When people tell me that LA is an ugly city...

[luzianne]

I think it has to do with LA not matching their perception of what they EXPECTED LA to look like. I'm speaking as an outsider. When I went to LA, I expected to see the LA I had seen on TV, the old Hollywood LA. I expected to see beauty everywhere I looked, with manicured lawns, landscaped everything, orange trees, palm trees and no eyesores at all. I was disappointed that that wasn't the case. I for sure didn't see all of LA but from what I did see, it was Beverly Hills that looked like I expected all of LA to look.

I was very disappointed with Malibu. I'm sure on the ocean side it is beautiful, but from the road side it just looks like a rundown shanty town.

Hollywood obviously isn't the way everyone imagines.

I saw the street S. Bundy and recognized it as Nicole Brown Simpson's street. Turns out I was just a block or so from her address so I went there and was surprised because I expected it to be a really nice, relatively wealthy neighborhood. It was just a normal neighborhood; nothing fancy at all. Again, not what I expected.

But still, I was intrigued and want to go back! I think if you grow up there, you probably love it. If you don't, I definitely think it would grow on you once you got over the shock of expectations versus reality.

I also realize it's dumb for people to base their perceptions of a place on what they see on TV or in movies. But that's sometimes their only frame of reference.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by Mr. Zero

The comparison shots are apples and oranges. The LA shots cover much more area (100s of blocks from way up high) while in the "suburb" shots, two blocks take up nearly a quarter of the frame. I'm sure you could cherry-pick the other way and find similar shots in Hancock Park or Pasadena. When driving through Lakewood or Cerritos, does that scream "big city" to you, or "suburbs"?

Lakewood and Cerritos are suburban for LA County. The fact that you are bringing up the area's most bucolic areas is kind of telling. I think most people are talking about the areas within 10 miles or so of DTLA or the Westside.

Either way, people sound dumb when they say LA is nothing but a collection of suburbs. Its walk ability and cohesion is far from an urbanist's dream but it is decidedly urban throughout.

[NativeOrange]

Originally Posted by luzianne

I think it has to do with LA not matching their perception of what they EXPECTED LA to look like. I'm speaking as an outsider. When I went to LA, I expected to see the LA I had seen on TV, the old Hollywood LA. I expected to see beauty everywhere I looked, with manicured lawns, landscaped everything, orange trees, palm trees and no eyesores at all. I was disappointed that that wasn't the case. I for sure didn't see all of LA but from what I did see, it was Beverly Hills that looked like I expected all of LA to look.

I was very disappointed with Malibu. I'm sure on the ocean side it is beautiful, but from the road side it just looks like a rundown shanty town.

Hollywood obviously isn't the way everyone imagines.

I saw the street S. Bundy and recognized it as Nicole Brown Simpson's street. Turns out I was just a block or so from her address so I went there and was surprised because I expected it to be a really nice, relatively wealthy neighborhood. It was just a normal neighborhood; nothing fancy at all. Again, not what I expected.

But still, I was intrigued and want to go back! I think if you grow up there, you probably love it. If you don't, I definitely think it would grow on you once you got over the shock of expectations versus reality.

I also realize it's dumb for people to base their perceptions of a place on what they see on TV or in movies. But that's sometimes their only frame of reference.

True. But that is true for all cities. Chicago doesn't advertise the south side, Miami doesn't show how third world some of it looks outside DT and South Beach. DC in my head, going off of expectations seems like it would be full of manicured lawns, old monuments and museums. But DC is very ghetto in some areas as well. LA's brand is much stronger though so expectations tend to be higher I guess.

[StreetLegal]

Originally Posted by luzianne

I was very disappointed with Malibu. I'm sure on the ocean side it is beautiful, but from the road side it just looks like a rundown shanty town.

.

Malibu a rundown shantytown? Haha.

Well, like a lot of tourists who don't know better you probably stopped near the Malibu pier which does have a tacky commercial strip sensibility to it. That part of it does not live up to expectations.

But by far the best part of Malibu is the part once you get past Pepperdine University. Only a blind person could call that stretch ugly (Point Dume, Zuma Beach, Paradise Cove, etc). Malibu is 27 miles of coastline. The part closest to LA is not nearly as good as the stuff further out.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by StreetLegal

Malibu a rundown shantytown? Haha.

