Move from Midwest to L.A.. Advice? (longish)

In My Humble Opinion
1

First off, hello, everybody. Long time lurker, first time poster. I read here obsessively enough that I’ve come to know a lot of you by “name,” but I never felt I had much to contribute (that and it’s easier to keep my job just reading the SDMB than it is to keep it reading AND posting :stuck_out_tongue: ). But, I have a dilemma that I partly want to just vent to someone who doesn’t know me and partly would like to see what the wisdom of the Teeming Millions has to say.

Here’s the deal.

I live in the Chicago area and have pretty much my whole life. Several years ago, my girlfriend and I decided to make the plunge and move off on our own to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Partly to go to school, partly to be independent. Long story short, it made me miserable because it cut me off from the very VERY close-knit group of friends that I’ve had since high school. So, after three years, we moved back.

Fast forward about a year and a half and the majority of that close-knit group of friends is soon leaving to move to L.A. between January and probably April of '05. My girlfriend and I have been asked, repeatedly, to come with.

I really really want to. But.

1.) The other thing that made me miserable being in Iowa is that my sister gave birth to my first nephew and I was missing watching him grow up. We’re finally at the point where he recognizes me right away and is happy to see me. I want to know my nephew. The majority of our family (mine and hers) is here a well.

2.) The girlfriend and I are still recovering from the move back from Iowa, financially. It took me some time to find a job and we didn’t have enough saved before the move. I would some day like to be at least comfortable again.

3.) I’ve never lived anywhere outside the Midwest. I’ve only ever BEEN outside of it twice (a trip to Stratford, Ontario’s Shakespeare Festival; and helping my sister move to Fort Lauderdale). I’ve always been a suburban guy, too. I have no idea what to expect in L.A.

Just for the record, our friends aren’t the only reason we want to go. A move to California has been a fantasy of ours for a long time. 25 winters have been enough for me. I hate, hate, hate them. I also have a dream of selling some scripts I’ve written and being in L.A. is at least a slight advantage over being in Chicago in that respect. And above all, I feel like I’m in a sort of rut in my life and hope that some sort of major change will be good for me.

So… what’s my point? I guess I just wanted to throw all this out there and see what some non-biased, intelligent folks have to say about it. I don’t expect you to be able to tell me if I should go or stay, but… What else haven’t I considered? How much of a culture shock would this move be for me? Can I reasonably expect to stay so close to these people if I don’t go, or will the distance eventually end our friendships?
Thanks in advance for any comments, and also thank you all for keeping me entertained and informed for so long. :smiley:

–Iorek

2

‘Would you like a script with those fries?’ :stuck_out_tongue:

Native Southern Californian here, now in the PNW. I haven’t lived in the Midwest, so I can’t make comparisons.

The West Side is better than most other places, IMO. Here are some random thoughts, as I don’t have time to really get into it. The closer you get to the beach, the cooler the weather is. Winters are mild, but Summers can be hot. Fortunately, humidity is low. There are about 10 million people in L.A. and Orange Counties. Pretty crowded. Housing prices are high. My one-bedroom apartment cost me $780/month, and I’ve been told that since I moved out last year it’s gone up to $1,000/month. If food’s your thing, L.A. has a lot going for it. Ethnic foods of all varieties abound. Parking can be difficult in some places. Expect to pay at most places. Pay attention to the parking signs. Traffic on the freeways can be bad. On the other hand, lane-splitting on a motorcycle is permitted.

Bad points: Traffic, crowding, hot weather (unless you like that), noise, lights, high gas prices, high rent, high crime in some areas.

Good points: Mild winters, excellent choice of foods, mountains/beaches/deserts all within a couple of hours of driving. (Beaches, obviously, are minutes away.) Lots to do. Good motorcycling weather most of the year, and good canyons to ride in. Good flying weather most of the year.

3

Good point, actually. I hesitated to put that part in there. I have every intention of having a “real” job and writing in my spare time, like I do now, unless I win the script lotto. :slight_smile:

Speaking of which, I’m in the Human Resources Outsourcing business (I’m in customer service right now, setting up health benefits for the employees of a fortune 500 company). Any ideas on how I can find out about my industry in the L.A. area would be appreciated as well.

