Does LA feel like the 2nd biggest city in America to you? (Los Angeles: how much, theatre)

[PDF]

For those of you living in LA, what does Los Angeles feel like to you? Does it feel like a global city and the largest city in the US after NYC?

When I was there, it did and it didn't. But in my short time there most of the time LA felt much smaller than it actually is. In NYC, you instantly know this is one of the top cities in the world.

Basically what I'm asking is, does LA feel like a smaller city due to its spread-out nature? Or can you recognize that you are in a top city? Again, to me, it was a mixture of both.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by PDF

For those of you living in LA, what does Los Angeles feel like to you? Does it feel like a global city and the largest city in the US after NYC?

When I was there, it did and it didn't. But in my short time there most of the time LA felt much smaller than it actually is. In NYC, you instantly know this is one of the top cities in the world.

Basically what I'm asking is, does LA feel like a smaller city due to its spread-out nature? Or can you recognize that you are in a top city? Again, to me, it was a mixture of both.

Looking down on the basin from the Hollywood Hills it is hard to argue that Los Angeles looks or feels small in any way.

[BarcelonaFan]

I live in the Valley and it sometimes can feel like I am in a regular city with slight exceptions.

Downtown LA while not being a total let down, it still didn't have that New York feel. It felt a little more urban than downtown Houston to me.

What makes LA feel like a world class city is West LA. I mean Wilshire Corridor, Westwood, Beverly Hills, Century City make you feel like a tiny pauper. Outside of West LA it's Koreatown which feels a lot like Brooklyn/Upper Manhattan, Miracle Mile, and Hollywood.

But to answer your question, yes I do feel like I am in a world class city like NYC. LA to me is more world class than Chicago, DC and Boston which are amazingly world class. Los Angeles is just a different beast than the traditional world class towns.

The beauty of it all is that LA doesn't feel intimidating, at least not to me, as NYC or DC or Boston or even Chicago. These cities attract the best of the best talent. Not that there is no talent in LA but there is just a lot more people with a dollar and a dream here than actual skills, education and drive.

[RaymondChandlerLives]

Reminds me of the time I took a family member for a cruise on Mulholland Drive on his first night in town. He wasn't much of a fan of L.A., but when we stopped and got out, he admitted it that he was impressed by the huge sea of lights that spread out before him. He was even more impressed when I told he was only looking at the San Fernando Valley. The other 4/5ths of the metro region were that way, I said. Basically, Los Angeles is a ginormous bastard, and feels that way. Even DTLA, which is supposed to be "tiny", covers about 5 sq miles inside the freeway loop. This city has been called many things, some good, some bad. Almost no one says it feels small.

As for world class, the city speaks for itself. Very few, if any, metropolitain areas offer the array of amenities Los Angeles does. This is one of the entertainment and cultural capitals of the globe, and acts accordingly.

[nowincal11]

LA feels like the biggest American city. It just keeps going and going. Virtually everything is middle density with some high density spread throughout. Back East, the urban density in the center of each city gradually becomes less dense as you go farther away. In LA County, the density just keeps going.

[Carlite]

Every time I'm in LA, I wind up saying at least once some version of "Geez, this place is big." But it's not merely that it's big, it's that there are great things in so many places. From the beach to at least Monterey Park there's something worthwhile. LA feels like a big city to me because all of the nationalities represented there, especially when they open good little restaurants! It feels like a big city because there's so much cultural life--theatre, special movies, art (presumably music too, I just don't go to live music much). It feels like a big city because it's always moving.

I don't know if it feels like #2, I don't know how to compare it to Chicago, which is a very different city in many ways. I love San Francisco and the Bay Area, but Los Angeles feels like a bigger city.

[nightlysparrow]

No matter how much I've been around L.A. and think I know L.A., there are many cities I've never been to---and can't say exactly where they are if asked.

And looking at a list of L.A.cities, there are some I have never heard of! It's that enormous.

[mayorhaggar]

It's just not dense or walkable enough to feel like a real city to me. Parts of downtown LA feel like a city, but that is about it. The LA area just feels like a giant collection of suburbs, which it basically is. It's because it came of age in the automobile era, later than other denser urban areas. I can understand why this is, but it means the LA area lacks a lot of the charm and sense of convenience that a real city has. Certainly I like it better than other sprawly late-blooming cities like Atlanta or cities in Florida, and it's better than moribund rust belt cities like Detroit or Cleveland, but compared to SF, Chicago, Paris, etc, it's just too unlikeable either as an urban or suburban area.

The LA area does have some aspects of major cities, like a lot of parts are very gritty and look worn in--not necessarily filthy, just well-used. And there's a lot of crowding--crowded buses and trains, crowded freeways, crowded stores sometimes. But a lot of other stuff it generally lacks.

[RaymondChandlerLives]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

It's just not dense or walkable enough to feel like a real city to me. Parts of downtown LA feel like a city, but that is about it. The LA area just feels like a giant collection of suburbs, which it basically is. It's because it came of age in the automobile era, later than other denser urban areas. I can understand why this is, but it means the LA area lacks a lot of the charm and sense of convenience that a real city has. Certainly I like it better than other sprawly late-blooming cities like Atlanta or cities in Florida, and it's better than moribund rust belt cities like Detroit or Cleveland, but compared to SF, Chicago, Paris, etc, it's just too unlikeable either as an urban or suburban area.

The LA area does have some aspects of major cities, like a lot of parts are very gritty and look worn in--not necessarily filthy, just well-used. And there's a lot of crowding--crowded buses and trains, crowded freeways, crowded stores sometimes. But a lot of other stuff it generally lacks.

You're entitled to your opinion, but not your own facts, and you are completely, 100% incorrect about L.A. not being dense--it has more high density tracts than Chicago and San Francisco. Hell, the L.A. area has as many residents living at 20,000+ ppsm densities as Chicago and San Francisco COMBINED. Not bad for a suburb, huh?

Fun fact:

Chicagoland + The Bay Area = 17.3 million people
Greater Los Angeles = 18 million people

[Patrolman]

Crime-wise, L.A seems HUGE.