Is LA a better city than Chicago to live in?

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by TimTheEnchanter

I might agree that Albuquerque isn't much like LA, but the suburbs of Phoenix and Las Vegas could just as easily be in the Inland Empire (and vice versa), which is part of the 5 county area that makes up the Greater LA area.

I would agree that the Inland Empire does feel like the Phoenix area. But LA county? No.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by munchitup

Not in the same way as Chicago... Chicago has the endless, boring suburbia that is mocked on the Urban Planning forums (and pretty much all over this site).

LA's suburbs just seem to have something else about them - it's probably the proximity to attractions and amenities that is unmatched anywhere but the Bay Area. The suburbs in the LA and SF area are as much "city" as a lot of the other cities in this country.

And LA suburbs look nothing like other southwest sunbelt suburbs. LA is a western city and has much more in common with SF, San Jose, Sacramento than Phoenix or Albuquerque.

Good post. But there still are forests up in the higher mountains, so you do have that. There are some monster ponderosa/jeffrey pines, sugar pines, incense cedars. Around Mt. Wilson you have dense growths of oaks, coulter pines, and big cone douglas fir.

Then there is the simple beauty of the open oak woodland that you have in the Las Virgenes open space near Agoura Hills, a landscape that continues up along the inland side of the coast ranges.

The canyon bottomlands have dense growth of sycamores, etc. In Franklin Canyon Park, minutes from Beverly Hills, I hear and see owls, along the streets that enter that park.

The amount of diversity of ecosystems is amazing.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by Tex?Il?

Good post. But there still are forests up in the higher mountains, so you do have that. There are some monster ponderosa/jeffrey pines, sugar pines, incense cedars. Around Mt. Wilson you have dense growths of oaks, coulter pines, and big cone douglas fir.

Then there is the simple beauty of the open oak woodland that you have in the Las Virgenes open space near Agoura Hills, a landscape that continues up along the inland side of the coast ranges.

The canyon bottomlands have dense growth of sycamores, etc. In Franklin Canyon Park, minutes from Beverly Hills, I hear and see owls, along the streets that enter that park.

The amount of diversity of ecosystems is amazing.

I live right next to the foothills of Hollywood, so every once in a while you get raccoons and possums and stuff like that. My friend that lived in Silver Lake (from Boston) freaked out the first time she heard coyotes.

About the Inland Empire looking like Phoenix, I don't think I have much authority on that because I've only been to the Inland Empire once, and that was to downtown Riverside. Either way it is kind of weird to judge an entire area based on a little sliver of the metro area (and the worst part of the metro area as well).

I don't really think LA is a better city to live in than Chicago, both offer a lot and are two of the greatest US cities. It is funny how much some Chicago posters endlessly bash LA (obviously not you Tex?Il?), because I don't notice a lot of Chicago-bashing on this side, mostly just light ribbing.

[infinitekid]

As an LA resident i love Chicago; it has a real big city feel unlike our downtown and sprawling city...but the winters!!

[Count David]

This thread has ran its course.

Thanks to everybody for contributing.