Why we love California. (Los Angeles, Sacramento: live in, restaurants, dangerous)

[Clarks]

Ok, the basic premise of mine is that most people like to be in town, and because all towns are basically the same, most people can live anywhere.

I and many others prefer wild land, and California more than just about any state except Alaska.

Here is a sign, the sign is on a forest trail, but, should be posted at every road entering California.

The [best] area[s] behind this sign has no Coors Light, television, no four-wheel anti-lock brakes, no instant cash, no rebates, no individual rooms, no remote control, no Internet service providers. Instead it has ticks, rattlesnakes, mountain lions, thornbrush, wash-outs, overgrown trails and extreme weather. Leave it to those of us who enjoy it, and the rest of you go home.

[benice66]

ok?

[Fontucky]

Uhhhh.....

[wburg]

I like wild places a lot too, but I don't visit them very often, partially because in my mind a wild place is the least touched by humanity, and my very presence there as a human makes things less wild.

I would disagree that all cities and towns are the same. Sure, a lot of them definitely seem that way, especially in an age where every strip mall seems to have the same dozen or so stores, but to make that assumption is just as much an oversimplification as assuming all wild places are the same. The cool, rainy, green, mountainous forests of Humboldt County are very unlike the hot, dry, sun-baked deserts of Death Valley. Similarly, life in the hustle-bustle of Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles is very unlike life in the little Sacramento River Delta town of Walnut Grove.
And that's what I like about California--I can go from big city to small town, from high desert to tall mountains, to places that seem untouched by the hand of man to monuments to our ability to shape the physical world to our will, all within a single state. I like cities, and live in a medium-sized city where I can walk to most of what I need on a daily basis and take the streetcar to work, but still see trees and pretty old buildings. But in an hour or so in a car or on a train, I can be in places that look and feel very different.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by wburg

I like wild places a lot too, but I don't visit them very often, partially because in my mind a wild place is the least touched by humanity, and my very presence there as a human makes things less wild.

I would disagree that all cities and towns are the same. Sure, a lot of them definitely seem that way, especially in an age where every strip mall seems to have the same dozen or so stores, but to make that assumption is just as much an oversimplification as assuming all wild places are the same. The cool, rainy, green, mountainous forests of Humboldt County are very unlike the hot, dry, sun-baked deserts of Death Valley. Similarly, life in the hustle-bustle of Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles is very unlike life in the little Sacramento River Delta town of Walnut Grove.
And that's what I like about California--I can go from big city to small town, from high desert to tall mountains, to places that seem untouched by the hand of man to monuments to our ability to shape the physical world to our will, all within a single state. I like cities, and live in a medium-sized city where I can walk to most of what I need on a daily basis and take the streetcar to work, but still see trees and pretty old buildings. But in an hour or so in a car or on a train, I can be in places that look and feel very different.

Very well said. Cities are not all the same. Perhaps the downtowns of most major cities are more or less the same but that's about it. I think when we think of one city being like another is when we have problems dealing with a new place because we didn't expect it to be so much different than where we left. The same is most definitely true with wild areas. Even forest vary with location. The Redwoods of the Ca. coast are a distinct ecosystem from the coastal forest of the PNW.

[Clarks]

In my book, cities are where a man goes to get supplies, then leaves.

"Men come and go, cities rise and fall, whole civilizations appear and disappear-the earth remains, slightly modified. The earth remains, and the heartbreaking beauty where there are no hearts to break....I sometimes choose to think, no doubt perversely, that man is a dream, thought an illusion, and only rock is real. Rock and sun."
— Edward Abbey

"Benedicto: May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you -- beyond that next turning of the canyon walls."
— Edward Abbey

[Clarks]

I like wild places a lot too, but I don't visit them very often, partially because in my mind a wild place is the least touched by humanity, and my very presence there as a human makes things less wild.

You do know that aside from Antarctica, historically there have been few wild places where man did not live.

[wburg]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

Very well said. Cities are not all the same. Perhaps the downtowns of most major cities are more or less the same but that's about it. I think when we think of one city being like another is when we have problems dealing with a new place because we didn't expect it to be so much different than where we left. The same is most definitely true with wild areas. Even forest vary with location. The Redwoods of the Ca. coast are a distinct ecosystem from the coastal forest of the PNW.

I guess I see the opposite--downtowns tend to be very different from each other, while suburbs seem to be a great mass of sameness. Downtown Los Angeles is a lot different from downtown Arcata, for example. When I visit a new city, the last thing I want to see is exactly the same restaurants and stores as those where I live--I'd rather see something new, something special. I tend to find those in downtowns, whether it's a small-town downtown that has not fallen prey to Wal-Mart or a big city downtown that has not fallen prey to the redeveloper's bulldozer. In the suburbs, one finds the same endless array of beige/taupe stucco, a Chili's at the mini-mall, and of course the Wal-Mart.

Originally Posted by Clarks

You do know that aside from Antarctica, historically there have been few wild places where man did not live.

Yes, but in most cases the traces of humanity's footprints on the world were lighter than ours are now, and our numbers far, far fewer. As you mention, today even those who prefer the wild places are dependent on civilization to give them the things they need to survive treks to the wilderness--the need for "supplies" is met by those in tamed parts where things are grown, made, built or designed.

[FresnoFacts]

The wild undeveloped areas are where I go to think, reflect and ponder. Most of the great philosophers and religious leaders spent some time alone to listen to their inner voice and listen to the patterns of nature. It is where I go to still my soul.

Cities and towns are where I and others go to interact and share. The mingling of ideas and thoughts foster creativity and new ways of looking at problems and the world. I like surrounding myself with people who think differently than I do, it gives me new viewpoints, new thoughts, new ideas, etc.

Both are important. Otherwise humanity would never change or develop in any manner.

[Clarks]

As you mention, today even those who prefer the wild places are dependent on civilization to give them the things they need to survive treks to the wilderness--the need for "supplies" is met by those in tamed parts where things are grown, made, built or designed.
[+] Rate this post positively

Yes, and thank gawd most people think that cities are the place to be.

I like surrounding myself with people who think, Otherwise humanity would never change or develop in any manner.

I do not care much for humanity, in fact, I just had to run to town, and humanity was a big pain, I think everyone went shopping in town today.

I much prefer misanthropy