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Someone's sensitive to these stereotypes. Is it because it rings a bell?
Yes. I am horribly insulted because I spend 45 minutes making sure that each individual spike of my hair, which is dyed black despite the fact I'm ethnically Scandanavian because in case you haven't noticed, the guido look is in right now. Then, I go through my wardrobe and select a black or grey pinstriped button-down shirt with a distressed fleur de lys silkscreened over the heart and the words "VICTORIOUS" on the back, because that's just my style. I shoo the club hos out of my bed and then stumble outside into the sun, throw on my huge sunglasses and collapse into the seat of my AMG convertible to go score some more blow to start the day.
Along the way, I tell everyone that they're "awesome" and that we will "totally go for drinks" even though I think that they all suck and would never be caught dead with them. I pick my chihuahua up from its therapist and take it to acupuncture, and while that's going on, I play volleyball.
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I have been to CA before. I drove through and stayed in a number of cities. Yes I know it is diverse, and loved certain parts of it (San Fran, Northern CA to be specific, god those redwoods are amazing). SoCal, though, just ... was meh.
You never lived there, though.
At least I lived in Seattle long enough to glean some real insight into the place.
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The people were different but by and large, I do find people in LA and the surrounding areas to be more superficial with their dress.
So, because you judge a manner of dress to be "superficial," it equates that the people are as well?
How very "Hollywood" of you!
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They think they're trendsetters and while that may be the case that doesn't define the person.
How do you know that they're dressing to be a trendsetter? There are plenty of local fashions, as you note below. It just so happens that LA - being one of the major cultural centers of the world, let alone the US - gets much more exposure, and so its styles catch on internationally, as opposed to eventually spreading to the outer reaches of King County.
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At least not where I live. You don't have to be "trendy" to fit in here. You don't have to have a bloated ego of "being from somewhere or other" here (in fact people would say you're idiotic and would rather you adapt to the local scene and not hoot and holler about how awesome LA is).
So, you'd rather people follow what's trendy locally to fit in, even though it's evidently not necessary to do so...?
Pot, meet kettle.
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I'll give credit where credit is due. But by and large I felt ... underwhelmed by LA when I went there. I was ... I dunno, expecting more, but everything and everyone just seemed vacuous.
Sucks that it seemed that way to you, but you can't please everyone, I suppose.
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Beyond trendsetting, what has LA done for the nation?
Mmmm other than practically every film released in the US?
Oh, and the music scene/industry.
All told, it's the #3 economic center by metropolitan area, behind Tokyo and NYC.
It's got UCLA and USC, both of which are ranked higher than the UW.
LA's done tons for America.
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Seattle's given you the Internet, computer software used by over 90% of all computer users (Microsoft, most likely, you own a computer with Microsoft running its OS),
And although it's not in the LA area, Apple is based in California and... well, I'm not going to start a Mac vs. PC debate.
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took over the world in the 90s
...it took over the world in the 90's? Uh... do explain. I can't figure out whether you're referring to Windows, or just really far up Seattle's hole...
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and is now the center of biomedical research (a Seattle firm sequenced the human genome and is busy at work delving further into it),
I've never heard anyone refer to Seattle as "the center of biomedical research," and when I lived in Seattle, I worked at Virginia Mason. The head of Neurosurgery and I had a pleasant discussion about the restaurant offerings in Central Square because both of us had spent some time at Genzyme. Do you have any data to your statement up? Last time I checked, Boston/Cambridge, MA were generally considered the epicenters of biotech in the US. If NIH grants have anything to do with the equation, then Boston beats Seattle by over 100%: Top 100 NIH Cities, 2004 If you add Cambridge to the mix, you get an addition 350+ million.
And in the way of Socal... If you combine San Diego with La Jolla (since La Jolla is basically another area of SD), then San Diego metro wins by 400 mil.
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and revolutionized the coffee culture the world over.
Great.
Los Angeles revolutionized basically all Western - and much of Eastern - culture much more profoundly through the influence of its film and music.
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It continues to revolutionize air travel and over half of all travelers use Boeing airplanes. Boeing is also, by the way, one of the leading US exporters.
Northrop-Grumman in LA is also at the forefront of aerospace technology and has produced some of the most legendary military aircraft of our time. Don't know if you're that into aviation, but the F14 Tomcat was a Grumman aircraft. The F4F Wildcat and F6F Hellcat, which won the air war in the Pacific, and the TBF Avenger torpedo bomber (which notably sunk the battleship Yamato) were made by Grumman - in fact, one of the old Hellcat manufacturing buildings is now a Santa Monica College campus.