4

The studios can be a fun place to work, even if you just do accounting, HR, or IT. I worked for a year at Lorimar, before they got bought out by Warner Brothers. Lorimar was on the old MGM site in Culver City. We had an “anything goes” dress code, most of the programmers had window offices, and there were a couple of great places onsite to eat, including the Commissary. I usually had my lunch at a small sandwich shop in the middle of the property, where they had tables on a small terrace like porch. While finishing my drink, I’d put my feet up on the railing, lean back in my chair, and marvel that this place was actually “work”.

The downside of working for the studios is that the environment is volatile. Many people got laid off in the face of the impending Warner Brothers merger. I was kept on, but likely because I was the newest and lowest -paid programmer. However, I decided to leave when I learned my job would be moved to Burbank.

In addition to the West Side, as Johnny mentioned, there are a few other areas that have a lot of appeal depending on where your tastes lie. If you want a more urban environment you could try living in Hollywood. It can be a little seedy, but it seems like there’s always nightlife. If you work downtown you might even be able to take the subway to work. Also, the southern fringe of the San Fernando Valley has some nice, mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods, like Sherman Oaks and Studio City.

5

Go for it. You can always move back if it doesn’t work out, but if you don’t do it you might regret it for the rest of your life.

I’ve always dreamed of moving to California, but circumstances in my life have made it impossible. Trust me, if I could, I would go. It’s got to be better than here.

6

I have to jump in on this one. There is a big difference between “California” and “LA”. If you want to move to California, by all means. If you want to move to LA, though, think twice (three times, four times, five times, six times…you get the point). I probably don’t need to preface this with “I hate LA”.

We’ll start with the (few) good points:

  • weather. Yes, definitely southern California weather is hard to beat. But you have to also consider the smog (see Bad points).
  • lots of work. There are a lot of companies in a whole range of businesses in the LA area. I would think human resources jobs would be pretty easy to get. I consider “LA” a lot of orange county as well (it seems only the people in OC don’t consider themselves part of LA :wink: However, there is the commute issue (see Bad points)
  • beaches. Goes with the good weather. There are a number of good beaches, and lots to do in the water.
  • arts. Along with grand openings of movies, and more movie theatres than you can imagine, LA does get a number of good plays and concerts. There are also some great art museums.
  • restaurants. Huge variety. No (true) Chicago style pizza that I’ve found, but pretty much anything else you might want. And likely some stuff you’ve never heard of.

Bad points:

  • SMOG. Maybe things have gotten slightly better over the years, and there are those nice days every once in a while after a good rain. But smog is a fact of life in LA - still the worst in the country, by far. Seeing the air really depresses me. The people who live there like to live in denial and consider it “haze” (moisture), but brown haze is smog. So although there is that great southern California weather, it’s not like you’ll really enjoy doing outdoor things as you’ll be wheezing from the smog.
  • Traffic/congestion. Put simply, there are a buttload of people in the LA area. And it seems most people, for whatever reason (mostly economics), live on the opposite side of town than where they work. It seems most of the people I know who live in the LA area have at least a 1 hour commute (each way). The 6 lane (in one direction) freeways are like parking lots during commute times (6AM to 10AM, then 2PM to 8PM). And what is also fascinating is the number of people who have these intricately charted surface street routes for their commute - just to avoid the freeways. Who cares if it is 20 miles more in distance.
  • Expensive. Though not quite as high as San Diego (where I live), housing is pretty expensive. In general, the closer to the beach (and better air), the more expensive. There are exceptions, but then you start factoring in the commute issue.
  • People. I’ve travelled a fair amount around the country, and there is a definite pattern of “niceness” that diminishes as you move west. And LA is definitely at the bottom. Again, there are always exceptions, but for most interactions, I’ve encountered the rudest, most self absorbed people in LA. Kind of a chicken-and-the-egg question, but this is also very evident in how people drive. You will understand why there were those road-rage shootings some years back.

I guess my biggest complaint about the area is simply too many people. I have driven on the Santa Monica freeway (I-10) at like 4AM on a weeknight, and it is still “crowded” (moving fine, but a fair number of cars on the road). During the day, it seems every where you go (with the exception of cruising suburban neighborhoods), there are just a lot of people - everywhere. Malls are always a mess. Movies are always a mess. Beaches are always a mess (okay, before 9AM on a weekday, they’re not too bad).
Add to that the smog and the traffic, and you pretty much have the last place I’d ever consider moving to - even though there is tons of good paying work in my field up there.

