The truth about L.A. from a long time resident (Los Angeles: school, living in)

[Rosalie25]

So if you are planning to have kids, don't send them to school in CA because the school systems suck in this state

I actually received a top notch education in CA despite attending average schools all of my life. I've spent time in other states and I've noticed many students are way behind CA students. The standards in CA are much higher. CA's rank in education isn't all that great because we do have a lot of immigrant students who have limited English skills. This makes it difficult for them to learn the necessary material, so obviously they won't do very well on those annual standardized exams.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Rosalie25

I actually received a top notch education in CA despite attending average schools all of my life. I've spent time in other states and I've noticed many students are way behind CA students. The standards in CA are much higher. CA's rank in education isn't all that great because we do have a lot of immigrant students who have limited English skills. This makes it difficult for them to learn the necessary material, so obviously they won't do very well on those annual standardized exams.

Very true plus I have always felt any child who wants to learn will get a good education regardless of the state or the school district. There is more to education than test scores.

[John23]

-The air quality is horrible. No arguements there.

-Cost of living has been exaggerated by a once in 75 year real estate bubble, from 02 to 06. People forget that you could buy a home in west la in the middle 90's for $250 k. And people had 20% down, they didnt need flakey loans.

The whole market will eventually correct and get back in line with incomes. You've had 3 or 4 shocks to the system since 02,

-Real estate
-Jobless 2000's
-Nickeling and diming phenomenon that's taken an enormous amount of money out of peoples pockets. Did anyone see this?

Payday lenders giving advances on unemployment checks - latimes.com

-On top of very aggressive banks and lending in the 2000's. $35 overdraft charges, sky high credit card interest rates. People were not paying these in the 90's.

-The weather and climate is the envy of the country. It's not as dark or grey as the pacific northwest (our june gloom is unbelievably mild compared to that). The summer's in the valley are not as hot as bakersfield, barstow, the desert, or Nevada, or Arizona or most of the southwest. Las Vegas or Phoenix in the summer is scorching, with no LA pacific breeze. Phoenix or Las Vegas summers vs inland empire or valley are two different summers.

-I've met plenty of ex californians in places like florida, and one of the things they miss are the mountains. Its very different living in a flat place vs one like so cal.

-I think people in la are very friendly, in a casual way.

-There's a lot of poverty in la, no doubt. Although some places that use to be bad, or run down (hollywood, or downtown la) now look much better. Poverty in LA is mostly indoors, its not as pronounced as in a place like detroit. It's poor economically, but still has la benefits.

[R66]

Originally Posted by benice66

We lived in LA twice, really trying to give it a chance and the thing we didn't like the most, was it was hard to make friends. The only people you got to be friends with, were the ones you worked with. We found it to be an isolated society. I don't understand it. We live in Florida where, like California, hardly anyone is a native, but everyone is friendly. Noone is a stranger. you meet someone and they tell you their life story within 10 minutes of meeting them. We made more friends here, in a week, than we could make in 20 years in California.

I'm born/reared Floridian, small town east coast near Hobe Sound. I to lived in L.A. from 1989-1996. I enjoy L.A. but yes, it seems hard to make friends. Everyone is runining around cell phone addicted like someone died. Florida in general more laid back. I made friends in L.A. but it seems to take work and making the first move. However, single attractive women-forget it unless you a Baller/Actor/Model. SoFL gets better and better I think and SoCal is great too.

I like both locales.

[AliveandWell]

Also, I just wanted to mention a few more things about L.A. for those that are thinking of moving here. For the bar and club enthusiast as well as concert fan, L.A. is home to the Universal Amphitheater, Greek Theatre, The Whisky and many others. I live too far away from them to ever go more frequently though. So for entertainment I must say L.A. is really good. I also like that there are small stores owned by Armenians and Koreans. It gives the city an interesting perspective.

