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The LA I went to seemed less socially integrated than Houston. And I'm not just speaking from a Black perspective but from a social and ethnically based perspective. From my personal experiences Inner loop Houston is segregated more on a residential level but socially it's very integrated. I can literally go to bars, restaurants and lounges in Midtown/ Montrose/ Eado/ Heights/ Rice Village and see a little bit of everybody mixing and mingling. Even the Heights where crowds are predominately white have different ethnic groups that don't stick out. Also I was just on Washington ave. 2 weekends ago. and imo it's a lot more diverse than when I use to hit it up in my clubbing days back in like 09-11. Back when they were notorious for turning Black guys away at doors.
LA culturally and socially seemed similar to Houston in some ways but I do agree with Above when he says Long Beach feels A LOT more socially and culturally integrated than LA. I also felt Houston vibes wise felt more like Long Beach and that's because of the social and cultural interaction. Because unlike Houston LA does have neighborhoods that are very segregated and territorial to the point of violence. Like you don't have to be in a gang to encounter violence just based off ethnicity once you go deeper into some of the lower income/working class neighborhoods in LA. Which I notice tends to lend to some hesitation in certain spaces when dealing with other ethnic groups.
Again I'm not implying Houston is a integrated paradise but it's common to interact with other ethnic groups from different backgrounds. From my personal experience. I don't get that on that level. Didn't get it in San Francisco/ Chicago/ Miami/ Dallas/ Austin/ St. Louis/ Atlanta. I think that's one positive I can give Houston. And I'm very hard on Houston but this is one area I give credit to.
I would agree that in most of Houston no group 'sticks out', and everyone can go anywhere and not feel uncomfortable. The city deserves credit for that. I also did see a 'little bit of everything' at most nightlife hotspots. It's just that I notice most of the groups standing in line to get into the clubs are usually monochromatic. I'm past the age where I have any desire to go into these establishments so can't say how the people get on once inside.
What about Sacramento or Atlanta? I've heard good things from people who used to live there.
Sacramento is quite integrated IMO. Its comparable to Long Beach. I dont find the Bay Area that integrated though.
Atlanta has some integrated parts, but I wouldnt say integration sticks out that much there. The most integrated part is the Northeastern Portions of the metro.
Here’s what I find strange about AsAbove and Redlion using the I-10 marker and making the “north of I-10” portion the main focus:
The much larger percentage of the population is south of I-10
So why is that marker being over stressed by these two users is beyond me. I’m judging LA, not Hollywood.
Now that said, yes what LA likes to associate with is Beverley Hills, Malibu, Hollywood, Bel Air, etc etc etc. But again, we are judging LA no?
And again, based off of the experiences and contacts that I have, Los Angeles does integrate more than Houston in my experience. And by the way, it’s not just Long Beach despite the want to focus on it so much. Plenty of portions of LA as well as OC reflect LB’s integration.
Sure, LA isn’t what Disney wants to portray it as, but it’s closer than any other place in USA that I can think of.
Now if we were judging Houston against Chicago that would be a different story. But we are judging LA and we aren’t specifying the north side
Here’s what I find strange about AsAbove and Redlion using the I-10 marker and making the “north of I-10” portion the main focus:
The much larger percentage of the population is south of I-10
So why is that marker being over stressed by these two users is beyond me. I’m judging LA, not Hollywood.
Now that said, yes what LA likes to associate with is Beverley Hills, Malibu, Hollywood, Bel Air, etc etc etc. But again, we are judging LA no?
And again, based off of the experiences and contacts that I have, Los Angeles does integrate more than Houston in my experience. And by the way, it’s not just Long Beach despite the want to focus on it so much. Plenty of portions of LA as well as OC reflect LB’s integration.
Sure, LA isn’t what Disney wants to portray it as, but it’s closer than any other place in USA that I can think of.
Now if we were judging Houston against Chicago that would be a different story. But we are judging LA and we aren’t specifying the north side
I said the 105 not the 10. I also specified places like Carson, Bellflower, Lakewood, etc. in addition to Long Beach. I leave OC out simply because the black community is non-existent there. We cant seriously talk about OC being integrated when one of the major racial groups comprises less than 2% of the population.
