that in years past, anyway, had a lot of job opportunities.

Absolutely. People who live in certain parts of the big cities look around and think that their situation represents the state as a whole when it really doesn't. Sure, if you live and work in Hollywood, you're going to meet a ton of people from other states, but we can't forget about huge areas of L.A. County where there aren't so many newcomers from other states. Areas like La Habra, Cypress, West Covina, much of the Inland Empire - these are areas where, my guess is, most of the residents were born and raised in California.