Is LA a better city than Chicago to live in? (San Diego: home, college)

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by munchitup

I'm curious to hear what neighborhoods you think that of.

You know I still love it here. I completely feel as if I had made the right choice, so please don't get the wrong idea. However, I am just trying to see what git45 is seeing. Again, its not complaining in the least bit, . . . but, as much as I love it here, I am surprised to see neighborhoods with huge victorian houses in major disrepair just beyond the edge of downtown . . . around MacArthur Park, near Chinatown, etc., etc. No city is perfect, and I its not a complaint, but, I think people that come from the east coast/Chicago/San Francisco might be surprised to see that, since their jewels of neighborhoods form a contiguous belt around their downtowns.

Also, off the 101 on the way to Hollywood, I guess its near Echo Park, there is a 1920s art deco building that stands above everything around it . . . that is being used for storage.

Again, please don't think "oh god, not another transplant who is complaining about LA, or telling us how it should be done, who thought it was all glamour" rather, I am only trying to see through the eyes of someone of someone like git45.

[git45]

Originally Posted by Tex?Il?

You know I still love it here. I completely feel as if I had made the right choice, so please don't get the wrong idea. However, I am just trying to see what git45 is seeing. Again, its not complaining in the least bit, . . . but, as much as I love it here, I am surprised to see neighborhoods with huge victorian houses in major disrepair just beyond the edge of downtown . . . around MacArthur Park, near Chinatown, etc., etc. No city is perfect, and I its not a complaint, but, I think people that come from the east coast/Chicago/San Francisco might be surprised to see that, since their jewels of neighborhoods form a contiguous belt around their downtowns.

Also, off the 101 on the way to Hollywood, I guess its near Echo Park, there is a 1920s art deco building that stands above everything around it . . . that is being used for storage.

Again, please don't think "oh god, not another transplant who is complaining about LA, or telling us how it should be done, who thought it was all glamour" rather, I am only trying to see through the eyes of someone of someone like git45.

I was being a bit brash, my apologies. I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder as a one who grew up in Chicago and despite having as good an education as anyone, went on to college in Westchester and was pelted with the constant assertion that I was from a rust-belt sad sack hole in the ground (which geographically, is half true). As a good friend of mine who went to school in Massachusetts, "it was the one part of my upbringing I had to defend the most." I had never heard the words "regional" or "Midwestern" as an epithet before, despite doing a fair amount of traveling. Regional to me meant things like Vermont has great maple syrup or San Francisco has lots of cable cars or NYC has loud, honest people who say "youz." Maybe I was naive not to expect this moving out east, but naiveté might as well be the chief export of the Midwest.

What I think is unfair though on my part is that I have a lingering arrogance I deservedly acquired living in New York and upon moving to LA I became that serverly judgmental east coast transient stereotype that I despised as a student. I have really come to love LA, and I should learn to accept its flaws the way I defensively had to come to terms with the fact that Chicago is a dreadfully mixed affair between cosmopolitan sheen and rust-belt war zone. LA is on its way up, and Chicago is on its way down, which is why I am in LA. My complaints erode the longer I live here and also the amount of progress I've seen happen since I arrived. I can't wait for Echo Park to finish its reservation because it would add one more reason for it to be my favorite neighborhood in America. As much as my disdain for parts of the city is apparent, there are parts of it that could go toe-to-toe with any other in the world, imho. I tend to have weird polarizing view of cities for the first year I live there. I have great respect for LA because I was accepted and not given the barbs I had to endure out east (and would probably still experience in SF if I lived there). I find a kinship in that it is another woefully underrated city so Its unfair for me to pick on it. There is a common thread that Chicagoans are bitter and insecure. I will candidly admit there is truth to that.

LA is the most unique city in America, and therefore is pretty conducive to the screwy way my brain was sown together

[IH8HumanResources]

the fact that L.A. does not care they lack an NFL team, but Chicago would if they lost the Bears, should tell you enough

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by IH8HumanResources

the fact that L.A. does not care they lack an NFL team, but Chicago would if they lost the Bears, should tell you enough

Who says they don't care?

[git45]

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

Who says they don't care?

I'm a big proponent of Farmer's field over the one planned out in riverside. the Staples Center was a big help in LA's ever growing Downtown revitalization. Add Farmer's to LA live and the southern end of the city center will explode. It's definitely fascinating watching this city morph. An urban planner I know says it will be a completely different city in 10 years, in some ways for the better.

I know the traffic doesn't need to be any larger, but its not like the overlap between NFL and NBA seasons is that big, so its not like two different sports traffic will double the madness.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

Who says they don't care?

I can assure you, if we were still in L.A. we would care. I can't believe a city like L.A. doesn't have a NFL team...

As for which is better, L>A. of Chic, I would choose L.A. just because of the weather, I would choose Chic for the Pizza.

[greggd1]

Whenever I meet someone from Chicago, they will always tell me how great it is. I often wonder why they have left such a great place and moved to Los Angeles.

