Common misconceptions about LA (Los Angeles, San Diego: how much, neighborhoods, live in)

[wecaredalot]

So, I've already mentioned in a few other posts that I'm a recent transplant to LA from SF. I'm in middle of my third week here and am enjoying it so far. Took some weekend trips to San Diego and Santa Barbara and have been exploring neighborhoods/cities within the county as well. I talked to a friend recently about the many LA stereotypes (it seems to have the most stereotypes out of any other big city in the US) out there and how I've noticed that most of them aren't true. Here are some examples:

1) LA isn't walkable.

Getting between neighborhoods and cities in LA (i.e. Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, etc.) isn't easy or walkable, but it seems that most places are walkable within themselves. I feel like I can get around the main parts of Venice, DTLA, and WeHo by foot. I might not want to traverse those whole areas by walking, but if you park your car somewhere in WeHo or DTLA for instance, it wouldn't be crazy to just walk to the individual stores/venues/shops within those areas. The hard part is getting between those neighborhoods/cities.

2) Traffic is awful.

This is true, but I honestly haven't noticed a big difference between SF traffic and LA traffic other than that LA traffic lasts longer, especially in the evening. But when I lived in SF, it would take me 45 minutes to get across the city (keep in mind the city is 7 miles wide...) if I left around 8 or 8:30AM. Here in LA, it takes me 45 minutes to get from Hollywood to Venice if I leave around 7:15AM. Sure, I have to leave earlier in LA to have the same commute, but that's not a huge difference to me.

3) People in LA are superficial.

This has been covered multiple times in other threads, but I have yet to meet anyone who wasn't completely chill and down-to-earth. Obviously, I haven't been here very long, so I can't generalize based on my experience. But based on people I've talked to who've lived in LA for a long time or are natives, most of the "LA is superficial" stereotype comes from outsiders who watched too much Laguna Beach growing up or spent too much time in Orange County, oddly enough. Or just people who spend too much time around industry folk in general. I work in tech and have met nothing but amazingly friendly people.

4) There's no culture outside of the entertainment industry

I laughed when I heard someone say this. LA is soo diverse to me. Not just in terms of race, but also in terms of the things people do and are interested in. If there's any location that seemed one-note, it was the Bay Area in my opinion (all tech and maybe outdoorsy stuff). In LA, on the other hand, I've met people into health, entertainment, tech, business, travel, etc. There's something for everyone, which I've only ever felt when I lived in NYC.

5) Everyone in LA is into health and health fads

Another weird one that's probably related to the entertainment industry/vanity stereotype. Personally, I love "health foods/trends" like juicing so LA has been great for me. But people don't seem any more health-conscious here than anywhere else. I know a few peers who will consciously choose burgers over free chicken and spinach without batting an eye. Again, not saying my experience is the end-all, be-all; it's just something I've noticed when comparing what outsiders told me before I moved here and what I've actually seen.

It's also interesting how people seem to forget that the majority of LA isn't white, young, and well-to-do. If I remember correctly, I believe the whole county is still mostly Hispanic and working class, a consideration that would probably put most of these stereotypes to rest.

Anyone have other examples? I'd especially like to hear from people who have lived in LA for a long time or are natives. And for the record, when I say "LA," I'm talking about LA county, not just the city of LA.

[ryanms3030]

I've been here 10 years and I would say all but #4 are pretty true

[jm1982]

Welcome to L.A!

I do think that there are a lot of L.A stereotypes , and people judge people that live in L.A based on silly myths and stereotypes.

I remember recently talking to someone in Florida that was visiting from Ohio and I told her that I was from L.A, and she said "I couldn't live in L.A , I would need to get plastic surgery"....I thought that was pretty weird as most people in L.A don't have plastic surgery, but the media shows must propagate that myth.

I think that you will find that many people that 'believe' these myths about L.A in reality haven't been to L.A or have very limited experience in L.A

It seems that SF/North California people seem to be more anti L.A versus the other way around.

In L.A people don't really rag on SF at all, unless it's over something silly like sports teams. I think most people in L.A appreciate SF and enjoy visiting. I'm not too sure about the other way around.

I feel that a city like SF is easier to "get" for a visitor or more visitor/tourist friendly.

You can literally walk all of San Francisco if you want to. It's walkable but it's also much smaller geographically than L.A

This is similar to NYC, you don't really have to put a ton of effort into seeing different neighborhoods.

In L.A you actually have to take quite a bit of effort to go between Downtown, Santa Monica, Hollywood and Beverly Hills for example. Someone that only had the chance because of money or time to visit 1 or 2 of those areas is going to have a lot different experience and perspective versus someone that saw all of those areas and more.

Even people that live here that might live on the Westside have a bunch of misconceptions about the valley...and people in the Valley have misconceptions of the westside for example.

So it's not surprising that visitors that have visited briefly would have such misconceptions.

[ryanms3030]

Originally Posted by jm1982

It seems that SF/North California people seem to be more anti L.A versus the other way around.

