Does LA have an inferiority complex when it comes to NYC? (Los Angeles: top schools, college)

[latino_esq]

Originally Posted by hipcat

Nice strawman arguement. I didn't mention NYC at all in my post.

Well the topic/question of this forum is: Does LA have an inferiority complex when it comes to NYC?
And your post that I replied to did start off like:

Originally Posted by hipcat

I'll tell you why...

From this I was assuming you're telling us why Angelinos have an inferiority complex to NYC.

Originally Posted by hipcat

Nice strawman arguement. I didn't mention NYC at all in my post. But what you said in bold told the whole story. A person from Brentwood will stay within the demographic bubble in the Westside, and the Hipster from Silverlake will stay within the thier Hollywood/Silver Lake/Echo Park bubble with little overlap. This city has a decentralized nature where the residents will tend to stick to thier own area, and rarely leave outside of it.

Here's what I mean.
Los Angeles: Urbanism Alone | Split Labs

No what I said in bold does not tell the whole story. I only said that this person would likely stay within their demographics.

Originally Posted by jm1982

It's really hard to tell if people in L.A stick to their own areas or not . Not sure if there are any legit studies on this..but it would be very interesting..

I'm sure even in NYC for example ,you could find a bunch of people from Manhattan that don't go to Brooklyn or the Bronx or vice versa. Even though the distances are much smaller than say Santa Monica to Hollywood.

I know there are a lot of people especially older people on the Westside that don't like driving to Downtown for example or Hollywood..which is understandable with the traffic and hassles ,etc. People can limit themselves in ways like that.

"There's a great performance at the Music Center...but driving downtown from Santa Monica/Brentwood is a nightmare"

I personally like to explore a bit and enjoy seeing different areas...but perhaps I am not the norm.

But as jm1982 put it, it is very hard to tell if people stick to their own areas.
But this is not an LA only issue. This happens everywhere. I lived in Salt Lake City for a period of time. Salt Lake has really good public transportation and the freeway systems are a breeze. I have yet to see any notable difference in people willing to commute outside of their demographic "bubble", as compared to LA. (Actually, I noticed the people in SLC might less to venture out). Same thing with San Diego and New York, also cities I have lived in. As people have available resources within their "bubble", people may tend to stay within that "bubble" due to factors such as comfort, ease of access, affordability, etc.

The number of variables that would play into this equation could be quite extensive but probably the most important one, in my opinion, would be a person's age:
Try making your argument (people in LA are decentralized) as to people 18-30 years old. I highly doubt the people within this age range tend to stick to their own "bubble". People in this age group, will be more likely to explore different areas of their city than older people. Same thing may go for married people who are either more likely to be establishing themselves as a family, or already in a family system (people who have kids), and thus might be less likely to venture out. I might be theorizing here, as I'm too lazy at this time to read into any studies, but I'm pretty sure any written material would support these assumptions.
Nevertheless, in both instances the population of Los Angeles is generally younger and less likely to be married as compared to the rest of the United States.
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When you look at both, New York and Los Angeles are pretty close in terms of those two variables (age, marriage), with LA being a younger crowd an less likely to be married.
I'm sure income is also something to consider. I have not looked into this, and I'm sure the two cities are still pretty close. But unless you're a mathematician and take into account cost of living, and other factors, I don't want to hear your argument on this.

All in all, with the available options for entertainment and culture in Los Angeles, there is no reason to believe LA is more decentralized and people live within their "bubble" than anywhere else.

[Mr. Zero]

Originally Posted by latino_esq

All in all, with the available options for entertainment and culture in Los Angeles, there is no reason to believe LA is more decentralized and people live within their "bubble" than anywhere else.

I would say that LA is probably more decentralized than New York, just because so many of the jobs, restaurants and stores and schools are located in Manhattan.

[415_s2k]

Just to weigh in on the OP: I don't feel much of an inferiority complex in LA in regards to NYC. As far as tickets in competitions and whatnot go... well, think about how many national contests give you an opportunity to go to HOLLYWOOD?? Well, what's the draw in that for us here? I mean, we all go to Hollywood at some point or another. It'd be about as thrilling as someone who lives in Brooklyn winning tickets for a 2-night stay in Manhattan to see a play on Broadway.