I don’t know what your friends are into that brought them to LA, but I’d be looking elsewhere. There are lots of nice places in California (see the other thread about living in the SF bay area). No place is going to be perfect (although San Diego is pretty tough to beat ;-), but LA, to me, has the greatest faults (no pun intended - notice I didn’t even mention earthquakes in the “bad points” list ;-).

7

I grew up in Kansas City and moved to LA after college.

I lived there for four months before coming back. I came back for several reasons.

  1. I hate big cities.
  2. I moved at the end of August 2001. People simply stopped hiring new people after September 11th due to uncertainties about the economy.
  3. I hate big cities.
    I’m glad I went (I lived in North Hollywood), but it was a HUGE drain, financially. I spent well over $10,000 moving, getting settled, paying rent and eating (for the first two months our gas was turned off due to problems with the new gas lines and we had no microwave or refrigerator so I had to eat at restaurants.) I don’t regret moving, at all.

If you’re going out there with someone you’re planning on spending your life with, and you’re able to find a job, I say go for it. I could have made a go of it with the connections I had, but I was getting jobs that didn’t pay (but were great experience), and my savings was running out. I have since decided I don’t want to be in the industry at all, so I’m glad I moved back.

8

I lived in Ohio (both small towns and cities) until I turned 30, and am now in LA, mainly because I have a good job here.

You need to seriously consider the economics of a move to LA. If you have any ambitions to own a house someday, you need to earn at least $80,000 a year, or else you’ll never be able to save anything, even if you live in a dump of a studio apartment. Then when you do buy a house, small, old, starter houses in not-so-nice parts of town cost $500,000. That’s one half of a million bucks.

If you’re willing to give up the ability to ever get comfortable financially in exchange for 70 degrees in January, good luck.

I don’t know you, so I can’t guess about your cultural preferences, but I will say that I left the Midwest as a very liberal person, but after five years in California I am really sick of the egotism and immaturity I see in people here. I can elaborate on this if you want, but I’m actually sick of thinking about it.

9

Just for clarification, L.A. doesn’t have absolutely the worst smog any more. It’s surpassed in that dubious distinction by the Calfornia Central Valley and by a city in Texas (DFW or Houston, I forget which).

The smog situation actually is much better than it was 30 years ago. I remember the sky being orange at night, because that was the color the smog reflected from the streetlights. Since then it’s much better, though the inland areas continue to be worse in that regard than the coastal neighborhoods.

10

I long for the traffic of DFW (which incidentally isn’t the smoggiest city - I believe that Houston wins that title) since I’ve been an L.A. area resident.

If you’re coming out here from the midwest, you will be floored by the everyday traffic. It’s just insane. Nothing can really prepare you for this. Just wait until you’re trying to get anywhere on a weekend. Like a day trip to Disneyland or somewhere that should only take about 45 minutes to get to. You’ll get ready to go, jump in the car, and BOOM, you’ve got a 2+ hour car trip from Burbank/Glendale. And why does it take so long? Because all the morons are stopping to look at the two cars that had an incredibly minor fender-bender that are pulled over on the side of the road. Am I exaggerating? Not in the least! People are insane. I feel like screaming my head off when I get to the end of a brutally long parking lot journey and find out it’s due to human stupidity. But usually there’s not a wreck…there’s not an accident. It’s just the huge number of people on the highway. Traffic can just appear out of nowhere, at any time, day or night. Much of that traffic consists of uninsured motorists. So high stressful traffic & fear of getting in a not-your-fault wreck with some idiot who’ll just hit & run can definitely put a damper on your mood.

And yeah, I second the high price of rent/housing. $800/month gets you a closet in a halfway decent neighborhood. I’m sure that’s a huge 1-BR in a great area in most cities.

Other than that, it’s not a bad place to live.

11

FWIW, my <$800/mo. flat was about 600 sq. ft. Pretty nice for one person. There was a pool and a laundry room. It’s just up the street from the Sony Studios (which are in Culver City, but the flat is in L.A.). As I said, rent has risen considerably in the year since I left.

