Talk you out of moving to LA? Sure. Easy.
LA is way to hot. I was in Chicago one January. The weather was clear and sunny. When I called home I discovered that LA was 100F hotter then it was in Chicago that day.
It was 75 freekin degrees in LA that day. Can you imagine?
<How am I doing?>
I loved LA (West Hollywood to be more specific), but have to admit traffic was just silly, and the rents kept going up and up and up. Finally got to be too much of both and moved to Las Vegas. Still, I would move back if I got some great paying job offer. Yes, the joke of LA being 27 suburbs in search of a city is true, but those 27 suburbs have lots to offer.
And yes, I love it in Las Vegas - and for those who throw the hate on Vegas, exactly what in the hell did you expect when you moved here? Lush forests and rainbows? I personally like living in 24 hour cities, especially when it is sunny 320 days a year - and yes, I also like it hot, hot, hot.
What neighborhood do you live in in Chicago?
By all means, don’t come here. I’m in a suburb, and had to take a break from weeding because it’s a little warm today. The smog is pretty tame compared to when I was growing up here in the 60s and 70s, the San Gabriel mountains are just jumping out today.
I went to school at Santa Cruz and spend a lot of time in the Bay Area. Go there.
San Diego is a great alternative.
I pray for 50 degrees and rain during the Rose Parade…
If you move to LA by next Summer I’ll probably be there and we could have a mini Dopefest.
There’s one strike against. 
Seriously, though, LA was never a place that was on my top dream places to visit, and I only went there because my friends are there, but I was really taken with the place.
Admittedly, it wasn’t me doing the driving, but I didn’t find the road traffic that bad - I’m comparing it with London; I always expect traffic jams and had to hold back from saying you think this is a traffic jam? We even managed with public transport to get around some of the time.
There weren’t any phony Hollywood types. And one of my friends there works for Universal.
Bad things… um… Terrible clothes. The people there always seem to be wearing the last clean item they have because everything else is in the laundry - so baggy house-decorating clothes or the occasional designer dress that is only not in the laundry because it’s dry-clean only. Not many in-betweens.
If you do move there, you’ll be expected to babysit now and then. This will mean that you* have to* go the zoo and the beach and Huntingdon Library and so on and get more out of them because it’s so different with a kid, or, even worse, stay at home with her and play with Lego and watch Phineas and Ferb.
If you do move back, you’ll have to get a new job. Can you?
You were at a semi-recent LA Dopefest. If LA Dopers can’t scare you off, there’s probably no hope for you.
Well, I have a lot to say about this as a transplanted Californian. I lived in the Bay Area for 30 years until we moved a few years ago. My sister lives in Santa Monica and I’ve spent enough time in the LA area to know that I absolutely hate the place. The traffic is terrible, the air stinks and the people are all mean, angry and in a big hurry (worse than NYC!).
Regarding the Bay Area, we moved away from San Francisco in 2008 and sold a home right before the real estate market tanked. We are so glad we left. We just returned from a visit there and every time we go back, we are more glad we don’t live there anymore. The price of everything is about 25-30% higher. You have to pay a toll everywhere you go, people are rude and all have this attitude (I used to have it too so I know).
I’d stay where you are, especially if you’re close to retirement age. You’ll never be able to retire comfortably in CA unless you are filthy rich or want to live in Fresno.
Fresno is tolerable. Not great, but tolerable. I was there for 3 years, not so long ago. Stay away from Bakersfield.
Consider Gorman. or any city in San Luis Obispo County. or Santa Rosa. or Ukiah. or Chico.
a) Doesn’t mean it’s not horrible just because most people do it.
b) Is there a single-family home in Los Angeles with a walk score in excess of 90? Please provide the address. Also. you may be alluding to taking a bus, which is just gross.
c) Meh? That’s a huge freaking area–there’s lots of stuff in there. And if you include Metra and Amtrak, the area is actually a lot bigger.
Santa Rosa has become very upscale and expensive in the last 10 years or so. So has Napa. There aren’t many places left in the extended Bay Area that are affordable unless you want to live in American Canyon or Hercules (near the refinery). There’s always Vacaville!
I dislike Fresno. I can not think of a single redeeming quality that city has to offer.
I could never live in LA. The smog would have a very negative effect on my ability to breath. The air in Northern California has cured me of constant sinus infections. So if you have any sinus issues, that might be something to keep in mind.
So some people hate big, long, multi-quote posts. Fuck all y’all.
I laugh because we are the least collegey people in the universe. “Keep those quiet nerds away from me!” Whatever, jerks!
I know! Isn’t it great? The first thing I shouted angrily from the rooftops upon moving to the Midwest was “Why is no one in a motherfucking hurry?!” Come on, people! Life is for the living. But LA people aren’t actually mean once you get to know us. We’re just, I dunno, busy and cynical.