There are lots of people in LA who are either from NYC, or have lived there, or went to school there, or frequently go back and forth for work; if you can hack it in LA professionally, then chances are you could hack it in NYC professionally. I love NYC and lived there briefly... but came back to LA. I just like it more out here, and I think you'll find that with many people in LA.

For the most part, the only people I encounter on a regular basis who have any sort of inferiority complex about NYC are select folks in the fashion, arts, or hipster scenes who endlessly talk about how they "think they're going to move to New York" because of the fashion scene, galleries, etc. Pretty much none of them ever do.

[BarcelonaFan]

For the most part, the only people I encounter on a regular basis who have any sort of inferiority complex about NYC are select folks in the fashion, arts, or hipster scenes who endlessly talk about how they "think they're going to move to New York" because of the fashion scene, galleries, etc. Pretty much none of them ever do.

This is kind of the lot I was speaking about mostly. A lot of these people even say that they're using LA as a stepping stone to get to NYC. They complain about LA and think NYC is glamorous not realizing that NYC is far more the elitist, pretentious urban jungle than LA can ever hope to be. Try replacing vapid uber-materialistic people with vapid uber-materialistic people with more talent, brains, pedigrees, experience and an insufferable attitude that will have you packing up and coming back to the Valley in no time.

[K 22]

Originally Posted by Mr. Zero

I would say that LA is probably more decentralized than New York, just because so many of the jobs, restaurants and stores and schools are located in Manhattan.

That's like saying the sun is hotter than a lit match.

And honestly, LA being a decentralized town is part of its charm, IMO.

[RaymondChandlerLives]

Originally Posted by BarcelonaFan

This is kind of the lot I was speaking about mostly. A lot of these people even say that they're using LA as a stepping stone to get to NYC. They complain about LA and think NYC is glamorous not realizing that NYC is far more the elitist, pretentious urban jungle than LA can ever hope to be. Try replacing vapid uber-materialistic people with vapid uber-materialistic people with more talent, brains, pedigrees, experience and an insufferable attitude that will have you packing up and coming back to the Valley in no time.

No matter how much you try to dress this up as a compliment, it's still an insult.

There are number of industries where Los Angeles is in fact the Mecca people aspire to get to. Some pretty damn good colleges here too (complete with smart students), great arts scene, etc, etc. Trying to paint L.A. as the "capital of dumb" has the stink of a superiority complex. I see a lot of from transplants, no offense.

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by BarcelonaFan

This is kind of the lot I was speaking about mostly. A lot of these people even say that they're using LA as a stepping stone to get to NYC. They complain about LA and think NYC is glamorous not realizing that NYC is far more the elitist, pretentious urban jungle than LA can ever hope to be. Try replacing vapid uber-materialistic people with vapid uber-materialistic people with more talent, brains, pedigrees, experience and an insufferable attitude that will have you packing up and coming back to the Valley in no time.

Yeah, I've certainly had friends and known people who did move to NYC because they thought they were going to discover this massive, bustling arts or fashion scene that would either welcome them as a new member and equal with open arms, or stand aside in awe of their talent. They discovered that the inroads they'd made in those scenes in LA didn't mean squat out there, the same way that they generally don't mean squat for a NY'er in LA - only a fraction of their momentum and success carried over and they essentially had to start anew, in an even more saturated, competitive, and cutthroat environment.

Nearly all of them are back in LA now, some of them after only a month or two.

[BarcelonaFan]

Yup. Like I've said before, LA is still competitive but the real killer is the cost of living which if you can conquer that you will have a much better time climbing the ladder, especially if you have ample experience, pedigreed and can network

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by K 22

That's like saying the sun is hotter than a lit match.

And honestly, LA being a decentralized town is part of its charm, IMO.

I agree. It's cool to be able to go to just about any corner of the city, even any corner of the county, and be able to find something cool and interesting other than bland bedroom communities, which is the case in a lot of more centralized metros.

[RumNCoke]

Never ever heard of the idea until now. Never even knew something like this could exist.