Get a Thomas Guide. They were indispensible before I had the Internet, and it’s a lot easier to look at one in your car than having a miles-long extension lead and phone cord. :wink:

And on the subject of driving, I’ve already mentioned that lane-splitting is legal for motorcycles. Always remember to check your side-view mirrors. Please move over to allow motorcyclists to pass. They will usually wave ‘thank you’. :slight_smile:

Know your surface streets. Often it’s better to remain on a crowded freeway than to get off. Sepulveda Blvd. parallels the 405 and can be a good bet. Or not. Sometimes it’s a crap-shoot.

Exits are not numbered. You’ll need to know the name of the exit you want. Freeway names change. The Santa Monica Freeway (officially, the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Freeway) becomes the San Bernardino Freeway. The San Diego Freeway doesn’t go to San Diego. As its designation – 405 – signifies, it’s a ‘loop’ of the 5. It rejoins the 5 to San Diego in El Toro. Get used to saying ‘the’ [freeway number]. It’s the 405 and the 10.

The Valley (Van Nuys, Burbank, etc.) tends to be about 20°F hotter than where I lived.

The best fish ‘n’ chips in the world (IMO) are served at Ye Olde King’s Head on Santa Monica Blvd. and 2nd St. in Santa Monica. And try the bangers ‘n’ mash, too.

Orange County’s ‘Little Saigon’ south of the 22 at Brookhurst is the place to go for Vietnamese food.

12

I moved to LA from a small midwestern town some 25 years ago. While I concur with the facts that the other have stated, I find that I don’t come to the same conclusion that some of the others have. :slight_smile:

Regarding traffic - yes it’s very very heavy nearly all the time. What to do about it? Don’t let it make you upset, if you do you will hate living here. It’s like the weather, prepare for it, make adjustments for it, just don’t make yourself crazy over it. Also, try to live near where you work and work near where you live. If you don’t have to become part of the traffic problem, don’t.

Economics - yes housing can take up a greater part of your income than you are used to, depending on where you are from. But it is somewhat offset by utility costs. In the cold midwest, heating bills can rival rent, not the case here. Some things are more expensive (gasoline), some things are less expensive. Groceries seem to be a little lower than the midwest, and there are weekly farmers markets everywhere where you can get farm fresh food for good prices. Because it is a big city, you can find pretty much anything at a discount somewhere: clothing, furniture, electronics, etc. That said, it’s a good idea to have some money hanging around to get yourself started here.

Culture - Check out the local lefty arts and entertainment guide LA Weekly. Culture and world class entertainment is overflowing. (You can also find apartment listings, etc.) That said, LA is not the urban metropolis like New York. I found it to be more like a lot of small towns jammed together. Depending on where you end up you’ll find folks who grew up within a few miles of where they live and they really don’t get to the other parts of town much, a bit provincial. It’s the transplants like us who readily partake of all the city has to offer.

Jobs - If you are going to get a job, it may as well be in the “biz”. If you’re interested in getting into the studios, temping is a sure fire foot in the door. Many executives I know began as clerical temps years ago. The temp agency Apple One in Glendale is known for supplying studio temp workers, go sign up there and tell them you want studio work, if you are interested. Ask them to help you make contacts in the HR departments, they will.

That’s all I can think of for now. Good luck!

13

Oh, I second what Johnny L.A. said about the Thomas Guide, it’s a detailed street map book, you will need it to find your way around.

[Karl Malden]

Don’t leave home without it!

[/Karl Malden]

14

You have to have a Thomas Guide. I was shocked when I learned that not every city/state has one.

As for advising the OP—oh, I don’t know what to say. I was born and raised in a suburb near LA (Glendale) and I loved it. I am currently exiled to a midwestern town (family obligations) and if I could, I would return in a heartbeat. But I’m from the area. It’s “normal” for me. It may not be “normal” for everyone else. It obviously isn’t.

If you hate midwestern winters though (and heaven knows I do) and you can swing the expense and extra paranoia (always lock your car, etc.), then you might just do fine. If you are from Chicago then you already have the paranoia thing down pat, I’m sure. You are used to a “big city” so that’s in your favor.

