Why in the world is Los Angeles so looked down upon (San Diego: how much, house)

[taydigga]

Originally Posted by mrsltd

Easy, pal.

This is the disadvantage of communication via e-mail. You can neither see nor hear what is going on with my facial expressions or voice. And no, not having a bad day.

No, I don't care that much about where we rank on top-ten lists, and the other two things you brought up would be going outside of the scope of this thread (I think) if we were to discuss them. I am ok with going off-topic but perhaps not everyone else is.

Yeah I thought your post was misunderstood. I went and read it 3x and didn't see much wrong with it.

[Chicano3000X]

Most people hate L.A. because we are too gangster for them..

[yowps3]

Originally Posted by taydigga

Yeah but DTLA in 10 years is going to be central, hopefully the transit system improves because it sucks when you know on a good day you can drive to DT in 10 minutes but it takes 45 when it's traffic...still, I love this city.

The suburban lifestyle is too strongly embedded into the Californian lifestyle. And DTLA will never become what DT NYC is. Which agian is a good thing!

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by Mr. Opinionated

Los Angeles is a world-renowned icon. It is not small town everybody say good morning America. And some visiting people are just unrealstic and unfair, expecting way too much from what is essentially a vary large place that is so much more than a tourist resort like Hollywod or Disneyland. The city of Los Angeles is place where many grew up as people just as real as the tourists, who actually work and live. To hate it sounds more like plain old envy.

Yeah. I think that a lot of people come to LA expecting that it will be exactly like home, or NYC, or Paris, or London, etc etc etc... just with palm trees, sunshine, and nothing but beautiful, rich people.

When they discover that it's its own place, with its own culture, own amenities, and own aesthetic; and that for every rich, glamorous person there are fifty regular people just going about their business, it freaks them out. They didn't do enough research when they planned their trip and didn't realize that the 35 miles between Hollywood and Anaheim is NOT like the 35 miles from Oklahoma City to Purcell and will take much longer than a half an hour, or that there's no subway straight to the airport like in NYC or Boston, and come away frustrated and angry at what a "mess" the place is.

[1200RT]

Originally Posted by Chicano3000X

Most people hate L.A. because we are too gangster for them..

is that so.

[LA Fan]

Originally Posted by 415_s2k

or that there's no subway straight to the airport like in NYC or Boston, and come away frustrated and angry at what a "mess" the place is.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there is a subway that goes to either NYC or Boston airport. Unless something changed in NYC since I last visited back in 2010, I've always had to take a bus shuttle or cab/limo to either JFK, or Newark.

I know there is a some sort of shuttle to reach the subway from JFK, but no direct subway station at the airport. As far as I know it's the same for Boston too, so it much easier and faster to take a cab/limo or airport shuttle into the city.

Only Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco (only in recent years) Cleveland, and perhaps Miami (not 100% sure) have direct connections.

[PDF]

Originally Posted by LA Fan

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there is a subway that goes to either NYC or Boston airport. Unless something changed in NYC since I last visited back in 2010, I've always had to take a bus shuttle or cab/limo to either JFK, or Newark.

I know there is a some sort of shuttle to reach the subway from JFK, but no direct subway station at the airport. As far as I know it's the same for Boston too, so it much easier and faster to take a cab/limo or airport shuttle into the city.

Only Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco (only in recent years) Cleveland, and perhaps Miami (not 100% sure) have direct connections.

NYC has the AirTrain that goes from JFK and Newark airports, but then you have to connect to the subway or local commuter train. LaGuardia is so close to Manhattan that it not having a subway connection isn't a good argument.

More cities than that have subway connections at their airport. You have to count light rail, which is appearing in most cities now, because what's the difference between hopping on a subway at the airport vs. light rail?

I found the FlyAway at LAX to be extremely convenient. Everyone should take it.

[moonsparkle]

Totally agree about the FlyAway...it is convienient and more cities should do something similar...even those cities with "amazing public transit".

Back to topic...

An interesting way of looking at this...if Hurricane Sandy was to hit LA (or if whatever version of Hurricane that can theoretically hit LA actually did), people would start topics making jokes about it. A large percentage of posters here on CD would in fact probably be happy.

The unrestrained hate for LA from status-quo society can really be that bad. They know it's a "cooler" place than where they are from, and generally can't stand this. It really takes a certain kind of person to understand and appreciate LA, and I think that's a big part of what makes LA what it is. Sort of like telling everywhere else off without having to actually do it.

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by trancedout

Totally agree about the FlyAway...it is convienient and more cities should do something similar...even those cities with "amazing public transit".

Back to topic...

