Where do people get the idea that SoCal inhabitants are fake and superficial?? (Los Angeles: transplants, school)

[sf_arkitect]

I see this come up all the time on forums and comments from people not originally from California.

When people from any other part of the country visit SoCal they will throw in a little comment that the people living here are fake/self-centered, etc.

I don't see how this generalization holds any truth for the vast majority of us living down here. The reason being that most of the people in these parts are transplants....are they not? A lot of people living here came from somewhere else.

I happened to grow up in an OC suburb so I grew up with a number of people who were born and raised in SoCal.

However, foreigners don't come to SoCal to see the sleepy suburban areas of the OC. The areas that attract the bulk of foreigners and out of state people are the west side and it's beaches and the central core of LA. Those areas are so international are they not? Tons of transplants there, all those people with different ideas/different behaviors. I imagine it's a hodge podge of different cultures.

I feel like when people label all SoCal inhabitants with such a dumb generalization - they are just choosing to believe something that is contrary to what they would actually experience when they come here.

[Mr_Geek]

Tv

[saibot]

I agree with you, and also agree that people get the idea from TV shows. I was born & raised in La Habra. It was the most normal, boring, unpretentious area you could imagine and it still looks the same whenever I go up that way. I am also still in touch with many school friends who were also raised in that area and they are no more snobbish or superficial than anyone else.

I now live a stone's throw from an affluent gated community (Coto de Caza) and the families I know who live there are a lot more down-to-earth than people would imagine.

The only pretentious people I know are some, not all, of the nouveau riche and wealthy transplants from other areas.

[sf_arkitect]

Originally Posted by saibot

I agree with you, and also agree that people get the idea from TV shows. I was born & raised in La Habra. It was the most normal, boring, unpretentious area you could imagine and it still looks the same whenever I go up that way. I am also still in touch with many school friends who were also raised in that area and they are no more snobbish or superficial than anyone else.

I now live a stone's throw from an affluent gated community (Coto de Caza) and the families I know who live there are a lot more down-to-earth than people would imagine.

The only pretentious people I know are some, not all, of the nouveau riche and wealthy transplants from other areas.

Hey I was born in La Habra too! haha

[jamills21]

I get it and I don't. When you project a certain image people will judge you without getting to know you. However, I have never lived in a city that didn't have "fake" people. If you honestly believe that people in LA are more "fake"--what ever that means-- than you need to take a look in the mirror.

In NO, I had people tell me that "The people in LA are so "fake" and "shallow"". When I asked them to explain further, nobody could give me an actual answer. So, I'm going to take it the you were just judging people before actually getting to know them. Which IMO is very shallow in itself.

[coltoncity]

I have met a normal mix of both. But I second that about the transplants I have run into that. Though they were not wealthy. I have heard Huntington Beach was pretty snooty is that true?

[UB50]

When I think fake and shallow, I think of people like the Kardashians -- though I'm not really sure how shallow they are. They're working it for money and they are quite successful at that.

There is a lot of cosmetic surgery done in Socal. I'm not sure if it's matched equally across the USA. That could be part of what gives people the idea that everyone is fake and shallow in LA.

[MordinSolus]

The media and popular culture put this image out there. The only people who hate Los Angeles as much as New Yorkers do are the people running Hollywood.

[Sydney123]

Cause we're the state that everyone loves to hate!

[diallomacedo]

Because they may be. When I came out here people were telling me "people are very fake out here watch out", and I ignored it, until it happened to me. Fake on the east coast is, you go to a party with someone and you leave with someone else, argument happens, it blows over in a day. Fake in L.A. is someone acting like they are your best friend, and then goes on to say completely opposite things that they told you about yourself to someone else who can effect your disposition behind your back. Ruining that person, potentially, professionally and individually. The fakeness here is real and it is very bad. It will happen to you at least once before you leave L.A., and in my/my friends experiences it's always been the Californians, never the transplants.