They also built the lunar lander.
Boeing is definitely one of the best aircraft companies in the world and I'm in no way discounting that. I have fond memories of attending airshows at Boeing Field as a kid and got to climb all over all sorts of awesome aircraft; when I was 12, my dad and I volunteered to help rehab the B-29 they acquired in the mid-90's.
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All while being more mellow and laid back!
And more introverted, with restaurants and bars that close earlier!
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With gorgeous backdrops if you get bored!
http://photos.igougo.com/images/p184717-Los_Angeles-Wildwood_Canyon_at_Sunset.jpg (broken link)
All of these places are in LA county, in the hills north of the city. In literally 20 minutes, you can go from grabbing your Seattle's Best Coffee on Santa Monica Blvd. to unlaoding your mountain bike to hit some dirt trails.
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Need I say more?
It's not necessary. You love Seattle and I don't; I love LA, and you don't. I guess the main driving difference is that I'm intimately familiar with both cities.
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It's the content that matters, not the veneer.
This is quite true, and it comes out in LA's favor
This question is like comparing Italian+French+Chinese Food vs. Sushi+BBQ+German food. It arbitrarily bundles vast regions with huge varieties of cities, climates, cultures, and lifestyles in each mega-region to compare them to one another. And geographic delineations in this question are arbitrary. For example, from San Francisco, Nevada is the closest state and only a few hours' drive, yet SF is bundled in with Vancouver, which is a 20 hour drive away in a different country, crossing two states to get there. These regions have too much diversity to group into single regions that can then be compared with each other. NorCal has more in common with SoCal than SoCal has in common with Reno, for example, yet Reno is in the SoCal group. This question has way too many variables.
exactly. It's just in Hollywood and Beverly Hills but that makes up a very small portion of California. People who take cliched stereotypes out and post them have no credibility at all.
What was your experience with Seattle?
I just found Seattle to be crushingly boring. Everything closes early - earlier than San Francisco even, and this is a common gripe about SF. The weather... the overcast skies for more than half the year... ugh, no thank you.
I experienced the Seattle Freeze hardcore, and while I have no doubt Eskercurve will happily jump in to explain it's because I'm loud, pushy, rude, creepy, smell bad, or have a social disorder (these are the things that people in the Seattle forum will say if you make any negative comment about the social scene in Seattle), none of this is true by any stretch, and I've had no problems making friends anywhere else I've lived.
I definitely don't fit in up in Seattle. I found many Seattlites to be just as elitist, disingenuous, and provincial as the worst Los Angeles had to offer; just replace the BMW, big shades, and Armani Exchange with a Subaru, horn-rimmed glasses and REI/Helly Hansen.
There are plenty of good things about Seattle that I can understand would be a draw for most people, but they weren't enough to keep me there. To me, California wins, hands-down: I love LA and SF, and between them, I don't feel like I can lose. I could live basically anywhere from Napa/Sonoma counties all the way down to SD and be content. Even though I'm a committed urbanite, I'd rather live in Orange County than Capitol Hill... mainly because of the people.
This question is like comparing Italian+French+Chinese Food vs. Sushi+BBQ+German food. It arbitrarily bundles vast regions with huge varieties of cities, climates, cultures, and lifestyles in each mega-region to compare them to one another. And geographic delineations in this question are arbitrary. For example, from San Francisco, Nevada is the closest state and only a few hours' drive, yet SF is bundled in with Vancouver, which is a 20 hour drive away in a different country, crossing two states to get there. These regions have too much diversity to group into single regions that can then be compared with each other. NorCal has more in common with SoCal than SoCal has in common with Reno, for example, yet Reno is in the SoCal group. This question has way too many variables.
It's funny how the people who've voted other (Me, Sav858, and 415_s2k) are intimately familiar with BOTH NorCal and SoCal, and in my case (can't speak for the others) know the regions very well (lived in Phoenix for a year, stayed in Seattle for a month). I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment as well.
NorCal and SoCal have WAY more in common with each other than the regions they are attached to in this thread. The HUGEST separation in California again, is between the coastal and inland regions. Stockton and San Bernardino have way more in common, than Stockton has with SF or San Bernardino has with Santa Monica. And again, the Santa Clara Valley (where SJ is) and the San Fernando Valley (where I live; 1/3 of the City of Los Angeles) don't look that much different.