Ugh. The reason why I hate posts like this is they make me think to myself that SD is a great idea, then I mentally prepare myself for LA alternates. “Oh Vegas is nice, and so is SD. They have a low cost of living comparatively, and I’ll be dangerously close to my family. How’s the job market in those places? Perhaps I should look into that.” And so forth. No! That is just the beginning of the end. That starts the discussion of me leaving. I need to talk myself out of moving out of Flyover Land altogether because it’s impulsive and unwise!
Dude. You’re about to get me started, and when I start, I don’t stop until people grimace and chastise me for being obnoxious. Okay, Chicago isn’t just racist, it’s fucking racist. The racial hostility alternates from just barely beneath the surface to spilling over unashamedly, before being quickly tucked away again and ignored, even though it’s one degree from bubbling over. It may not seem bad to someone from Stone Mountain GA, but it’s fucking bullshit to me.
Next, I didn’t leave LA because I disliked it. I was tired of big citiies and wanted a change of pace. As it turns out, I like big cities, and change sucks. I want home again. Last, I volunteer like a motherfuck, not because I care about humanity or anything, but because I need something to do, and meh. Am I supposed to stay here because Sit Stay Read and Girls on the Run are awesome organizations? Please. And I jest about not caring about humanity, if anyone is paying attention. I’m a misanthrope burdened with an unshakable love of mankind, if that makes any sense.
Awful. :facepalm:
Irving Park. Don’t start! I know, “Oh, well that’s the problem. You should move to Lakeview, where the Douche Quotient is 105, or some hipster shitsville like Wicker Park.” No thanks. I actually like IP, and were I to move to another Chi neighborhood, I would move to another incredibly boring spot like Ravenswood or Roscoe Village. I also think Hyde Park would be cool, but it’s so isolated. Grr!
Negro, please, you watch too much TV. I just plugged in the address of my last place, which was very walkable and right between two Red Line stations, and the walk score is 94. Current walk score: 89.
So Randyface, do you want me to stay here so we can hang out? Aww, love you too babe!
-
That’s Dudette
-
Wow, I’m really sorry to hear this. I had this naive image of a latitudinal line above which the race war had been won and folks all had brains; and below which I do not wish to wander. Thanks for the education.
-
This is probably all the answer you need then.
-
See #3
-
Makes total sense to me. Just because, as a group, they disgust me on a regular basis doesn’t mean I’ve given up trying to help.
I’ll say it again: In California, we’re all dudes. 
Heh, I’ve lived in MN all my life and I still ask myself that question. Not because life is for the living but because FUCK, people, IT’S COLD OUT HERE. Don’t you want to be inside a warm building right-the-fuck-now??
And don’t give me that “but we’re Minnesotan, we like the cold!” bullshit because no, no you don’t. I know that’s what you tell folks from Miami, but all of us who are actually from MN know that’s not the truth.
…I’m not helping. Whatevs.
Get started then. Let’s hear it–what is your evidence for Chicago being so racist?
Also, can you give me something close to the address with the walk score you mentioned (i.e., not the exact address if you don’t want to)? Just curious and truly ignorant–I always thought LA was totally drive-only.
Right?! I walked fast just for warmth.
LOL.
Wilshire/Vermont.
Fuck L.A. Fuck the sun. Gimme good ol’ San Fran any day.
Joe
LA blows chunks for walking. Unless you love walking down dirty, cracked broken sidewalks with bums begging you for change, cigarettes and your first born daughter all the way. Then there is public transportation. Shudder If you are lucky enough to be on a bus which doesn’t have some gross stinky bum on it it, it will have seats which were last apparently cleaned during WW II and you’ll be stuck sitting next to some old lady with 15 shopping bags or a teenager who just finished smoking a joint and smells like stale ganja (goddamn that shit is 100 times worse that stale cigarettes). When you finally manage to stagger off the bus 47 hours later you can’t feel your legs as the seats are hard and cramped. At which point you’ll probably trip over the cracked sidewalk and give yourself a concussion.
Get the idea I don’t like the LA busses? The Metro is a little better, I think mainly because it is newer. I mean if you happen to be among the lucky people who live somewhere near the Metro lines (1% of LA, I think). I love the public transportation in NY and walking in NY, actually. It is a dream compared to LA despite the problems of NYC.
Traffic as mentioned by many posters sucks balls. You are at least 45 minutes from everything because of the traffic.
The problem is that LA really is not a city. It is a collection of towns, villages, small cities and suburbs which have been mashed together as if they are all the same place. Grey, smoggy and hot. Yes, HOT! I hate hot weather. 90+ degrees all summer long is not pleasant. And everywhere you go, the damn place looks the same! Even when you are not technically in LA the shit looks all the same. The entire Greater LA area from San Bernadino to the ocean and from OC to Oxnard all looks like the same goddamn place. And it takes for-fucking-ever to get from one end to the other.
Also, moving sucks - I have heard it said that 3 moves are as good as a fire. I hate moving. Might as well throw all your shit away and start over rather than haul it all over the country. Less aggravation.
Don’t move to LA - there are already too many people here which makes the housing prices astronomical.
We’ve been a one car household since we moved to LA in 04. Up until this year, I only drove a handful of times around here.