It’s a great place. I love it because there are so many cool places to go to (Yosemite National Park being only about 5-6 hours away) that are in the state of California. But yes, it is also is a little more “shallow” (more noticeable if you are younger, I think—it wasn’t easy being a fat chick in high school).

There is also more diversity in everything—there’s so much to do and so many interests, obsessions and hobbies to explore, that you never know who might be into what. In other, more smaller areas, the activites and cultural experiences might be more limited. For instance, sports is a much bigger issue with many (but certainly not all) people out in this midwestern town where I am currently exiled. While you’ll find many rabid sports fans in LA (Lakers, anyone?) the percentage isn’t as high. It’s a huge area with a huge population and there are just too many other things to engross people. And that’s a good thing.

If your friends are already there and can help you adjust, then it might work out well for you.

15

Don’t be so sure of that. My parents were making less than that and raising two kids in a two-story townhouse in a nice (but not rich) neighborhood, and were still able to buy the house I am currently sitting in – a three-bedroom house with detached garage on a tree-lined, suburban-looking street in the Glendale/Burbank area. When they bought it ten years ago this house was valued at about $172,000. If I had to hazard a guess I would place it at about $300,000 to $350,000 right now (partly because some loon was crazy enough to pay 400K for the house next to it, which he has spent over a year working on. No fixer-upper in this neighborhood should be worth 400K!)

I would also like to opine that the smog isn’t “slightly” better in recent years, it is significantly better. I get headaches when the air is bad – to the point that my mother used to keep me indoors during “smog alerts”. I can’t even remember the last time we’ve had a genuine full-blown smog alert. I certainly don’t get air-quality headaches anywhere near as often as I used to, even after spending three years living behind the Orange Curtain as an undergrad.

As for advice, I would add that while you should expect to do a lot of driving in LA, don’t rule out public transportation entirely, particularly the trains. Amtrak is less than great, but Metrolink and the various light rail lines tend to be fast and relatively dependable. I took the Metrolink between my parents’ house and my place in Irvine frequently as an undergrad, and now I use it to commute to USC four times a week. With buses, it’s iffy whether it’s worth the trouble to ride rather than drive, but I tend to take trains when I can.

And don’t ever get on LA freeways when it’s raining if there’s any possible way to avoid it. As soon as they see the mysterious clear substance falling from the sky, people switch into Spastic Monkey Mode™.

16

I second the advice to never drive on the freeways when it’s raining. Seriously, people don’t know how to handle it. It’s the damnedest thing.

I’ve been here for 3 1/2 years now, going to school. I live 40 miles away from LA proper and my rent is up to $830 for about 700 feet. If I stay here another year, I’ll be paying $900.

I love the weather. I love the area. The traffic really stresses me out, and because of that, I travel rarely out of my area. But it’s extremely awesome to be so close to so many awesome events, concerts, museums, historical landmarks, libraries, etc. I mean, it’s really freaking great. Unfortunately, I’m too much of a wuss to take advantage of it as much as I should. The culture is fabulous, the people are generally pretty decent, and I have never regretted living here.

Even so, it’s sucking my will to live and crushing my soul.

Seriously, I cannot stay here for another year. I’m leaving as soon as I graduate. But even as I say that, I know I’ll be back. For better or worse, So Cal is my home. I just need a break from it for awhile. Mainly for economic reasons. Gas is $2.40. Rent will only keep climbing. I pay more for my apartment than my mom pays for her mortgage. The only thing reasonably priced at the grocery store is the produce. Electricity has not gone down. We got here during the big Crisis and I kept expecting prices to fall once things got better, but they never did. So when the weather gets to 110, I can’t run the A/C because I can’t afford it.

Oh, and who doesn’t love Hell Season? That’s in the late summer when temperatures camp at 100+ and the wildfires start. I don’t even fear earthquakes–never been an issue in my experience, but I dread September.

The endless car chases are a little annoying now, though they were fascinating when I first moved here.

So I guess, in conclusion, I’d offer the following advice based on experience.

