MANHATTAN NYC to LA (are we crazy?) (Los Angeles, San Diego: high school, living in)

[fastfilm]

Some wild rock 'n' roll touring band friends loved Knoxville, make every effort to include on tours, and they just might be what you'd call adventurous urban types. Des is spot on for ****: you really must be very specific and adamant (use their extremes on the scales.) It won't tell you aspects like taxes or demographics, but it's a cool overview of places you might have overlooked. These occasionally are backed up with anecdotal evidence, i.e, an online buddy said she preferred living in Idaho over her living in Hawaii. Who'd a thunk it? (literary reference, 40's book and 60's movie.)

[Des_Demona]

Yeah I've found it'll give you the first 3 or 4 really good choices and the rest are sometimes really off the wall places. I keep getting a lot of Arkansas! I'm a liberal hippie lol... Arkansas? But my top 3 or 4 are always consistent each time I take it and they are all places I'd love to live. Two are in California (Santa Cruz and San Francisco) both I'd love to live there but it's too expensive. I dunno it's always been accurate for me to a point and I was really excited to find a site like that. I thought you would like it too but I guess not. Don't automatically assume you won't like the answers it gives you though, read the descriptions and do some research. Like someone previously said, don't automatically discount it.

I did some looking around already on Oklahoma City and they seem to have a LOT to do there, lots of parks, lots of recreation, most people are young and educated, a top zoo, museums - seems a lot more cultured than I would have thought! I would never think to live there but it doesn't sound that bad actually looking at it more closely.. and I think that's what **** is all about. Directing you to places you might not have considered but might actually be very happy at without realizing it.

[SandyCo]

Originally Posted by NY2Cali

...I think the traffic comments alone are enough to make me reconsider LA - I have enough dents on my forehead from sitting in traffic here in NYC - but once beyond the city the traffic usually moves which sure doens't seem to be the case in LA.

The problem with L.A. is that the city and environs are SO spread out. Because of the insane housing costs, it's not uncommon to find people who have commutes of 60+ miles one way. Also, the freeways have not expanded and kept up with the rising population. What little public transportation we have is only a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed.

I really wish that the developers had to figure out these transportation issues BEFORE building their 2,000 houses out in the middle of nowhere. But then again, they're among the rich who are living in Beverly Hills or Bel Air, so it's not their problem, right? *sigh*

[Des_Demona]

Obviously they have to make their money on the site somehow but I don't think too many people actually put in their actual personal information. For me it's 555 NoneYa Bizness for my address and an email account is one that I made separately just for that purpose to see if it spammed my email which it didn't. It worked great for me, I'm sorry it was not a great tool for you. No need to bash it like that just because it didn't work for you though. It works well for a lot of people. I wouldn't have known that Eugene OR even EXISTED if it weren't for that site and now I'm all set to move there after extensive research and realizing it IS the perfect place for me.

[hedgefundpirate]

NYC is a real city.The people are much better there.LA is a bunch of neighborhoods stuck together with no real core.LA has terrible air and a serious gang problem.The gangsters are slowly taking over the middle class areas of the city and people are running for the exit.If you are a professional NY offers a great economy as LA is kind of a toss up.Even the film industry is leaving LA a little at a time because of high costs.

[fastfilm]

Sandyco, actually. . . the spread out extremes of Los Angeles were once accomodated quite nicely by a passenger train system, which was the raison d'etre of of Los Angeles being so spread out. Here's a rough map:

Of course, like everything else in Los Angeles it was destroyed (in the 1950's, with tire mfg./rubber magnates buying up the newly privatized system, dismantling it, and pushing for more freeway contruction to fuel tire sales) and replaced with something inferior, our dependence on those freeways. Just as Los Angeles middle class affordability is being destroyed and being replaced with a third world template of the few, happy mega-rich, and a majority of poor service-economy. Just as most gorgeous or unique buildings of infinite heritage interest have been replaced with pre-fab ugly. Try googling the Pan Pacific Auditorium, one of the entire USA's landmark Art Deco public buildings, photo below. Gone. Allowed to rot then burn for redevelopment in 1989.


