how big is the greater LA area really? (Los Angeles, San Diego: homes, live in)

[nobody067]

i'm wondering,can people from San Clemente,Lancaster,Ventura and San Bernardino say that they are from Los Angeles? do you guys know the area that is greater LA? i consider anything in LA County to be LA,but i think places like Ventura and San Bernardino are not really LA. so,what is LA and what is not?

if you live in Mission Viejo for instance,can you tell an out of towner that you live in LA?

[the Instigator]

Originally Posted by nobody067

i'm wondering,can people from San Clemente,Lancaster,Ventura and San Bernardino say that they are from Los Angeles? do you guys know the area that is greater LA? i consider anything in LA County to be LA,but i think places like Ventura and San Bernardino are not really LA. so,what is LA and what is not?

if you live in Mission Viejo for instance,can you tell an out of towner that you live in LA?

Google it, I have no idea why people come on here asking questions that they can easily find on a quick engine search

[EscapeCalifornia]

I don't know anyone from OC who would say they're from LA. If someone from OC were in London and asked where they were from, they would probably say "Southern California" or maybe "Near Los Angeles".

[Chicano3000X]

Originally Posted by the Instigator

Google it, I have no idea why people come on here asking questions that they can easily find on a quick engine search

Because no discussion comes out of it hence the purpose of this forum.

[thedwightguy]

IMO Mission Viejo would be identified as "Southern California". Los Angeles is certainly a center point, but where would be the center point for Orange County? Historically, the traffic circle in the centre of the City of Orange? And M.V. is not San Diego, either.

I lived in Anaheim in the years that people from L.A. County were all talking about moving to the "country" in Orange County, without realizing that Beach Boulevard from Disneyland to the beach had all been paved.......by a Canadian company, Cadillac Fairview. All the groves and strawberry fields were gone to tract homes and industrial courts, but five and ten years later it was still "the country" in the minds of L.A.!

As a result, in the 70's there was always this pretentiousness that O.C. was NOT L.A., whatever it was.

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by nobody067

i'm wondering,can people from San Clemente,Lancaster,Ventura and San Bernardino say that they are from Los Angeles? do you guys know the area that is greater LA? i consider anything in LA County to be LA,but i think places like Ventura and San Bernardino are not really LA. so,what is LA and what is not?

if you live in Mission Viejo for instance,can you tell an out of towner that you live in LA?

This question again... no, Orange County, Ventura, and San bernandino are not LA. Have little to do with LA. Lifestyle and culture is different. I don't think anyone would argue about that.

Now where it gets tricky is within LA county. Obviously, there is the city of LA which is LA. Santa Monica, Culver City, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, and San Fernando are surrounded by the city of LA and the first four are crucial to the city of LA's identity. So even though they are other cities, they are about as LA as it gets.

What about the South Bay cities? Torrance? Pasadena? Burbank? Glendale? the whole san gabriel valley? Long Beach? Are they LA?

They are in the county of LA, but I think life and identity in those areas is significantly different from most of the city of LA. I would not consider those cities LA, but if meeting someone from Europe, it would be easier to say LA than Long Beach.

[hollaathenry]

they don't call it "greater" la for no reason hahha

anyway most of my friends from LA county just say LA to out of towners, and most of my OC friends just say OC. when we're talking to each other we're more specific. not sure about san bernardino/riverside

[MB8abovetherim]

Originally Posted by hollaathenry

they don't call it "greater" la for no reason hahha

anyway most of my friends from LA county just say LA to out of towners, and most of my OC friends just say OC. when we're talking to each other we're more specific. not sure about san bernardino/riverside

I think it depends. There are so many cities and places in the LA area that for convenience when out of town one might say they are from LA when they are really from say, Fontana or something. Now, when in SoCal he will say he's from Fontana and not LA but when talking to people who aren't familiar with how SoCal and the LA area mesh together telling them Fontana would lead to them asking where THAT is. If they say LA then the person asking will instantly know and that will be that.

As for my opinion. I've always thought of LA County as being LA minus the High desert. San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and Ventura counties are LA Area or their own entity if one chooses. On paper, Greater Los Angeles is damn near all of SoCal these days anyway.

[timtemtym]

Most SoCal peeps I've met go by the county if they don't want to just say SoCal. So it's LA if in LA county (other than the AV), OC, SD, etc... That's odd to me how some metro areas go for a bland term rather than identify with the central city.

This seems like a weak central city metro like people from around Dallas/Fort Worth say they're from North Texas or people around miami say South Florida.
VS
metros with a strong central city identification like Chicago (or Chicagoland), Houston, etc... Not sure why some metros do this and some don't.

[hipcat]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

Most SoCal peeps I've met go by the county if they don't want to just say SoCal. So it's LA if in LA county (other than the AV), OC, SD, etc... That's odd to me how some metro areas go for a bland term rather than identify with the central city.

This seems like a weak central city metro like people from around Dallas/Fort Worth say they're from North Texas or people around miami say South Florida.
VS
metros with a strong central city identification like Chicago (or Chicagoland), Houston, etc... Not sure why some metros do this and some don't.

LA and DFW are extremely decentralized metro areas. The South Bay has little in common with other areas of LA county. It feels like its own world sometimes.