Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > General U.S. > City vs. City
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
View Poll Results: Los Angeles vs St Louis
Gateway City to the West (St Louis) 27 26.21%
City of Angels (Los Angeles) 66 64.08%
Horrible Horrible Cities 10 9.71%
Voters: 103. You may not vote on this poll

Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 01-19-2016, 07:45 PM
 
8,256 posts, read 17,246,450 times
Reputation: 6220

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by PDF View Post
Yup same here. I'll never go back to living in one of the super expensive cities, mainly because I'm looking at buying a condo soon. And I find that cities like St. Louis can satisfy me.
A lot of people in LA have the mentality that they live in a city where people vacation with great weather and culture, so why bother traveling much? Personally, I'd rather live in a cheaper city where I can buy a luxury condo for the price of a shack in Compton and save up money to travel the world. To each their own I guess, but paying LA prices and never having the money to travel anywhere except Las Vegas and Lake Havasu sounds like a boring life. I'm mainly looking at Chicago, Philly, and Baltimore, or just staying in Louisville until I can get to Chicago since I already have a life here now. Wouldn't be opposed to STL, Pittsburgh, KCMO, Columbus, or a few others if it meant paying my debts off very quickly and then saving up to travel the world.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 01-19-2016, 08:41 PM
 
Location: where the good looking people are
3,814 posts, read 3,974,931 times
Reputation: 3284
Quote:
Originally Posted by jessemh431 View Post
A lot of people in LA have the mentality that they live in a city where people vacation with great weather and culture, so why bother traveling much? Personally, I'd rather live in a cheaper city where I can buy a luxury condo for the price of a shack in Compton and save up money to travel the world. To each their own I guess, but paying LA prices and never having the money to travel anywhere except Las Vegas and Lake Havasu sounds like a boring life. I'm mainly looking at Chicago, Philly, and Baltimore, or just staying in Louisville until I can get to Chicago since I already have a life here now. Wouldn't be opposed to STL, Pittsburgh, KCMO, Columbus, or a few others if it meant paying my debts off very quickly and then saving up to travel the world.
Los Angeles has a lot of decent things to see with in a 3 hour drive. No need to spend thousands of dollars for a week in Aspen. I can just take the day off and head to the mountains. I would hate to live some place, where my coveted few weeks of vacation are spent traveling to places that are cooler than where I live.

Go to Hawaii, where the average Hawaiians are not living large at all (maybe the haoles are). You think they would give all that up for a luxury condo in St. Louis or Toledo? Nah.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-19-2016, 08:50 PM
 
8,256 posts, read 17,246,450 times
Reputation: 6220
Quote:
Originally Posted by WizardOfRadical View Post
Los Angeles has a lot of decent things to see with in a 3 hour drive. No need to spend thousands of dollars for a week in Aspen. I can just take the day off and head to the mountains. I would hate to live some place, where my coveted few weeks of vacation are spent traveling to places that are cooler than where I live.

Go to Hawaii, where the average Hawaiians are not living large at all (maybe the haoles are). You think they would give all that up for a luxury condo in St. Louis or Toledo? Nah.
True, but I'm not talking about Aspen and Mexico and places like that. Never said I'd live in Toledo or even STL forever. But a city like Chicago or Philly is cheaper. I want a winter vacation in the Swiss Alps, beach vacations in Spain, Madrid is my favorite city which I'd like to visit a lot or even move to, safari trips in Africa, rainforest exploration in Central America, seeing basically as many different international cultures as I can. The idea of blowing money on a nightclub and gambling in Vegas over saving the money up and traveling to an entirely different continent is much more appealing to me. Pretty hard to travel the world when half your income goes to housing in LA. But, if I made the money, LA is a much better city to live in than STL. There's better everything there pretty much. But being 2 hours from Santa Barbara, 6-8 from LV, 6 from Mammoth, 3 from TJ, etc. is not that appealing to me. I'd rather explore the world than the US. Culture doesn't change as drastically from one end to the other.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-19-2016, 09:02 PM
 
Location: where the good looking people are
3,814 posts, read 3,974,931 times
Reputation: 3284
Quote:
Originally Posted by jessemh431 View Post
True, but I'm not talking about Aspen and Mexico and places like that. Never said I'd live in Toledo or even STL forever. But a city like Chicago or Philly is cheaper. I want a winter vacation in the Swiss Alps, beach vacations in Spain, Madrid is my favorite city which I'd like to visit a lot or even move to, safari trips in Africa, rainforest exploration in Central America, seeing basically as many different international cultures as I can. The idea of blowing money on a nightclub and gambling in Vegas over saving the money up and traveling to an entirely different continent is much more appealing to me. Pretty hard to travel the world when half your income goes to housing in LA. But, if I made the money, LA is a much better city to live in than STL. There's better everything there pretty much. But being 2 hours from Santa Barbara, 6-8 from LV, 6 from Mammoth, 3 from TJ, etc. is not that appealing to me. I'd rather explore the world than the US. Culture doesn't change as drastically from one end to the other.