  1. Be prepared to pay a shitload for a place to live. My first apartment, a 500 ft studio, was $650. That was the best we could find in the area.
  2. Have a job before you move out here. Because finding one can be a real bitch. After 3 months of living out here without a job, we racked up a truly frightening credit card debt.
  3. Be prepared for the heat. I still can’t handle it. I never got used to it.
  4. Sure you have a better chance of working in the Industry living in LA than in Iowa, but don’t pin your hopes on that.
  5. Have a back-up plan.
  6. Never get a subscription to the LA Times. If you do, and you eventually cancel it, they’ll call you every Saturday morning at 8:55 AM to try to convince you to come back. This happened to me for a year, no matter how many times I asked to be on the Do Not Call List.
17

Ain’t that the truth. I think the LA Times is a little like AOL. Once you sign up, they never want to let you go. “Death will not separate you.”

18

Wow, thanks, everybody. There’s a lot here to think about. Lemme sum up and throw out a few new questions.
Pros: Weather. Culture. Food. Scenery. Beaches. Close to the film industry. Being closer may inspire me to push myself harder on writing-- even if I don’t sell, I’ll at least satisfy my creative drive. Close to my friends. I can always move back if it doesn’t work out. It’ll be a much needed change in my life. Best fish and chips in the world. :slight_smile:

Cons: Possibly giving up my ability to ever be financially comfortable. Smog. Traffic. Population. Crime. Far away from family. Wildfires. Earthquakes. Cost and effort of relocating. Gas prices.
Maybe Pro, Maybe Con: Sounds like some have found there to be a lot of work to be had and others have had a hard time finding any. Pre- and Post-9/11 difference maybe?
Do: Get a Thomas Guide. Check out LA Weekly. Check out Apple One in Glendale for temp work at the studios. Look into Metrolink for travel.

Do Not: Get on the freeways when it’s raining. Subscribe to the LA Times.

I’m sure I left a lot out there, but I’m paying attention. Really. :slight_smile:
Honestly, I’m still completely on the fence about this. I know if we do go, it won’t be for at least a year. We (meaning my girlfriend-who-would-be-fiancee-if-we-could-afford-a-proper-ring and I) have told ourselves we won’t go anywhere without paying off our considerable credit card debt and saving up some serious money.

I do want a change of pace, and I definitely don’t want to be left behind by my “family” I’ll always have that dream of making a name for myself in the industry. I want to live near the ocean and be near all the great cultural events. I’ll never ever miss snow, even for Christmas.

I don’t want to be worrying about money for the rest of my life. I don’t want to live in a crappy, run-down studio apartment when we’re thinking about starting a family in a few years. I probably won’t make a name for myself in the industry, no matter where I live. I wouldn’t be able to afford to come back to Chicago and visit my family much. I can move, try it, and move back, but I’ll lose moving costs, have to actually MOVE twice, lose the job I currently have here, and have to find a new place in Illinois again.

Lets say I do this. Without knowing what part of LA my friends are living in, what’s your reccomendation on living just outside the city? Would cost and population be any lower if I lived in the 'burbs and commuted to see friends and to do anything I’m going to do with Hollywood? (I know, I know… if anything) Or is traffic so prohibitive that the difference in cost wouldn’t be worth it?

What can I do to learn more about the different parts of the city and suburbs, besides the obvious? Any particular references you would reccomend to someone who wants to find out as much as possible about the city without actually going there? (And without asking every single question I have here? :stuck_out_tongue: )
–Iorek

19

In the last few years I lived in L.A., I hated it. Remember that I’m a native. Born in Lakewood (on the southern border of L.A. County), grew up in San Diego and Lancaster, then 17 years in L.A. proper.

When I first moved to L.A. it was great. I’d been in Lancaster (norhtern L.A. County) and there wasn’t a lot to do. Multi-screen cinemas, off-road motorcycle riding, shooting, flying… But I wanted more.

At first I liked the variety of things to do in L.A. My best fiend had moved to Costa Mesa, and going to his parties was a lot closer than driving from the desert. I liked having my own place, and I liked having a swimming pool. I liked going to Ye Olde King’s Head, where I could have a pint or two og Guinness, play darts, draw in my sketchbook, write in my journal, etc. I could go home for lunch, and swim some laps in the pool after work.