Both regions have something to offer for everyone. Even taking out California, the PNW + BC and Desert SW + Baja have almost something for everyone. There are forests in the latter, and deserts in the former. The urban environments of both are vastly different, and of course there's a HUGE cultural separation between Canada and Mexico that has some consideration, but considering what else is attached to it, I couldn't vote.
I'm sorry if I offended anyone in my posts. I do tend to exaggerate. I have fond memories in LA and on the whole people I've met from LA who I work with now in Seattle are cool (with one exception, but NOBODY likes him, so I think he is truly an exception). I went to Universal Studios and thought it was cool, I could see myself living in some parts of LA because it is so big and diverse. It's just when I was actually THERE that the people I just couldn't stand and I felt like the only cool people in the whole city moved to Seattle.
At the end of the day, I believe someone mentioned that it is the personal preference, experiences, and memories of a place that define how someone will enjoy someplace. To be brutally honest, I probably would hate Seattle if it wasn't for the base set of friends I knew in college prior to moving here that opened the door to other Seattle-native friends, if I hadn't met my wife, and if I hadn't gotten promoted, twice, at my job, in the short time I've been here.
In short I've made it here in Seattle and that probably gives me a skewed perspective.
Compared to that, all my evidence of the southwest lifestyle comes from Phoenix and that area, and from the lots of time I've spent north of LA near Palmdale. The desert does have a sort of mystique to it because it is so hostile to life, yet in April when I went to Phoenix the desert was green after a particularly strong monsoon season.
Yet beyond all this, Seattle just happened to fit right in for me, for whatever reason.
Anyways, all I will say I just prefer the PNW as a general area over pretty much anywhere in the country due to my experiences, lifestyle, and general tastes.
I'm sorry if I offended anyone in my posts. I do tend to exaggerate. I have fond memories in LA and on the whole people I've met from LA who I work with now in Seattle are cool (with one exception, but NOBODY likes him, so I think he is truly an exception). I went to Universal Studios and thought it was cool, I could see myself living in some parts of LA because it is so big and diverse. It's just when I was actually THERE that the people I just couldn't stand and I felt like the only cool people in the whole city moved to Seattle.
At the end of the day, I believe someone mentioned that it is the personal preference, experiences, and memories of a place that define how someone will enjoy someplace. To be brutally honest, I probably would hate Seattle if it wasn't for the base set of friends I knew in college prior to moving here that opened the door to other Seattle-native friends, if I hadn't met my wife, and if I hadn't gotten promoted, twice, at my job, in the short time I've been here.
In short I've made it here in Seattle and that probably gives me a skewed perspective.
Compared to that, all my evidence of the southwest lifestyle comes from Phoenix and that area, and from the lots of time I've spent north of LA near Palmdale. The desert does have a sort of mystique to it because it is so hostile to life, yet in April when I went to Phoenix the desert was green after a particularly strong monsoon season.
Yet beyond all this, Seattle just happened to fit right in for me, for whatever reason.
Anyways, all I will say I just prefer the PNW as a general area over pretty much anywhere in the country due to my experiences, lifestyle, and general tastes.
Take care guys.
Agreed to disagree and shake hands
If I had a circle of friends and had met the love of my life, I would have had most of the components that were missing when I lived there.
I've always tied in most of the Central Coast and the Sierra with Northern California, although once you get south of San Luis Obispo, the feel gets a little more Southern California-ish. But if you're going down to Big Sur or Pinnacles--it's fairly close from the Bay Area. But what I've always considered Southern California really starts around Santa Barbara or Bakersfield or the Tehachapis to the south.
But the real problem with this thread--as others have pointed out--is that the OP tries to tie in Northern California with the greater Pacific NW and Southern California with some larger Southwest region. I'd say Northern California and Southern California are really just regions on their own. The Pacific NW feel really starts in far Northern California--maybe around Eureka/Arcata or north of Redding. And BC is a large enough province that there isn't much to connect it to Oregon and Washington outside of the Vancouver/Victoria area. The northernmost parts of BC are adjacent to SE Alaska--assuming that's in the same region as the Bay Area or Sacramento is pretty far-fetched.
Last edited by Deezus; 01-12-2011 at 12:48 PM..
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