The things you are talking about (ie world travel), are things typically done by the affluent (ie upper middle class and beyond). So really, you would have to look at the numbers. How many people from each metro travel the world, where do they go, what is the percentage, and in how much style to they travel? I suspect you have not broken those numbers down.

Keep in mind the LA basin and California in general is home to a very large affluent population. Contrary to popular stereotype, everyone is not an aspiring actor living off Pop Tarts and Top Romen in a their studio rental.

US culture DOES change dramatically from one end to the other. Outside of language, many European cultures are VERY similar. The difference between a New Yorker and West Virginian is way bigger than the difference between someone from Saxony and someone from the British Isles.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-19-2016, 09:37 PM
PDF
 
11,395 posts, read 13,329,124 times
Reputation: 6707
Quote:
Originally Posted by jessemh431 View Post
True, but I'm not talking about Aspen and Mexico and places like that. Never said I'd live in Toledo or even STL forever. But a city like Chicago or Philly is cheaper. I want a winter vacation in the Swiss Alps, beach vacations in Spain, Madrid is my favorite city which I'd like to visit a lot or even move to, safari trips in Africa, rainforest exploration in Central America, seeing basically as many different international cultures as I can. The idea of blowing money on a nightclub and gambling in Vegas over saving the money up and traveling to an entirely different continent is much more appealing to me. Pretty hard to travel the world when half your income goes to housing in LA. But, if I made the money, LA is a much better city to live in than STL. There's better everything there pretty much. But being 2 hours from Santa Barbara, 6-8 from LV, 6 from Mammoth, 3 from TJ, etc. is not that appealing to me. I'd rather explore the world than the US. Culture doesn't change as drastically from one end to the other.
I totally get what you are saying. However, at least for me, I kind of want to live in a mid-size city even if you take out the traveling part. I think you can do the same things in a Minneapolis or a St. Louis that you can in Boston, Philly, etc. I would live in NYC if I had the money, but I do not. I do a lot of traveling internationally as well...so as long as there's a few international routes serving the airport, I'm good.

I've never been to St. Louis, but it seems like an appealing city. You've got a light rail system, some dense/walkable neighborhoods, good nightlife, sports teams, not too shabby of a dining scene, etc. To me, that's enough.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-19-2016, 09:47 PM
 
Location: Seattle aka tier 3 city :)
1,259 posts, read 1,393,702 times
Reputation: 993
Quote:
Originally Posted by jessemh431 View Post
A lot of people in LA have the mentality that they live in a city where people vacation with great weather and culture, so why bother traveling much? Personally, I'd rather live in a cheaper city where I can buy a luxury condo for the price of a shack in Compton and save up money to travel the world. To each their own I guess, but paying LA prices and never having the money to travel anywhere except Las Vegas and Lake Havasu sounds like a boring life. I'm mainly looking at Chicago, Philly, and Baltimore, or just staying in Louisville until I can get to Chicago since I already have a life here now. Wouldn't be opposed to STL, Pittsburgh, KCMO, Columbus, or a few others if it meant paying my debts off very quickly and then saving up to travel the world.
Sounds like you grew up with close minded people.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-19-2016, 09:57 PM
 
8,256 posts, read 17,246,450 times
Reputation: 6220
Quote:
Originally Posted by Calisonn View Post
Sounds like you grew up with close minded people.
A lot of people in the South Bay are. Not saying everyone in LA is like that, but I know many many people with this mentality. They have no desire to travel, think it's strange that someone would want to leave LA, etc. Many had never even left CA, NV, or AZ, but seemed confident enough that they had no need to travel anywhere else because LA is perfection. Obviously everyone has different experiences, but this seemed to be a common theme with many people nearby when I grew up in LA. But I mean I actually had people tell me, in their own words, that why should they travel to other places when they can get beaches, mountains, deserts, islands, etc. all in one place in LA? Or others that were interested in traveling went into their vacations with the mindset that no matter what they saw or experienced, LA is the greatest city on earth and nothing will change their opinion of that. Seems to hold true, as many of them are still in LA, living with their parents, working dead-end jobs, still with no desire to live life.