But I was laid off from my job that was seven miles away. They re-hired me at another location in San Bernardino, 70 miles away. When that programme was winding up, I got a job with Lockheed in Ontario. Fifty miles away from home. When that programme ran out of funds, I went to work in Orange. I didn’t consider moving to OC. Even though they had a good music scene down there, Punk was on its way out. Clubs were closing by that time. And OC was ‘Reagan Country’. ‘Behind the Orange Curtain’, we said. My friend had moved away. I started thinking about moving to New Orleans. (My friend lived there, and I went to work on a couple of his films. I loved the city!) I figured that if I was moving to New Orleans anyway, why should I move to Orange in the interim? Well, I never did move to New Orleans, so I still had a long commute. Not so bad on a motorcycle, but still a drag.

And then there’s the famous weather. Even as a child in San Diego, I found SoCal too hot. I grew accustomed to the heat in the desert, but I’ve always liked rain and snow. My apartment in L.A. did not have air conditioning. Even though it was realatively close to the coast, it was still plenty hot. (The 405 is probably about five or six miles from the ocean.) ‘It never rains in sunny Southern California; but it pours.’ True. The rainy season is short, and even with the downpours that washed homes into the sea it wasn’t enough.

Someone mentioned that people are less friendly in L.A. I especially noticed this after returning from New Orleans. It seems that people in L.A. think that if you talk to them, you want something from them. And I noticed how materialistic people were in the 1980s and 1990s. Maybe it’s the same in other places, but too many people seemed to be very shallow.

Even on the West Side, there were gangs. Small arms fire was not uncommon to hear. Police helicopters would wake me up regularly as they orbited the area for an hour or two. I said that if one more person fires a gun in the alley behind my building, I’d shout ‘Do you mind? People are trying to sleep!’ As it happens, the Crips and the Bloods entered a truce and things quieted down. (Note that this was not a bad neighbourhood! But things still happened.)

But the weather was the biggest thing that bugged me. I don’t sleep well when it’s hot. My grandparents lived in Oregon, and I’ve always liked the PNW. New Orleans was fine when I had friends there, but it was hot. If my friends were there, then I could deal with it. Without them, I would have found the heat oppressive. I cast my eye north, with an envious eye on the weather reports. Coincidentally, my fiend moved to Bellingham and then Birch Bay. Very nice area. Trees and rivers and rain and cool weather. I’d hoped to move to Seattle, but I wanted to buy a house. I started looking, but in the two years I seriously started considering it the housing market in Whatcom County went through the roof. (I still wanted to move to Seattle, but I figured I’d have a better chance of gaining a foothold farther north.) When my friend decided to sell his house, I bought it.

I’ve been away from L.A. for a year now. I miss being able to walk down to the local cinema. I miss the easy availability of ethnic foods. I miss the Southern California Dopers. The weather is nice up here, but I’d like it better if I had piped-in gas. Bellingham is a nice little city, but it’s 22 miles from my home. On the other hand, I have a house!; and it’s close to the water. :slight_smile: And the mortgage is about $200/month less than I was paying for my flat in L.A.

So from hating L.A. in the last few years I was there, I’ve gone to missing many of its advantages. But the Northern climate suits me better. I like the trees. Instead of seeing asphalt and concrete everywhere I look, I see green! I can walk my kayak down the street to the beach, and in the summer I can catch dungeness crabs to eat. Would I move back to L.A.? Not likely. I may still move to Seattle. That way I could have the city amenities I like, and also the excellent cool, wet weather. :slight_smile: (Of course, I may win the lottery; in which case London would be high on the list. :wink: )

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[QUOTE=Iorek Byrnison]
Without knowing what part of LA my friends are living in, what’s your reccomendation on living just outside the city? QUOTE]

There is no “just outside the city”. (Well, there is but…) Greater LA is vast. You say you are familiar with Chicago? Living just outside the city of LA would be like living north of Milwaukee and needing to get to Gary Indiana on a daily basis. Remember what everyone said about the freeways? If you’re gonna end up in the far suburbs you might as well stay home, yah?

Some of these folks are painting a very bleak picture and have made their own choice to escape. Take what they say with that in mind. Many many people from all over the world come here every year and make a go of it. And not all of them end up destitute, wheezing on smog through swealtering nights while the locals bust caps into each others asses just outside the window.

You will not be giving up your ability to ever be financially comfortable, really.