# People in LA are so superficial. What does that mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 4, 2006, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-la-are-so-superficial-what-does-that-mean/347038 "2006-03-04T11:04:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MadPansy64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@MadPansy64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPansy64)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-la-are-so-superficial-what-does-that-mean/347038/21 "2006-03-05T02:39:41Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > The thing is, I doubt any of them care. Perhaps they should, since quite a few of them want to move here. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-la-are-so-superficial-what-does-that-mean/347038/22 "2006-03-05T04:07:50Z")
> [@Campion](#): > > Compared to other parts of the country, I think Californians in general and Angelenos in particular are less likely even to fake an interest in people they don’t like or care to know. Other parts of the country place a greater emphasis on, I guess, “getting along.” So superficially at least, you’re more likely to be able to engage in that kind of desultory social chit chat with people from other places. We just don’t care, so we don’t do it. > > This was kinda confirmed for me this past week, when at the grocery store for only about half an hour, I was engaged in conversation by two different people. During the course of each conversation, I learned that they were visiting from Arizona and Idaho, respectively. They both said that they were kind of surprised how unfriendly people here were. That’s not unfriendliness, it’s I-don’t-careness. I hate to burst your bubble, but what you’ve described is unfriendliness. You can call it something else if you want, but “a rose, by any other name…” ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-la-are-so-superficial-what-does-that-mean/347038/23 "2006-03-05T04:11:57Z")
> [@MadPansy64](#): > > Perhaps they should, since quite a few of them want to move here. There are a lot of Hollywood types moving out to Montana, aren’t there? But I bet most don’t stay for the winter. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-la-are-so-superficial-what-does-that-mean/347038/24 "2006-03-05T05:57:02Z")
LA is basically an industry town. The industry just happens to be entertainment. So there’s this tremendous pull here to approach all creative work as product. Folks up in the Bay Area can treat art as something special and magical and deep, but down here it’s something that you do on demand, under contract, for money. The result is a jaded, pragmatic approach to culture. In other towns the social elites support the arts as a way to gain social respectability. Maybe you own a shoe factory, but if you support the Podunk Philharmonic you demonstrate to your neighbors that you’re not just a uncultured boob. But down here the social elite has built-in cultural cred. If you’re a movie star or a studio exec you don’t NEED to patronize the arts the way a shoe factory owner or a dot-com millionaire does. You ARE the arts. We’re not superficial – we’re mercenary. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-la-are-so-superficial-what-does-that-mean/347038/25 "2006-03-05T06:48:39Z")
> [@Pochacco](#): > > LA is basically an industry town. The industry just happens to be entertainment. So there’s this tremendous pull here to approach all creative work as product. Folks up in the Bay Area can treat art as something special and magical and deep, but down here it’s something that you do on demand, under contract, for money. > > The result is a jaded, pragmatic approach to culture. In other towns the social elites support the arts as a way to gain social respectability. Maybe you own a shoe factory, but if you support the Podunk Philharmonic you demonstrate to your neighbors that you’re not just a uncultured boob. But down here the social elite has built-in cultural cred. If you’re a movie star or a studio exec you don’t NEED to patronize the arts the way a shoe factory owner or a dot-com millionaire does. You ARE the arts. > > We’re not superficial – we’re mercenary. 🙂 Preach it brother. P.S. has there ever been a Dopefest in L.A.? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-la-are-so-superficial-what-does-that-mean/347038/26 "2006-03-05T14:52:43Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > P.S. has there ever been a Dopefest in L.A.? There was one in December. The largest one was DopetoberFest 2001 in Redondo Beach. There have been several. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-la-are-so-superficial-what-does-that-mean/347038/27 "2006-03-05T17:50:49Z")
Strange, I’ve never noticed any of these things but it might just be that I don’t hang around the right environments. I’m from the East Coast by way of the Midwest (stopover for law school). 1. I’ve never found anyone to be unfriendly or non-communicative in California/Los Angeles. In fact, people freaking talk to me all the time! I talk back, I got trained out of East Coast bitchiness when I moved to Chambana. Also I’ll note that it’s NOT superficial in the Midwest. My impression of the Midwest it that for all of its downsides, they really are just being kind and friendly. I hated living in the Midwest but I’ll give the people their props-hearts of gold. Things that people did for me there \*I walked into a restaurant badly injured having lost my id cards/credit cards etc (just been hit by a car)…owner got other customers to find my shit for me and then fed me for free \*Accidentally left my purse with passport + ID cards + phone in a shopping cart at Meijer. Got it back within the hour…everything untouched. \*The first year I flew home I drove up to Chicago and parked my car in front of my friend’s house. Somehow it ended up getting towed so I come back home from vacation to no car. I’m freaking out, it’s hellishly cold outside and they’ve gone on vacation somewhere. Their neighbour took me in, brought me to the towing car place, fed me etc. etc… Superficial? Give me a break, people went out of their way to help me when they didn’t need to. These are only a few examples. Okay, that’s the last nice thing I’ll say about the Midwest! Anyway, getting back to California…people chat me up all the time. On the Metro but at Trader Joe’s in particular. Usually it’s about the source of my dubious ethnicity but oftentimes it’s “oh, are you choosing that wine? I love it” etc… The only difference is that I’ve noticed more people with obvious plastic surgery but it doesn’t really bother me. It’s sort of fascinating, I’ll say. ---