Another truth about L.A. is that it is great for shopping because we have places like the Grove, the Americana in Glendale and the who can forget the Glendale Galleria. I believe it is the 2nd largest mall in all of America behind the Mall of the Americas.

[sam222]

Originally Posted by AliveandWell

Also, I just wanted to mention a few more things about L.A. for those that are thinking of moving here. For the bar and club enthusiast as well as concert fan, L.A. is home to the Universal Amphitheater, Greek Theatre, The Whisky and many others. I live too far away from them to ever go more frequently though. So for entertainment I must say L.A. is really good. I also like that there are small stores owned by Armenians and Koreans. It gives the city an interesting perspective.

Another truth about L.A. is that it is great for shopping because we have places like the Grove, the Americana in Glendale and the who can forget the Glendale Galleria. I believe it is the 2nd largest mall in all of America behind the Mall of the Americas.

I agree with you buddy, but I have something to say in contrary.
Well you are saying that a sunny weather ain't so good, then you should probably move to minnesota for a change try some frost upon your upper lip every time you scrapping up your windshield. think again buddy, the grass isn't greener on the other side of the frontyard as you might think

[MonkeyKid]

Originally Posted by Naomi Manischewitz

I strongly agree with you (as a long time resident) on the people here, the diversity, and the cuisine here.

I travel all over the U.S. and the world, and find it much easier making friends and acquaintances there, vs. here. It is also funny with dating (as a 25 year old). I find young men here really do not approach women (but they will stare at you), and want women to approach them. This is something I need to do if I want to meet someone here. Wheres in several other U.S. cities, it's typically the men who make the first move meeting a woman. When I move, I pretty much will just miss the wide variety of food (LOL) and having a large Jewish community here. I am heading to Austin where there is a Jewish community, although not anywheres comparable to the size here. There are sooooo many Jewish events here for people in my age range. I usually go to at least 2 events a month here.

Not sure where you are from but the girls here in Socal are are some of the best looking girls in the US and their is an abundance of them. You may have been an above average looking girl elsewhere but in CA you are now just an average looking girl due to the competition here. Girls here in Socal tend to be a bit more "aggressive" in attracting the opposite sex due to the competition here.

[LA Fan]

Originally Posted by Rosalie25

I actually received a top notch education in CA despite attending average schools all of my life. I've spent time in other states and I've noticed many students are way behind CA students. The standards in CA are much higher. CA's rank in education isn't all that great because we do have a lot of immigrant students who have limited English skills. This makes it difficult for them to learn the necessary material, so obviously they won't do very well on those annual standardized exams.

My wife is a English teacher in the LAUSD, and we have discussed this very issue. She said the schools aren't as bad as people think. The scores are misleading because there are students that are immigrants that don't do well on the exams due to their limited english, and this brings the scores down quite a bit.

She also said charter schools are misleading, because they are governed by a different set of rules. They can pick and choose who they want in their schools, whereas LAUSD have to accept all. This include those who are special ed's These students bring down school ratings as well. So in her opinion a student can get a quality education even in schools that don't always score high in the district.

[AliveandWell]

I just realized another "truth" about L.A. from my perspective. I put the word truth in quotes because it may not be true for others but here it goes:

I'd like to elaborate further about people in the Los Angeles metro. As time has passed, I've come to realize that people here are not necessarily as mean or rude as some others say. I guess its safe to say that they are really no worse than people in other major cities. The way that things turn out for you is how you see your surroundings and how you perceive them. I used to think for YEARS that there were too many mean, trashy, violent, aggressive and rude individuals. The truth is that I had a lot of anger issues which I won't get into in this post. The one truth that will always stay true is that there are mean and nice people everywhere you go. If you are a kind, compassionate and caring person you will attract those kinds of people. If you are the opposite, you will attract negative people into your life. I'd like to hear from L.A. residents about what they think about this.

[sam222]

Author
You need to define for yourself, whether you staying here or going somewhere else. No other option is left for you pal