Jealousy is terrible thing! I have noticed that too. People from NorCal almost seem obsessive about how much they hate SoCal but I've rarely heard people in L.A. with any opinions on Northern California because we all love where we live. I've even had people in SD go on and on about how much better SD is than LA where as people from LA don't even spend a second thinking about SD unless Comicon is going on or something.

[disgruntled la native]

Fair observations for the most part. It all comes down to the fact that LA is mostly a working class city of color. So the vast majority of Angelenos aren't concerned about fad diets, the entertainment industry, superficiality, etc. That scene is a very small part of LA county and it is focused on parts of the Westside, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, and Hollywood.

However, your observation about traffic is wrong and you will see that the more time you spend here. We are basically prisoners of our respective neighborhoods during certain hours of the day. Its nice you have a chill attitude about leaving for work an hour earlier than you need to, but it's unpleasant and limiting. I feel like Sunday is the only day you can truly travel throughout the city without being paranoid about traffic.

[wecaredalot]

Originally Posted by disgruntled la native

Fair observations for the most part. It all comes down to the fact that LA is mostly a working class city of color. So the vast majority of Angelenos aren't concerned about fad diets, the entertainment industry, superficiality, etc. That scene is a very small part of LA county and it is focused on parts of the Westside, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, and Hollywood.

However, your observation about traffic is wrong and you will see that the more time you spend here. We are basically prisoners of our respective neighborhoods during certain hours of the day. Its nice you have a chill attitude about leaving for work an hour earlier than you need to, but it's unpleasant and limiting. I feel like Sunday is the only day you can truly travel throughout the city without being paranoid about traffic.

Yeah, I guess my perspective is different because I don't mind leaving early. But I mostly meant that LA's traffic isn't THAT much worse than SF's. It's definitely bad, but the man difference I've noticed is that traffic is bad for longer. Typically, it would clear up by 7PM in SF, but I'm usually still sitting in moderate traffic at 7:30/7:45PM during the week.

Also, I haven't noticed traffic being that bad on the weekends, EXCEPT for late morning/mid-day on Saturdays. I guess that must be when people wake up, lol.

[RudyOD]

I will add a six one that always pops up in times(drought) such as these:

6) LA is a desert.

Perhaps it is all those music videos artists do in Joshua Tree/Death Valley/Palm Springs, followed by scenes of the city (LA) that get people confused, but the majority of Los Angeles area - the San Fernando Valley, the San Gabriel Valley, the Los Angeles basin and Orange County - is not a desert, but rather of a Mediterranean climate and chaparral biome.

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by wecaredalot

Yeah, I guess my perspective is different because I don't mind leaving early. But I mostly meant that LA's traffic isn't THAT much worse than SF's. It's definitely bad, but the man difference I've noticed is that traffic is bad for longer. Typically, it would clear up by 7PM in SF, but I'm usually still sitting in moderate traffic at 7:30/7:45PM during the week.

Also, I haven't noticed traffic being that bad on the weekends, EXCEPT for late morning/mid-day on Saturdays. I guess that must be when people wake up, lol.

LA is traffic hell generally from about 7:30 AM to 10 AM on weekdays, then again from 2 pm to 8 pm. Unless you're a night owl or extreme early bird, that leaves a very narrow window of time in in the middle of the day to get anywhere.

Saturdays, it all depends.

[beb0p]

Originally Posted by ryanms3030

Jealousy is terrible thing! I have noticed that too. People from NorCal almost seem obsessive about how much they hate SoCal but I've rarely heard people in L.A. with any opinions on Northern California because we all love where we live. I've even had people in SD go on and on about how much better SD is than LA where as people from LA don't even spend a second thinking about SD unless Comicon is going on or something.

LOL. If you know SF at all, you know they're basically anti-every city that is not SF.

They also diss Oakland, Bakersfield, Stockton, Seattle, Portland, and everything outside of the Bay Bridge/Golden Gate Bridge, even San Jose, and all the way to the east coast. Although with NYC its more of a love/hate thing.

But I always think if anything, LA is the one obsess with SF. You can't talk to anyone from LA or start a thread in CD LA without someone bringing up SF. And it's always about how SF's disregard for LA is proof that SF is jealous of LA.

Can't we just accept that SF doesn't much care for LA? And most of LA probably the same with SF (the occasional SF bashing notwithstanding)?
.

[ryanms3030]

Originally Posted by beb0p

LOL. If you know SF at all, you know they're basically anti-every city that is not SF.

They also diss Oakland, Bakersfield, Stockton, Seattle, Portland, and everything outside of the Bay Bridge/Golden Gate Bridge, even San Jose, and all the way to the east coast. Although with NYC its more of a love/hate thing.

But I always think if anything, LA is the one obsess with SF. You can't talk to anyone from LA or start a thread in CD LA without someone bringing up SF. And it's always about how SF's disregard for LA is proof that SF is jealous of LA.

Can't we just accept that SF doesn't much care for LA? And most of LA probably the same with SF (the occasional SF bashing notwithstanding)?
.

Well I lived in East Bay and worked in SF for a year so I know little about it (very little). I've been in LA for 10 years but I'm from Boston so I don't really have a dog in this fight. But the only time I see anyone in LA care about SF is when the Giants are in town playing the Dodgers.