If L.A. is "fake" then what cities are "real"? (Los Angeles: city hall, neighborhoods)

[The_Rambler]

One of the major complaints I hear frequently concerning Los Angeles is that it is "fake" or "plastic". What does this mean, really? And if this is the case, then what city would be the antithesis of L.A.? What city do you people who feel L.A. is fake do you think is the most "real" or genuine, and by what standard do you measure this?

I don't mean this to be inflammatory, I'm just honestly a bit confused by it and would like to open up a discourse as to what it really means.

Thanks!

[llowllevellowll]

Annoying grammar note: When you quote a word within a sentence that is followed by punctuation it goes within the quotation marks. I.e: If L.A. is "fake" then what cities are "real?"

Okay, sorry... haha

Interesting discussion but sadly I think it will turn into a flame war. The way I think of it more 'real' cities are cities wherein the incentive to move is pretty low - so often a city with a bad rap that is misunderstood is a little more 'real' or genuine to me.

Examples in MY experience have been cities like Oakland, CA; Cleveland, OH. Those two really come to mind most to me. (Again, just my experiences. The people seem very, very genuine.)

Examples of cities that I've experienced a great deal of rather fake people usually break down to the neighborhoods and not necessarily exclusive to cities as a whole, but L.A. comes to mind, San Francisco, and certain neighborhoods of NYC and Boston really come to mind.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Puddy4LyF

Annoying grammar note: When you quote a word within a sentence that is followed by punctuation it goes within the quotation marks. I.e: If L.A. is "fake" then what cities are "real?"

I am 99% certain that the original poster's title is correct and the question mark belongs outside the quotation marks. If the quote is a question, then the question mark belongs inside the quote. If the sentence is a question which uses a word in quotes as the original poster wrote, then the question mark belongs outside of the quotes.

Correct: She asked, "Will you still be my friend?"

Correct: Do you agree with the saying, "All's fair in love and war"?

Quotation Marks

Quotation Marks | Punctuation Rules

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by Puddy4LyF

Examples in MY experience have been cities like Oakland, CA;

Of which Gertrude Stein wrote "there is no there there".

[allenk893]

New York City
Boston
Philadelphia
Baltimore
Chicago
Detroit

[8move8away8]

Baltimore
Pittsburgh
Cleveland
Chicago
NOT Boston. Boston is an awful mix of stuffy preps and meatheads. Not "real"
Real people don't put up with cities like Oakland and Detroit, period.

[allenk893]

Originally Posted by 8move8away8

Baltimore
Pittsburgh
Cleveland
Chicago
NOT Boston. Boston is an awful mix of stuffy preps and meatheads. Not "real"
Real people don't put up with cities like Oakland and Detroit, period.

Boston IS REAL. You know who I did not put up? New Jersey. THEY are the meatheads. Not Bostonites. Bostonites are just rude. And with good reason. It's freezing friggin cold half the year. Oakland is so/so. I think lots of crazy people live there. Detroit IS real. They just had an unfortunate economy. But the people are real.

[hsw]

Everyone has own definition of "real" vs "fake"....doubt any group of even 100 people is all "real" or "fake", let alone 18MM or 38MM or 300MM people

IMO, those who legally earn own income in a freely competitive business and pay their legally owed taxes should be free to consume or save or invest their money as they please....isn't that American economic freedom and capitalism?

Doubt that anyone largely depending upon taxpayer subsidies: poor folks or union workers or government employees or small business owners (if evading taxes and/or employing illegals) or companies that depend upon corporate welfare or taxpayer bailouts to compete (like Detroit's crappy car mfrs)...are "real", despite their sanctimonious, class warfare/jealousy-oriented claims

Always be wary of cities or people or companies claiming to be "real" or "family" or "American" or "union"...or any other sanctimonious claim to avoid cold economic logic of any reasonable consumer or investor trying to find best values in QOL or goods or services or investments

[The_Rambler]

But what is it really that you consider to be real about the people in those cities as compared to L.A.? I've never been to the west coast and haven't really traveled much, I'm just curious about what all the "I hate L.A. because it's so fake" hate is about.

[BRinSM]

Originally Posted by The_Rambler

But what is it really that you consider to be real about the people in those cities as compared to L.A.? I've never been to the west coast and haven't really traveled much, I'm just curious about what all the "I hate L.A. because it's so fake" hate is about.

people call LA fake because of Hollywood. although not so much anymore, LA used to be the capital of plastic surgery. it still is to an extent (thank you Heidi Montag), but from my experiences, it's more popular with old people getting face lifts than young women getting boob jobs.

also, LA get's a bad rap for being low ise and spread out. geographically, LA is a huge place! it's not easy to get around the city and our freeways cities are notoriously congested. because LA was developed along with the rise in popularity of the automobile, we don't have the typical setup as you see on the east coast of the US or in europe. because of this, people often say that LA isn't a real city. part of what made LA so popular through the early parts of the last century was that it wasn't built like a traditional city, so go figure. so we're not traditional per say, but we do have a mayor, a city hall, and city limits just like any other city. we also have a plan to extend our subway, so we're becoming more traditional very slowly.