So I just came back from there and, I mean, it was all right. It was 70 degrees on Christmas day, which is fine if you’re into that sort of thing. Most of my family and friends are there, but they’re yesterday’s news. I’ve known them for, like, ever now so they aren’t even interesting anymore. New people who are terrible are where it’s at. And I don’t need to watch my niece grow up. All babies are pretty much the same, and considering her father is my brother, she’s probably not going to turn out that great anyway. And I don’t need shitloads of Mexican food everywhere, and I don’t miss food trucks, and I don’t miss my best friend, and I sure as fuck don’t miss the ocean. The ocean is polluted as all hell. Have you been to Santa Monica beach? What a shithole. No, seriously, that’s handily the worst beach in Southern California.
But anyway, California is all nice and fine when viewed on a post card, but do I really need to move there? And besides, going to California and falling in love with the sun is so cliche. I should just stay put and do something really rebellious, like joining an improv comedy troupe or putting ketchup on hot dogs. Plus I don’t have a job lined up there or anything. It’d be stupid to go running off to Los Angeles even though I’m fully employed in a shite global economy and all of my stuff is here in flyover country. I should stay in this awful town that I hate, right? Plus LA has those really annoying Sit N Sleep commercials.
Southern California is a smoggy toilet. And the traffic will make you want to commit suicide. The beaches are awesome, but the rest of it is the worst.
Instead, come live in the SF Bay Area. It is so much better than L.A. it’s not even fair.
Where do you live now? *Everywhere *in the US has *something *horrible wrong with it, usually weather-related. L.A. has smog and yearly fires and occasional earthquakes, and you have to drive everywhere.
The last is the main reason I could never move there, despite having many friends in L.A.
Ehhhh, in California, earthquakes are ENTERTAINMENT. Residents will notice a shake; they turn to one another and say, “Did you feel THAT?” And then everyone guesses what the magnitude is.
In the Midwest, however, tornadoes eat mobile homes regularly, and lately they have been chewing up entire towns.
Nah, the BIGGEST reason to NOT live in LA is the main reason why Hubster and I have moved from SCal to NE AZ: Traffic!
Reason #2: Traffic.
Reason #3: Traffic.
Our AZ home is literally out in the middle of nowhere. Folks have asked us, “How far away is the hospital?”
It’s about 50 miles away. But with the ZERO traffic here, that hospital is closer to us than any hospital is to the population in SCal, because of the TRAFFIC.
~VOW
You know, traffic in LA is just absolutely terrible, but it’s not like the traffic is any good where I am now. Los Angeles is a lot more expensive than Chi, but I can hack it. It’s not like I’m from East Buttfuck, Iowa and am shocked at a rental price of over $700/month. I’m from LA, so if I move back, I know what I’m getting into and wouldn’t move to overpriced transplantville. I know where the folks in LA live, and that’s where I would go. Fuck living in WLA or Silverlake. I don’t play that game.
And earthquakes? I ain’t afraid of no stinkin’ earthquakes! They’re like amusement park rides to me. Wee!
I am from L.A. and yes, I ran away from the whole state of California, just because I thought that L.A.s toxic atmosphere was contagious. Since then I have realized that L.A. is not so very different from other big cities. It has a heart and a personality unique to itself.
I have met other people from LA, and recognized L.A. in them ( before they told me where they were from). This was a surprize to me, that a L.A.ness was detectable, and that I even liked it, or maybe I just felt a vague familiarity…
Well, L.A. is terrible and wonderful. I wish I could do a better job of talking you out of moving there. Sometimes I even miss the old place, until I remember how my eyes burned from the smog.
I grew up in WLA and I hate it there. If it weren’t for family, Tito’s Tacos and seeing a few concerts there a year, I would never go back. Santa Barbara is much more my style.
LA’s great. Close to the ocean and the mountains. A big, multicultural city with a strong media industry means there’s plenty of unconventional entertainment and dining options. Major universities. Lots of options for shopping or going out. Plenty of clubs and organizations and so forth to join based on your interests. Everything big cities have to offer, plus more, not the least of which is excellent weather.
Oh wait, I’m supposed to talk you out of it? Err… traffic, I guess. Except that’s a problem in every big city, so it hardly counts.
Oh boy, don’t I know it. I left LA in a huff, in part with the desire to do something different, and partially fed up with traffic, crowds, asshole people, and expensive everything. I moved to Minnesota hoping for a little slice of apple pie, and it was too much apple pie for me. I was like, “The fuck is wrong with these people and why are they so nice?” I decided the aggravations of living in a big city were well worth the good parts, like spicy food and things to do past 10pm. Plus I kinda like mean people. Go figure.
Fast forward to Chicago, thinking I’d be more in a place my speed, and meh. Then I went back home for the first time since being here, and getting on the plane back, I was just about as sad as I’ve been in a long time.
So I start kicking the idea around in my head. Well why not just move to LA? I just picked up moved here after all. And that’s how it fucking begins. This is how it begins all the time. I start rolling an idea around, letting it idle in the back of my mind, and then the idea grows bigger and more persistent, and before long I am being crushed alive by what was supposed to be a passing thought.
But dude, I’ve been here for less than a year, for fuck’s sake. I need to stop being ridiculous and just stay put. I am sick and tired to death of moving, I should really give this place a shot, and moreover I really should stop letting my life be controlled by impulses. Right? I should just stick it out or something because… of, um, it’s the smart thing to do, I guess?
Everybody hates WLA. Well, except all those people who live there, but they’re mostly jerks so who cares what they think.
The comment about putting ketchup on hot dogs makes me think…Chicago is your current home?
Back in the 1980s I lived in the Bay Area and loved it. I still visit every couple-three years. Every trip to southern California has left me thinking meh, though. Polluted, crowded, expensive. The only parts I really liked (Ojai, Santa Barbara, La Jolla, any estate right on the beach, etc) were places I could never afford to live. I had family-in-law in Pico Rivera and Garbage Grove, which are deadly-awful places. LA proper I have little experience with but based on the surrounding cities the LA area doesn’t have much to recommend it IMHO unless you have a good enough income to afford someplace nice to live and don’t have to do a brutal commute.
Most of LA is regular folks. It’s when you get into WLA, Hollywood, Silverlake, Los Feliz that you get into the heart of Doucheland. We should also find some way to get rid of the Valley. I know, I know, that’s where they make porn. Deal with it. German porn is a fine substitute.