NY2Cali, I think perhaps you might be just as gullible to farcial marketing to buy into our burg as paradaisical. Maybe forty years ago, but not today. Even the rich have to come down off the mountaintops or inland from the beach estates occasionally. Unless you plan to be chauffered in a non-view limousine 24/7, you will eventually have to come to grips with that of which we write.
And, ****-wise as well, I hope you're not writing off all places you've never been to as shiite. You'd love the relatively unknown Cambria, CA if you appreciated old school Californian beach beauty. It's in your price range too, million dollar minimums. But no replica of NYC. Just the rare replica of California 40 years ago, but now only available to the rich.

[NY2Cali]

Fastfilm I'm not sure where you get the idea that I think LA is paradaisical. ? I was simply trying to get a better grip on the traffic situation. I think in an effort to display your jaded view and blow off some steam from a life which you hate, you spend WAY too much time here subtley picking fights and making (false) observations of things (and people) you know little or nothing about.

PS- I've also taken all your posts with a few lbs of salt for a while now.

[Des_Demona]

NY2Cali - I think it is you who came onto these threads to pick fights. If you'll notice, FastFilm has quite a good reputation compared to just about everyone else on this forum and was even offered the job as moderator. She is something of a resident expert on topics so it would probably benefit you not to speak ill of someone publicly who knows more about a particular topic (Los Angeles) then you do. We were simply trying to give you some good ideas and advice and help you. I don't understand why you are being so spiteful. Nobody has made any false observations and we are all speaking from our own point of view (none are right or wrong). Saying that she knows little or nothing about the people or location of Los Angeles is a borderline crazy statement considering she has lived here all her life, knows just about everything there is to know about Los Angeles (see her other posts) and is a very intelligent and kind person. She may perceive LA in a slightly more negative light then others (I think it's a realistic view), but that is based on her experiences here which really is all you can ask for on these forums.

As for you saying you don't think of LA as paradaisical, the way you speak of it, it does certainly seem that you defend strongly, something you know nothing or very little about (as you had accused FastFilm of). We were simply trying to help you find a location that best suits your needs with the most information we have at our desposal: our experiences and our knowledge of the area and what we've observed. You may not like what you are hearing but it is our personal truths and LA is not a city wonderland. It is a very gritty city and what we've told you is the truth.

Fastfilm certainly doesn't spend her time picking fights and making false observations - she has helped me find a lot of places in my own city that I wouldn't have even known about as well as certain traffic routes and such things. Please don't make claims you know nothing about. You seem to just lash out at people who are trying to help you and that is not helpful or very nice. If you don't like what she has to say or disagree with it (I don't see how you CAN considering you haven't lived here!) then just ignore it and pick and choose what you want to believe but I too believe that you have a misguided view of Los Angeles and ought to be more open-minded to other people's opinions.

Let's do our best to keep this forum on the topic of helping people relocate and not a bunch of ridiculously false claims toward our resident experts on our forums.

[fastfilm]

While thanking Des for her vote of confidence, which I certainly do, I'd like to commend our actual moderator here for what is a very tough job. I haven't seen any of the degree of spams or flames since she took it on, and that's saying a lot. We regularly attracted quite a few questionable posts in the past, probably from bored teens with a certain immature view of L.A. who were clearly not residents. And the lines are drawn in the (beach) sand fairly clearly here, rich vs. non-rich. Here our moderator has to actually moderate. Thank you!

Back to topic. The original tone of this thread was playful ("are we crazy?") When others answered about the reality of traffic woes it was accepted. If I bring a map of the former widespread public transportation system that gave way to our current congestion, well... The Pan Pacific Auditorium photo and reference was to suggest that a vibrant, urban incubation of the arts is, like most aspects of life here, transitory at best, and perhaps that shouldn't be the impetus for a move here. L.A. is the city of tear-downs and makeovers. What's hot for a decade is gone the next. And Cambria is a cool beach destination for those who can afford it.

[polican]

i stumbled across these forums in a google search and wow what a find!
and being a 30yr-old NYC resident looking to move to LA with my fiancee next year, i couldnt stop reading all 6 pages of this thread....

First, real crappy attitude to have towards people who seem to know A LOT about the city and are willing to help you out, NY2Cali. come on dude, lighten up. i could see your attitude go to crap through the thread.

Second, thanks for all of the info! (gonna look into cambria) im looking forward to spending a lot of time on these boards.
Los angeles seems to have too many of the same qualities as NYC does that i just want to get away from... and sunny weather just isnt enough to want me to move there. But my fiancee and I have a year to plan this move, and LA is still near the top of the list. Neither of us plan on settling there, so just trying it out for a while is still an option.