I will say LA is better because If I had to be around all the people from Chicago talking about how great it is all the time, I'd move out of Chicago.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by Tex?Il?

You know I still love it here. I completely feel as if I had made the right choice, so please don't get the wrong idea. However, I am just trying to see what git45 is seeing. Again, its not complaining in the least bit, . . . but, as much as I love it here, I am surprised to see neighborhoods with huge victorian houses in major disrepair just beyond the edge of downtown . . . around MacArthur Park, near Chinatown, etc., etc. No city is perfect, and I its not a complaint, but, I think people that come from the east coast/Chicago/San Francisco might be surprised to see that, since their jewels of neighborhoods form a contiguous belt around their downtowns.

Also, off the 101 on the way to Hollywood, I guess its near Echo Park, there is a 1920s art deco building that stands above everything around it . . . that is being used for storage.

Again, please don't think "oh god, not another transplant who is complaining about LA, or telling us how it should be done, who thought it was all glamour" rather, I am only trying to see through the eyes of someone of someone like git45.

I didn't think you were complaining at all, just curious... I know which areas and building you are talking about, and I agree. I think there are a few buildings like the one you mentioned that are just for storage-it-yourself companies now. Another one is on Highland / Santa Monica (not even sure if it has anything in it anymore actually).

[git45]

Originally Posted by greggd1

Whenever I meet someone from Chicago, they will always tell me how great it is. I often wonder why they have left such a great place and moved to Los Angeles.

I will say LA is better because If I had to be around all the people from Chicago talking about how great it is all the time, I'd move out of Chicago.

I grew up in Chi, but then lived in New York for 6 years for school and tried to stay there, but ultimately left for LA for many reasons, one being my girlfriend is from OC and LA was the compromise, and a good one.

Here's the main reason Chicagoans transplant to LA, and it shouldn't be a mystery to any one: the weather is awful. One reasons I moved is because I have a genuinely bad case of Seasonal Affective Disorder, which made growing up in Chicago challenging at times due to the intense cold and lack of sunlight. I tried the sunlamp stuff, but it really wasn't the same. LA honestly did change that, and I was amazed at how affected I was when coming home for the holidays. A lot of shrinks advise people who really suffer from the ailment to, should they have an opportunity to relocate to a milder climate.

To compliment my argument, LA has the largest concentration of UK population outside the UK itself. The weather there sure is awful, and they aren't particularly motivated to disagree. Led Zeppelin were enchanted with Los Angeles in the 70's and wrote Over the Hills and Far Away about it. Hugh Laurie confessed he couldn't return to Britain after House ended because he scoffed at the very the idea of not being able to drink coffee on his patio every day.

I used to think weather preference was a shallow thing to value, maybe because weather was something I was more used to enduring as opposed to enjoying, but the perpetual sun really does make a difference. Its something that really matters to people and their ability to function. This is something LA can ALWAYS rely on in regards to population influx (immigrant issues aside) because some people can only endure so much. Aside from the fact I could stand to see a little rain around here, the climate is perfect.

I remember getting up for school/work and seeing the barometer at 7 degrees...can't do that anymore.

[uncalifornian girl]

Chicago, all the way!!!

I'm an LA native, but I moved to Chicago a few years ago, lived there for about two years. What a great experience. It broke my heart to leave, and I think about getting out of LA (and back to a real city) every day. Say what you will, I know people from all over the world dream of coming to live here in LA. Maybe I don't appreciate it because it's home. Also, I am tied to it because of my work in design/fashion. Unfortunately. I was forced out of Chicago for economic reasons. But that was back in '08 or '09 when the Great Recession hit. I was laid off from my glam advertising gig downtown on Dearborn and went for months without finding anything, even temp work, which has never happened to me. Really freaked me out, so when I got an offer back in LA I decided to move home (was also pressured by my family.) Now I am looking at moving again. (Maybe not Chicago, but someplace on the East Coast) I can't stand it here. Now that I know what else is possible....I really can't stand it. This is not living.

I never understood what was so great about LA weather. It's the same all the time. Hot, smoggy, gross. Can't go outside without sunscreen and extra dark shades, even sometimes in January. Ridiculous. Of course, I have reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder--I get majorly depressed in summer, and when I don't see seasonal change. Don't laugh, it's a real thing. So yeah I loved the weather, even the crazy 15 below winters. It was exotic to me. And I had a good coat. As my Swedish relatives say, "there is no such thing as bad weather, only badly dressed people."

Chicago feels like a small town compared to LA. I ditched my car. I must have walked from one end of the city to the other, on foot, several times. Loving every minute of it! And people actually talk to each other. I never had so many friends in all my life. And I am a shy person. Maybe it's the fact that everyone is holed up inside during the cold months, snuggled together in pubs. It's a heavy partying town. Lots of booze, and...other things. I indulged more than I did in my twenties in LA. Which could be a dangerous thing. But it was fun, damn it. I will always look back fondly.