The Idea of Roots and Homeland (Los Angeles, San Diego: fit in, apartment, renting)

[Mike121]

One thing that strikes me as I read through many of these postings is how there does not seem to be a sense of home or homeland. People move to L.A. because their old towns didn't suit them, and people move away from L.A. because they think some other place would suit them better.

I'm a bit surprised at how easy a decision this is for so many people: how easy it is to say that since this home isn't right, that we can find something better.

For me, with three generations of my family buried in Los Angeles soil, I feel like I would be betraying my history by leaving. I would be invalidating all the struggles my family made since World War 1. I realize this is old-school thinking, but I can't be the only person that thinks this way.

I wonder if most of Los Angeles's problems come from the fact that it is such an easy place to run to or run away from. If this is just a temporary destination, why try to fix it.

Do you feel like L.A. is a place you have roots or is your homeland? In the 21st century, does it matter if you don't have a place you call home?

[disgruntled la native]

nah LA's problems come from inept government and overpopulation, not because people pursue dreams (and usually fail) here.

but I agree about the roots being here. I can move around the city, and have lived in 4 different neighborhoods, and that's enough moving.

[CALGUY]

I was born and raised in the fridgid northeast, and when the power of reason confronted me, I moved from that cold climate, never to return again.
I have lived in Los Angeles almost forty years now, and this IS my home.
There isn't another place on earth that I can truly say could be my home.
Bob.

[SlowMotionApocalypse]

I was born here and lived here my whole life. But I don't know how much longer I will be able to afford to.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

we do have many that can't seem to come up with the entrance fee to stay. Many people want to be able to buy a place of their own and that is not always a possibility. My parents moved to Port Hueneme with the Navy back in the early 1960's. My moms family is from Chicago and my dads family is from Dallas. Both cities have a lot of history for me. In South Dallas my early relatives owned the land and sold it off over time. They are well known in the area and have historic homes that you can visit today. In Chicago the Polish community where my mom is from built the Polish Catholic Church and they are still in the area. My Uncle owns the home my mom grew up in. He bought it from my grand father, who bought it from my great grand father. Family roots are deep back there. In both cities I have relatives that are still running family owned companies. Many of the kids went on to get educations or joined the service and moved on. I think that is what you run into in LA. Many of the kids moved on to carreers that they could now have because their parents sent them to school. Not all of those jobs were in the old city and many were in places like Los Angeles. People moved here leaving their old life and started a new one here. Because of my parents moving here in the early 60's I am a product of that. My kids are being raised in Oxnard. Not sure if they will stay as I am sure when they grow up and finish school they will probably move on to where ever the jobs are. If they are here then lucky them. If not then the cycle continues.

[uptown_urbanist]

I only lived in LA for three years, but felt like it became "home" relatively quickly. We'd be there still if it weren't for the lousy economy and the offer to either relocate or lose a job. I know many others in similar positions, including those who were born and raised in the city: much as you love a place or have family in the area (we do have CA family connections) you still need to be able to afford to live there, and while LA isn't as expensive as some cities, it still costs quite a bit, especially if you have children. I'd be happy to move back, and we may well do so sometime in the future, but for now we've accepted that home doesn't have to be one permanent place. I don't think it's an easy decision for most people; it certainly wasn't for us. It was easy in the sense that we couldn't risk not having a decent job that allowed us to pay our bills and provide for our child, but it wasn't easy in that we loved where we lived, felt that we were putting down roots, and had envisioned sticking around for the long-run.

[DewDropInn]

After being born and raised a So Cal girl I never thought I'd leave. But it just got harder and harder and harder to live in L.A. Overpopulation. Pollution. Crime. Traffic. Cost of living. I moved to an area that is so quiet at night I can hear my heart beat. After a year I realised life didn't have to be one constant battle and I hadn't honked my car horn at some idiot trying to squeeze into my lane since I left.

I'll be back when I'm dead. The family plot at Forest Lawn is bought and paid for.

[Count David]

Just because a place was good to grow up in, and just because that place was good for your parents and grandparents, doesn't mean it has to be (or is) good for you.

I left my "homeland" because it didn't suit the kind of lifestyle I wanted to have. I felt like an impostor, like I didn't fit in (or belong) to the madness.

With the exception of my brother, my mother's entire side of the family has abandoned greater LA. My father's entire side is still there, living their lives just as their parents did.

In life and America, we have this thing called freewill. I'm not going to live my life in a way, or a place, just because my family did, or because I grew up there.

I'll make my own way in a place where I want to be.

[SandyCo]

I've lived here my entire life, but my parents moved here from New York. No real "roots" here unless you count that I've been here for 47 years and my children are here. I'm probably not going anywhere, at least not until I retire. I love the people I work with (a rarity in the business I'm in!) and I make decent money. No, I can't afford to buy a house here, but renting isn't so bad if you find the right apartment.

Yes, a lot of people come from somewhere else for a myriad of reasons. However, there are also a lot of stable families who have been here for a long time, and they aren't leaving (maybe they bought their house back in 1960, and have long since paid off their mortgage, etc.). L.A. isn't 100% made up of transients.

[Curmudgeon]

I believe California has always had a very mobile population compared to many other states. I was born in San Diego but raised mostly in Newport Beach when I wasn't somewhere else due to my father's military career. Throughout my life which included living in eight other states and three other countries I always considered Newport to be my home. Unfortunately, by the time I left the service in 1978, the cost of living there was beyond my ability to afford so I had to move elsewhere in SoCal. In time, my parents who were both originally from New York sold the Newport Beach house and moved elsewhere in retirement as well, ending up in Dana Point before they died.

I guess what I'm leading up to is that roots and a homeland always seemed important to me, perhaps because I was uprooted so often and really lacked them throughout my life. As an adult I finally ended up in Sacramento finishing out a career with the state. In time I had to admit that while Newport Beach was my "designated" childhood home, Sacramento became my de facto adult home where I spent my last 20 years in CA. Now, in my own retirement, I've moved one last time to another state and that should be my last move. Thankfully, where I am now has become "home" in every sense of the word.

Unfortunately, my own military career and civilian career needs thereafter robbed my children of a real childhood home and they are now scattered, living in three different California cities and two cities in another state while one grandchild lived in yet a third state. I also have to consider that in visiting my childhood home one last time about 15 years ago, it was much changed from the way it had been and I likely wouldn't have been that happy with it, although had I been there throughout the changes, I might not have noticed them as much.

There was a time when I was resentful of my father's career that tore me away from my childhood home so often. Then I did the same to my children. I have to say that I envy those who are still happy and content in the place where their family has lived, perhaps for several generations. They must have a real sense of belonging. On balance, I also have to say that my rather nomadic lifestyle has been filled with adventure and ever-new experiences. But given the ability to go back in time and make changes, in the end I wish my family and I had simply stayed put.