An interesting way of looking at this...if Hurricane Sandy was to hit LA (or if whatever version of Hurricane that can theoretically hit LA actually did), people would start topics making jokes about it. A large percentage of posters here on CD would in fact probably be happy.

The unrestrained hate for LA from status-quo society can really be that bad. They know it's a "cooler" place than where they are from, and generally can't stand this. It really takes a certain kind of person to understand and appreciate LA, and I think that's a big part of what makes LA what it is. Sort of like telling everywhere else off without having to actually do it.

This is true.

Not a popular or comfortable thing to say, but, prior to 9/11, NYC was nowhere near as loved as it is now; in addition to the "HOLY CRAP" factor, it reminded people that New York is filled with hard-working Americans - human beings - and that when a disaster or attack that strikes a major, dense city hits, it has the potential to harm millions of honest, everyday hardworking peoples' lives. In the wake of 9/11, we were "all New Yorkers." People who had previously dumped on New York for being full of immigrants became aware of how many of those immigrants rushed to try to help in any way they could; many of those pushy jerks stopped what they were doing and tried to help their fellow man. Every NYPD officer was a hero in the wake of numerous shows, movies, and documentaries that humanized what were previously a caricature of brutality and corruption in most peoples' minds, no matter how true that was or wasn't.

LA (thankfully) hasn't had any terrorist attacks, and for that matter, no natural disasters in some time; no big tragedies that highlight the humanity of LA's citizens, no catastrophic disasters to highlight how we can pull together to get eachother through the worst of times, and no murderous acts of aggression to rally the nation to arms. I, personally, don't think that the show is worth the cost of entrance in this regard.

Now, what LA does have since 9/11 is the brunt of an increasingly-vocal conservative media - since NYC was now off limits as a city of heroes and patriots - and greater LA was one of the biggest, or at least most well-known, of the boom-and-bust areas in the US. In the rest of the US, articles about the insatiable appetite for new homes, rising property values, and overnight millionaires turned LA back into a boomtown; on the one hand, it attracted people from all over the US and world, as it always had, and on the other, it became in many peoples' minds a place where everyone had more than everyone, everywhere else. Read peoples' impressions about how everyone here has a BMW and an iPhone and a "fake" tan (actually, no, we have the sun...); it became a dumping ground for all the spite of consumption-averse liberals, and diversity-loathing conservatives.

All of a sudden, it's "acceptable" to a large swath of people if LA gets dealt a blow and millions of its citizens suffer. It seems like a lot of people would like to see that... they'd like to see Los Angelenos "pay" for something. Pay for what? We already pay for the negatives of LA every day: the taxes, the traffic, blah, blah, blah. Really, they want to see LA pay for their own ignorance and yes, probably, some of their jealousy. I don't understand this; I don't want to see any city suffer a disaster. I can't stand watching disaster movies. The thought of families watching their homes flood in the South, or searching a field for loved ones after a tornado in the midwest, or an earthquake that levels part of China, a tsunami that takes out the Japanese countryside, and now seeing Manhattan underwater fills me with absolutely no joy at all because I think of people in pain, agony, and heartbreak.

People act like they're a whistleblower and an exceptionalist by proudly proclaiming that LA is polluted. It's dirty. It's full of immigrants. It's expensive. It's crowded. It's unnatural. The thing is that pretty much everyone says that so ultimately it's nothing new, and these exact same things are true of any other major city anywhere in the world that's the size of LA.

When I travel within the US and people ask me where I'm from, I usually either tell them Boston, San Francisco, or LA, the latter depending on where I'm living at the time, and Boston being my hometown. If I say Boston or San Francisco, most people have a positive reaction. If I tell them Los Angeles, maybe 1/3rd of them have a positive reaction, and the other 2/3rds have a very metered, "oh." Or, when I was up in Seattle, it was like I'd said "I don't have a hometown; I eat babies and dolphins."

[moonsparkle]

I've noticed on this forum, LA posters are generally aware of the outside perception, and are able to discuss that others don't like LA and still remain rational. Sometimes I wonder if it's offset by the fact that there are always people that are completely enamored with LA in ways typically unfounded with other cities. NYC is very well-known as well, but also doesn't seem to present the "cool" lifestyle that LA is generally associated with.

In other forums, especially some sunbelt/midwestern cities, people generally get very angry discussing any negative perceptions of their hometown/state. It's like they are unable to do so, and everyone must really like that place (should be state law in their opinion), and anyone who complains they don't like a particular city must have mental problems or "they are the problem". I've seen that card pulled so many times when someone doesn't like a city.

LA forum is maybe the only forum where people actually seem rational. I personally associate those civic-cheerleaders-at-all-costs as being ignorant. You simply don't seem to find that with LA. For being known as a fake city, it can be very real.