Does anyone consider the greater LA region as segregated? (Los Angeles: lofts, new home)

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by BRinSM

i think LA is diverse and fairly intergrated, but birds of a feather still flock together. wealthy mexicans still tend to live in hispanic neighborhoods and poor persians still try to live around the rich persians in and around beverly hills. also, asians still tend to live in the san gabriel valley and younger white people still flock to the coast and hipster areas like silver lake and downtown. i've never been anywhere in the world where all races and economic levels live together in harmony, but LA gets just as close to this as anywhere else i've been, even if only because poor and rich neighborhoods are scattered across the city like red and black squares on a checkerboard.

I would have to agree with you. Of course you are going to find pockets of "alikes" living together, but it has always seemed to me that Los Angeles is pretty open when it comes to where people live. Economics plans the biggest role in this. As most know we haven't lived there for years but do visit. Last month when we were there I was amazed at the melting pot in places like Westchester and the So Bay region. Then we drove out to the SGV, other than a huge influx of Asians which has been happened for 30 years on a more gradual basis, it too was fairly diverse. We were having a couple of drinks at a restaurant/bar in East Pasadena late one afternoon and talking with a few customers as well as the bar tender and the hostess (obviously it was before the busy time) they were a mixture of hispanic, asian and caucations.

Nita

[SoCal35]

Measuring residential segregation is a relativley complex business......

That said, Dowell Meyers and William Frey, two of the nation's top demographers, were instrumental in creating this website which allows you to punch in a Metro area and see how segregated or integrated it is:

CensusScope -- Segregation: Dissimilarity Indices

Disclaimer: This is based on the 2000 census...since the 2010 census is not yet available.

The key measure they use is called a "Disimilarity Index" which basically measures how diverse or not diverse the neighborhoods of a metro area are. A "0" indicates an absolutely INTEGRATED area while a "1" (or 100%) indicates an abosultely SEGREGATED area.

The data in this link is for LA County. We are "less" segregated than say 40 years ago...but as you'll see we are not as integrated as you might think.

[Senshi]

LA is very segregated in regards to living. People mix for business activities or shopping but as far as neighborhoods? Segregated.

There are, of course, some exceptions we can all point out.

The fascinating thing, to me at least, is the lack of black people in this city. They are all concentrated in certain areas and become a rare sight.

[Jaded]

Originally Posted by UB50

LA is segregated by economics, not by race. The "self-segregation" that does go on is mostly due to the "cultural centers" mentioned above -- and even those areas are diverse. Look at Thai Town and Little Armenia or Koreatown and Little Bangladesh.

How is it in Maryland, Jaded?

Maryland is segrated by race first and second, by economics. It has been quite difficult to get used to. But it is one of the reasons my husband and I won't live her permanently or raise a family here.

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

LA is an extremely ethnically segregated city. There are huge sectors of the greater metro area that are all Asian, all black, all hispanic, all Armenian. Some places are mixed black/hispanic, white/Asian, even white/Asian/Hispanic but no black people. The region has representation from every ethnicity in the world, but integration? I certainly don't think so.

Hmmm. This is interesting. But I will point out to you that blacks make up less than 10 percent of the population in all of California. With white/hispanic/asian being the top three. When I lived in LA, blacks lived in neighborhoods that were diverse, but they were not the majority minority in those neighborhoods, nor are they in California. So blacks sort of get "lost" in the masses. Black people live in LA, and they live with other ethnic groups - they are "self-segregated" on an economic level (high income earners; many housing choices) as well as "economically segregated" (low income earners; fewer housing choices).

Originally Posted by Senshi

LA is very segregated in regards to living. People mix for business activities or shopping but as far as neighborhoods? Segregated.

There are, of course, some exceptions we can all point out.

The fascinating thing, to me at least, is the lack of black people in this city. They are all concentrated in certain areas and become a rare sight.

See above. Blacks are mainly concentrated in the South, Midwest and East Coast as they did not migrate too far after slavery. This link is an older (2002) census; but the numbers haven't changed that much.

[SandyCo]

It depends where you live. I'm in Sherman Oaks, and yes, it's racially diverse. My apartment building has mostly white people in it as far as I know (I haven't take a poll, but I see more white people than others). I used to live in an apartment complex that was a true melting pot; a Russian woman lived beneath me, a Mexican family lived on the other side of me, and then there was a Bolivian family, a Salvadoran family, a couple of black families, etc.

Any segregation that does exist does do so on economic lines. My prior apartment was under rent control, and the owner accepted Section 8. Enough said. My current apartment is not under rent control and there is no Section 8 here. Strangely, I'm only one mile away from where I used to live, but the difference in the building's livability, i.e. nice people and not much noise, is amazing.

[Hollywood Inquirer]

OP: The question you ask is too arbitrary and therefore no one on this forum could have the right answer.

[Jaded]

Originally Posted by Hollywood Inquirer

OP: The question you ask is too arbitrary and therefore no one on this forum could have the right answer.

Of course it is, that's the whole point. There isn't a right answer. It's basically a "poll" of what people think who live in the area. [mod cut: in response to deleted post]

Most posters are simply telling their opinion, which is great for discussion. [mod cut: in response to deleted post]

[uptown_urbanist]

I agree with SandyCo that this varies by area. I've lived in two places in the LA area (South Pasadena and Hollywood), and both were ethnically and racially diverse. The other neighborhoods I'm familiar with (through friends, work, or house hunting) are also diverse. Obviously the specific numbers vary by location, but overall I'd say that, based on my experience, anyway, the average middle class neighborhoods are fairly integrated.

[2Easy]

I've lived in both the northeast and southeast and find LA to be much more segregated than anywhere else that I've lived. And yes it's self-segregation which is really worse when you think about it. And "economic" segregation is also self-segregation of a slightly different sort. White people will pay extra to live next to other white people. And even within very diverse areas - like where I live now - people tend to stick with their own kind. Sad but true.

[Mr. Mysterious]

Yeah, sure, whatever!