The "Small" Feeling (Los Angeles, Pittsburg: living, club, beach)

[moonsparkle]

Anyone else ever get this in LA?

Example 1...you're at Pinkberry somewhere in West LA with that girl you met at a club last week. Next thing you see, some Persian guy in a new Ferrari 458 Italia pulls up...next to your "compact" car. Your date can't help but notice. Compared to this guy, you're an ant.

Example 2...You're walking out of H&M at the Beverly Center. You see a madam-looking woman walking out of Prada draped in Swarovski crystal necklaces valued at more than your net worth. You're dressed pretty well, looking stylish. Then an A-list actor in a leather Dior Jacket worth 20K walks by you. Again, you're an ant.

Every other major city has wealthy people...but you don't get the same "small" feeling that you get when you see it in LA. I don't know if it's because when you're in LA, you know this is a playground for the rich, you know it's place that millionaire tourists intentionally seek out.

You know you might see a celebrity, you might see paparazzi, you might see Cristiano Ronaldo (he's been known to visit LA). A Saudi Prince might be hanging out in LA as well.

I still think LA is worth it, but I never had this feeling of being "an ant" in Miami, Chicago, Vegas, even NY for the matter.

There's no city on Earth that has the "who's who" of the world in entertainment, art, film, music, and even sports on occasion, in one greater concentration at any given time.

[MIKEETC]

I used to get that feeling. But then I stopped caring about material things and this 'ant' felt better.

[try it - there is a freedom in it that other people can only wish they could have]

[Chicano3000X]

Stay out of the west side. Real people live in the other ares.

[DinsdalePirahna]

live your own life. Set your own standards.

[moonsparkle]

I should explain better...

You can be in any other city and surrounded by wealth, and you won't get this feeling to extent one will in LA.

Take Houston's Galleria for example, Chicago's Miracle Mile, Uptown Dallas....you can be in either of those, be surrounded by extremely wealthy people as well, and you won't feel this at all. I think it has to do with those being "regular American cities" and there is nothing cool about any of them. Or, because a substantial amount of the middle/upper middle class will do whatever they can in LA to "look the part", where in other cities, the ultra-wealthy oftentimes don't look the part and drive regular cars.

Vegas Strip and South Beach are simply too touristy to get the same feeling. Most people are only visiting. There is something about the wealth in LA, combined with everything that LA represents, that causes the "ant" feeling. I think it has to do with a lot of the "rich" in LA being in an envied industry - entertainment. They have more status than the rich in other cities...who are all accountants, doctors, financiers, business people, etc. Basically replicas.

[CaliSon]

I feel small when I peak over at the guy urinating next to me

[moonsparkle]

lol

[Chicano3000X]

Originally Posted by trancedout

I should explain better...

You can be in any other city and surrounded by wealth, and you won't get this feeling to extent one will in LA.

Take Houston's Galleria for example, Chicago's Miracle Mile, Uptown Dallas....you can be in either of those, be surrounded by extremely wealthy people as well, and you won't feel this at all. I think it has to do with those being "regular American cities" and there is nothing cool about any of them. Or, because a substantial amount of the middle/upper middle class will do whatever they can in LA to "look the part", where in other cities, the ultra-wealthy oftentimes don't look the part and drive regular cars.

Vegas Strip and South Beach are simply too touristy to get the same feeling. Most people are only visiting. There is something about the wealth in LA, combined with everything that LA represents, that causes the "ant" feeling. I think it has to do with a lot of the "rich" in LA being in an envied industry - entertainment. They have more status than the rich in other cities...who are all accountants, doctors, financiers, business people, etc. Basically replicas.

IDK about envied. It make's LA look fake. Hollywood itself doesn't really respect Los Angeles. Watch the youtube documentary "Los Angeles Plays Itself". It talks about Hollywood's influence on LA's image.


Here's a different question, are rich people more snobbish in LA or NY?

[moonsparkle]

LA.

In NY they are confined to a few square miles in Manhattan. The 4 other boroughs might as well be Pittsburgh.

LA without Hollywood is sort of like Shakespeare without Hamlet. It's not really a plausible way of looking at things. They are synonymous with each other.

[oomph]

Its alright to feel less than, But, realize you are the one experiencing the discontent.

I love this Socrates quote: He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.

Living within my means is very liberating. We all get to make these choices for ourselves.