**Author:** ![MadPansy64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@MadPansy64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPansy64)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-la-are-so-superficial-what-does-that-mean/347038/28 "2006-03-05T18:19:44Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > There are a lot of Hollywood types moving out to Montana, aren’t there? But I bet most don’t stay for the winter. 🙂 A bunch of 'em make it through one. Winter does tend to cull the herd 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-la-are-so-superficial-what-does-that-mean/347038/29 "2006-03-05T18:52:48Z")
> [@Campion](#): > > I’m suggesting that we’re less concerned with superficialities like _pretending_ to care about other people. (You can’t tell me that everyone who jibber jabbers to complete strangers _cares_ what the strangers think.) If I don’t want to talk to you, I won’t.[…]We just have a lower level of social chit chat as our norm. That’s why I live here. 😉 > [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > > [@Rigamarole](#): > > > > P.S. has there ever been a Dopefest in L.A.? > > There was one in December. How come I never hear about these things? (Probably because I mostly pay attention to **General Questions** , not **MPSTIMS** or wherever people set those things up.) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![cookeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@cookeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cookeze)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-la-are-so-superficial-what-does-that-mean/347038/30 "2006-03-05T20:03:39Z")
Shel Silverstein pretty much covered the basics of LA 25 years ago in his “California C’s” Language warning [http://www.banned-width.com/shel/works/calif.html](http://www.banned-width.com/shel/works/calif.html) ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-la-are-so-superficial-what-does-that-mean/347038/31 "2006-03-06T17:29:13Z")
People in the Bay Area naturally like to think that they are better than Southern Californians (yes, that does generally mean West LA to us). When you go down there to visit, the social situation is so extreme that it makes you feel better to totally dismiss it than to try and fit in. In the Bay Area you get a lot of cred for your environmental consciousness, your use of bleach-free all natural hemp reusable whatever, or your knowledge of where the best vegan food is or where the best martinis in town are (never mind that you can’t stand martinis) or your refusal to even own a car. So it’s easy for us to look down our noses at a town where it really does make a difference if you have a nice car and a great haircut, enhanced boobs, botox, fashionable clothes, etc. Of course San Francisco isn’t really all that different. But we like to think that we are. It is true that LA style is a bit on the gauche side for the Bay Area. But we have Marina girls to make up for it. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that it’s just natural competitiveness. That, and people from LA are just so superficial. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-la-are-so-superficial-what-does-that-mean/347038/32 "2006-03-06T18:42:56Z")
LA does tend to be rather superficial, at least the parts the get advertised to the rest of the world. 🙂 I think it was summed up rather well in the commercial for Keyes Auto on Van Nuys, “LA is all about lifestyle and attitude.” They were of course promoting this as a good thing and hence a reason to buy their cars. hehe. Russell ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-la-are-so-superficial-what-does-that-mean/347038/33 "2006-03-06T19:03:00Z")
I read once (probably somewhere on these boards) that Los Angelinos buy more books per capita than… [New Yorkers? Manhattanites? any other American city? I don’t remember the details.] OTOH, half of these books were probably guides to writing screenplays and teleplays, and how to sell your script. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-la-are-so-superficial-what-does-that-mean/347038/34 "2006-03-06T20:12:25Z")
> [@The Scrivener](#): > > I read once (probably somewhere on these boards) that Los Angelinos buy more books per capita than… [New Yorkers? Manhattanites? any other American city? I don’t remember the details.] Actually, when I moved out here (under some amount of duress) I expected to be able to criticize LA for being largely illiterate. To my surprise, I’ve found it to be one of the reading-ist cities I’ve ever spent time in. Perhaps it’s just my diminutive little social group and my social blinders but most people I’ve encountered–barstaff, waitresses, clerks, whever–have largely been inverterate readers. Heck, I sit in the back room of the Good Luck on a quiet night and people actually ask me what I’m reading instead of sneering at the geek in the corner with a book. I’ve also found the highest percentage of non-television watchers here. I think, perhaps, that people here are kind of blase; when you live in, say, Cleveland, shows set in Los Angeles may make it seem alluring and exotic, but when you live within a few minutes drive of Hollywood you realize that it’s like any place else, only moreso. > [@The Scrivener](#): > > OTOH, half of these books were probably guides to writing screenplays and teleplays, and how to sell your script. 😉 Well, you know, you have to buy and read novels in order to adapt them to film. 😛 Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-la-are-so-superficial-what-does-that-mean/347038/35 "2006-03-07T07:23:15Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > Perhaps it’s just my diminutive little social group and my social blinders but most people I’ve encountered–barstaff, waitresses, clerks, whever–have largely been inverterate readers. Is it them or their books that don’t have spines? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-in-la-are-so-superficial-what-does-that-mean/347038.md?page=1)