Of course there were plenty people that were not like this though. As I mentioned in another thread, I also know PLENTY of people who can't wait to get out of LA. It's basically one extreme or the other. Some think LA is perfection and have no desire to even explore the world. Others can't wait to leave or already did and have never looked back. Not many people fall in the middle where they either love LA, but enjoy traveling the world, or they left and can't wait to move back, or some combination. Again, just my personal experiences with people. Not an exact description of all Angelenos. Just the ones I encountered. But my little anecdotes in a region of nearly 20 million people are quite irrelevant in the big picture, unless others have had these experiences as well.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-19-2016, 10:36 PM
 
Location: Buena Park, Orange County, California
1,424 posts, read 2,470,865 times
Reputation: 1540
Quote:
Originally Posted by jessemh431 View Post
A lot of people in the South Bay are. Not saying everyone in LA is like that, but I know many many people with this mentality. They have no desire to travel, think it's strange that someone would want to leave LA, etc. Many had never even left CA, NV, or AZ, but seemed confident enough that they had no need to travel anywhere else because LA is perfection. Obviously everyone has different experiences, but this seemed to be a common theme with many people nearby when I grew up in LA. But I mean I actually had people tell me, in their own words, that why should they travel to other places when they can get beaches, mountains, deserts, islands, etc. all in one place in LA? Or others that were interested in traveling went into their vacations with the mindset that no matter what they saw or experienced, LA is the greatest city on earth and nothing will change their opinion of that. Seems to hold true, as many of them are still in LA, living with their parents, working dead-end jobs, still with no desire to live life.

Of course there were plenty people that were not like this though. As I mentioned in another thread, I also know PLENTY of people who can't wait to get out of LA. It's basically one extreme or the other. Some think LA is perfection and have no desire to even explore the world. Others can't wait to leave or already did and have never looked back. Not many people fall in the middle where they either love LA, but enjoy traveling the world, or they left and can't wait to move back, or some combination. Again, just my personal experiences with people. Not an exact description of all Angelenos. Just the ones I encountered. But my little anecdotes in a region of nearly 20 million people are quite irrelevant in the big picture, unless others have had these experiences as well.
Eh, I grew up in Long Beach and OC and I have the opposite experience of you, where just the majority of my friends fall into the middle category. I majored in international studies, so obviously you meet lots of people with a desire to see and live in a variety of places from across the globe, with a good appreciation of cultures. Whether it is Europe, Japan, Thailand, Panama...I have had friends move away, only to come back, if not to LA, at least to California. My best friend and Japan were considering moving to Tokyo and working as English teachers there since we absolutely fell in love with it (Japan in general), but we took different directions.

I don't know, perhaps because the majority of my friends were either children of immigrants or immigrants themselves, with family ties sometimes in many different continents (like myself), you grew up understanding there is more to the world.

Otoh, I have one good friend who moved to Denver and never looked back. Funny thing is that she's actually not that much of a fan of it, and could care less about snow....but she is like you in that she just wants a place with lower COL (than California), but be able to afford a more expensive lifestyle, especially in terms of travelling. She moved there for college (Boulder), met a guy there, got married and they already bought their first home (at age 26).
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-20-2016, 01:02 AM
 
1,564 posts, read 1,654,063 times
Reputation: 522
L.A vs St Louis is Like Shaq vs Kwame Brown Lol

( Not in The Same League Whatsoever )
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-20-2016, 08:43 AM
 
7,099 posts, read 8,866,617 times
Reputation: 6365
Quote:
Originally Posted by PDF View Post
I've never been to St. Louis, but it seems like an appealing city. You've got a light rail system, some dense/walkable neighborhoods, good nightlife, sports teams, not too shabby of a dining scene, etc. To me, that's enough.
This was my thing when I left Chicago. My lifestyle in St. Louis is better because of a higher disposable income and I am able to enjoy more of the city plus travel and have money to save. St. Louis doesn't hold a candle to LA but people live just as well here. Your dont have to be in the big 3 cities to live a cosmopolitan lifestyle. I have friends who moved to Wichita and didnt stop doing the things they loved because of the city.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > General U.S. > City vs. City
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top