Well, like a lot of tourists who don't know better you probably stopped near the Malibu pier which does have a tacky commercial strip sensibility to it. That part of it does not live up to expectations.

But by far the best part of Malibu is the part once you get past Pepperdine University. Only a blind person could call that stretch ugly (Point Dume, Zuma Beach, Paradise Cove, etc). Malibu is 27 miles of coastline. The part closest to LA is not nearly as good as the stuff further out.

I must have missed the good part. All I saw were rundown rentals, etc! Probably part of what I saw that was beautiful was Malibu and I didn't realize it. I bet the tacky commercial strip you are talking about is what I remember.

[StreetLegal]

Originally Posted by luzianne

I must have missed the good part. All I saw were rundown rentals, etc! Probably part of what I saw that was beautiful was Malibu and I didn't realize it. I bet the tacky commercial strip you are talking about is what I remember.

Yes, sounds like you stopped at the tacky/ugly commercial strip near the pier.

Next time just keep driving north past Pepperdine University campus. You will know the nice part when you see it.

[fromlosangeles]

Originally Posted by StreetLegal

1) All things being equal I will concur that "green" looks better than "arid"...but let's not forgot we are three years into a historic drought. So even by dry California standards the landscape is getting really, really parched.

2) LA is part swamp? Wow, that is news to me and the other 10 million people who live in LA County.

3) Also, how many places give you Mediterranean-style topography and seascapes combined with snow covered mountains and deserts all within a 90 minute drive. Not many. Despite LA's flaws, its natural topography/landscape remains one of the most spectacular on which to build a city.




The Olmsted Plan (1930) was a plan that would have kept the LA River in its natural basin and transformed it into a green necklace linking all of LA via a series of public parks and open spaces. The plan would have also doubled the public open space at the beachfront.

The City Project

It is a shame it was shot down. Greed, self-interest and blind faith in the single-family home as private refuge prevented the plan from gaining any traction.

The model of LA as a place where the average Joe could afford a 3 bed 2 bath ranch home went out the window a good 20 or 30 years ago. Our public planning and private development probably only caught on to the new reality about 15 years ago. The LA basin does need more park space...Griffith Park and the Santa Monica Mountains are AWESOME but neighborhood parks are vital as well.

But the goods news is the river is coming back as a major green space for some of the most neglected and concrete-heavy parts of the LA basin. It will take years to get it done but several parts of the river have already been turned green and the natural body semi-restored. Plenty of access points from Atwater Village/Los Feliz. Once complete there will be a 57 mile green path from Long Beach to the San Fernando Valley. Once complete it will be awesome but given the complexity and funding, it will be a 20 year project (at least).




Ok, here you are just being strange and over the top. The rain is not relaxing here? Ok, move to Louisiana or Miami where it rains nearly everyday in summer.




In this case, I think you need a new pair of glasses. Never heard the stretch along Wilshire from Sepulveda to B.H. called picturesque. And Bunker Hill in downtown is bland but not the historic core which is filled with picturesque buildings. The Arts District also has some nice old buildings.

Hi I am pretty sure LA was a swamp. It's not a swamp anymore because they contained the river and put asphalt over everything. I am assuming in part that La Cienega ("the swamp" in Spanish) is called that because there was a swamp there but maybe they were just saying "Swamp" because swamps exist in general and it sounded like a nice thing to call a major boulevard. I don't know for sure. Undeveloped areas by the 605 looks rather swampy so maybe it looked like that once.

That would be nice if they revitalized the river but I doubt they will do that because they say they are going to all the time and never do. Maybe they can prove me wrong.

I am not strange at all. I am a very normal person and the rain in LA sounds like evil rain. I can tell what evil rain sounds like because I lived on the east coast where rain doesn't sound that evil.

If you start on Westwood Blvd (not Sepulveda really) and go down Wilshire there are all the nice condominiums lining and you get the illusion that you are in a large built up city (an illusion because if you walk behind one of the buildings there are no other tall buildings there). I think that is a unique stretch of LA that actually looks pretty nice.

Thanks for responding to my post, have a good week

[MeToo2015]

Los Angeles, CA is beautiful city. However, the some of the people do not take care of their living spaces. There are many areas that are in need of repair and debris elimination. A large segment of people living LA do not appreciate this beauty city. It needs a good cleaning.