The Truth about California from a former west coast Girl... (Newport Beach: income, cost of living)
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It's true that SoCal has some cool things to do (perhaps not as much culture as NoCal, but that's besides the point), but the quality of people is what I think most transplants have issue with. An earlier post stated something about coming to the L.A./O.C. area if your aim is to make business connections and build status. How true!
I've lived here 4 years and the most intelligent & funnest people I know are chiefly concerned with money, image, status and how their friends and accociates can contribute to those things. I'm originally from the east coast & have spent a good part of my life in the deep south and have never been immersed in such a dense populous of excuse me, narcissists, brats and know-it-all jerks. Unless you find a clique to join, you'll spend a large portion of your time alone here.
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS....
There's no hoping to meet the love of your life, making best friends or having intellectual discussions over a bottle of wine late into the night here. There's shopping, spa-ing (a verb, meaning "to attend the spa"), doing anything you can to get ahead & trying your hand at entrepreneurship. There's also a lot of drinking to be done & sex to be had. If anywhere to watch your 20's fly by in a blur, it's SoCal.
And yes, there are a lot of weird people to meet; living here makes almost everyone an exaggeration of themselves: caricatures, wax figures, melodramatic actors. If you want to make it here you'll have to put on the mask of one of those 3 at least part of the time.
This is a VERY good post because it's 100% true! Reading this reminded me of a click of people that I use to hang out with/do business with who were a bunch of real estate moguls/investors in the LA county area and were doing quite well; they were millionaires (less then 10 mil).
Well, after getting to really know these people over the course of 2 years I concluded that there entire mission in life was money, image and status, and if you did not have it, to them, you were worthless and they really did not want you in there circle.
I was under there wings to be groomed but I walked away as I knew making money was not the center point in my life and also because I HATED there condescending attitude for people who had little money! Gezz, 10 million or less collectively is chump change anyway compared to some of these guys who throw a ball in a hoop for 100 million over a few years or the Rockefellers who are worth trillions.
In the end, as cocoayin said, the "get money screw the rest" attitude is so pervasive throughout southern California that it's part of the reasons why that once wonderful state is culturally and economically going down the drain.
The economy of California is often cited for how it would compare to other countries if California were an independent nation. The statistic quoted varies widely (usually placing California between 7th and 10th) depending on the source, but also depending on the year. [17] The most recent estimates (provided by the CIA's Factbook) put California tenth.
And regarding money? I give to lots of Local non-profits, have for years. I've lived in So Cal all my life. Sure, there are greedy people as described, like everywhere. But lots of us don't fit into that stereotype.
Yes, truth and opinion are two different things but I am talking about "truths" in this thread not opinions. Everything I have said was a fact and I wasn't just giving my opinion about the economy, crime, racial problems, overcrowding, traffic situations and lack of football teams. These are not opinions but facts and truth.
Many of you OC dwellers cannot handle the truth for some reason... I guess because it makes it hard to live there. If I said that Oklahoma was not in tornado alley I would be not telling the truth. Do I like tornados? No not really. But, I am not going to deny that they exist in Oklahoma because I don't like them...right?? Is anyone home in the house tonight??
Thank you...case rested
Quote:
Originally Posted by nickdahammer
Truth and opinion are often two different things.
Last time I checked, California still has one of the top ten economies in the world. This from Wikipedia:
The economy of California is often cited for how it would compare to other countries if California were an independent nation. The statistic quoted varies widely (usually placing California between 7th and 10th) depending on the source, but also depending on the year. [17] The most recent estimates (provided by the CIA's Factbook) put California tenth.
And regarding money? I give to lots of Local non-profits, have for years. I've lived in So Cal all my life. Sure, there are greedy people as described, like everywhere. But lots of us don't fit into that stereotype.
I should've directed my post to Mourphous, because that was the post I was (largely) responding to. My mistake.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raelyn28
Yes, truth and opinion are two different things but I am talking about "truths" in this thread not opinions. Everything I have said was a fact and I wasn't just giving my opinion about the economy, crime, racial problems, overcrowding, traffic situations and lack of football teams. These are not opinions but facts and truth.
Many of you OC dwellers cannot handle the truth for some reason... I guess because it makes it hard to live there. If I said that Oklahoma was not in tornado alley I would be not telling the truth. Do I like tornados? No not really. But, I am not going to deny that they exist in Oklahoma because I don't like them...right?? Is anyone home in the house tonight??
I've lived in Orange County, north of Irvine for 35 years and can say that in that entire time I have not been a victim of any type of crime accept that one time somebody broke into my car and stole my stereo. The thieves were actually caught later that night as they were attempting to break into another car in the neighborhood and I got my stereo back. These people had actually traveled from L.A. county to commit their crimes it turned out. Have also never been the victim of any kind of violence.
That being said though I have to be honest about O.C. I grew up all over O.C. from Fullerton to Tustin to Laguna Beach to Costa Mesa and finally in Huntington Beach for the last 23 years. I would never raise my kids in those areas of Fullerton, Tustin or Costa Mesa that I lived in as a child.
The elementary schools that I went to in Tustin were about 90% white when I went there. Now they are about 95% hispanic. They were safe places for me and my brothers to go to school. Now there are all kinds of problems with the neighborhoods I grew up in.
If you ask me the beach cities are the only place worth living in, in O.C.
I guess south O.C. is very safe in alot of areas but even they have their parts that are turning into barrios. They start in a small area then it spreads, then its's over. Crime problems will start along with bad schools.
What really pisses me off is that now it's gotten to the point where the only places that are somewhat cheap to live in are overwhemingly predominately hispanic. It used to be that if you couldn't afford to live in a beach town you could always afford to live someplace like Costa Mesa, Garden Grove, Tustin and at least you would still be in a safe community just without the beach. No more.
After living in Huntington Beach for the last 20 something years it is really hard for me to move inland. Everyplace else just seems to me like an endless grid streets with strip malls anyway.
People don't realize how good life can be outside of CA. Most are scared to even try because it's been ingrained in their brains that this is the best place on earth yadda yadda. Truth is, quality of life is about a million times better (and less stressful) in just about any other state. Of course this can be called opinion, but I would bet that if some of those people tried life elsewhere, they'd never be back.
People don't realize how good life can be outside of CA. Most are scared to even try because it's been ingrained in their brains that this is the best place on earth yadda yadda. Truth is, quality of life is about a million times better (and less stressful) in just about any other state. Of course this can be called opinion, but I would bet that if some of those people tried life elsewhere, they'd never be back.
That is a matter of opinion. We've tried to sell our friends and family on the idea of moving out here to Colorado using that same point (quality of life being better) and almost none of them bit on it. Most people we know are actually perfectly happy in CA despite the state's issues. None of them live in Orange County though - maybe that has something to do with it. Most live in NorCal and a few live in San Diego.
The few we know who aren't happy and would like to leave are having employment issues and/or would like to move some place that is typically a bit more socially conservative.
That information must be old. California is bankrupt, flat broke, and there are far more places around the world that are in far greater shape than being bankrupt!
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