I still disagree but there’s no way to measure this so it’s just how we see things. I cant say Im right and your wrong and I wont say that. Just differences of views.
Here’s what I find strange about AsAbove and Redlion using the I-10 marker and making the “north of I-10” portion the main focus:
The much larger percentage of the population is south of I-10
So why is that marker being over stressed by these two users is beyond me. I’m judging LA, not Hollywood.
Now that said, yes what LA likes to associate with is Beverley Hills, Malibu, Hollywood, Bel Air, etc etc etc. But again, we are judging LA no?
And again, based off of the experiences and contacts that I have, Los Angeles does integrate more than Houston in my experience. And by the way, it’s not just Long Beach despite the want to focus on it so much. Plenty of portions of LA as well as OC reflect LB’s integration.
Sure, LA isn’t what Disney wants to portray it as, but it’s closer than any other place in USA that I can think of.
Now if we were judging Houston against Chicago that would be a different story. But we are judging LA and we aren’t specifying the north side
When did I use an I-10 marker? Just because I brought up Long Beach? I never did mention I-10 so I didn't understand the point of your post. I don't know why you would take my comment out of context to prove a point.
For the record the times I've been in LA, I've never been to Beverley Hills/ Malibu or Bel Air. I actually stay and visit the actual city of LA. And I'll go on record and say the most integrated social and cultural settings I saw in LA wasn't even in the actual city of LA. The city of LA actually felt much more segregated than what I'm use to seeing in the city of Houston. And I'm talking social and culturally. With the exception of places like Fairfax, Mid Wilshire and downtown I saw quite the opposite of integration. I was even flat out told by one LA Mexican native to avoid East LA. And it was simply because I was Black. There is no area in the city limits of Houston that one needs to avoid due to the color of their skin.
But from my personal experiences the most integrated areas of LA were the areas outside the core of the actual city. For instance Inglewood felt more diverse than South Central LA(which is a big chunk of the city). North Hollywood felt more socially and ethnically integrated than where we were staying in Sherman Village (Valley). I also spent some time in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach so I'm very familiar with the meto area in general. I love LA but the integrated spaces didn't blow me away coming from Houston.
And maybe that's where my ethnicity comes into play but I felt like pockets of Manhattan/Brooklyn and Jersey City were more socially and culturally integrated than my experiences in LA. Just MY EXPERIENCE.
Since we're all just sharing our opinions and experiences and there is no "right" or "wrong" answer, from my experience the most socially integrated places I go to are Astros games. The Astros crowd is totally multi-cultural. I don't want to judge Atlanta by it's baseball attendance but when I looked at the World Series crowds last year they were predominantly White and it was a glaring contrast to the crowds in Houston.
I think University of Houston athletic crowds are also very multi-cultural. This makes sense because UH is diverse and of course the city of Houston is quite diverse.
Restaurants, from my perspective almost always have multi-cultural clientele.
To be honest I go wherever I want without regard to who is going to be there and I never feel out of place. I agree with @Redionjr that I don't feel unsafe in any area of Houston. I drive to 3rd Ward all the time for my Frenchy's chicken. Who doesn't love Ninfa's on Navigation? No issues for me to drive to Acres Homes for some good BBQ.
You get the picture...
I said the 105 not the 10. I also specified places like Carson, Bellflower, Lakewood, etc. in addition to Long Beach. I leave OC out simply because the black community is non-existent there. We cant seriously talk about OC being integrated when one of the major racial groups comprises less than 2% of the population.
I still disagree but there’s no way to measure this so it’s just how we see things. I cant say Im right and your wrong and I wont say that. Just differences of views.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Redlionjr
When did I use an I-10 marker? Just because I brought up Long Beach? I never did mention I-10 so I didn't understand the point of your post. I don't know why you would take my comment out of context to prove a point.
For the record the times I've been in LA, I've never been to Beverley Hills/ Malibu or Bel Air. I actually stay and visit the actual city of LA. And I'll go on record and say the most integrated social and cultural settings I saw in LA wasn't even in the actual city of LA. The city of LA actually felt much more segregated than what I'm use to seeing in the city of Houston. And I'm talking social and culturally. With the exception of places like Fairfax, Mid Wilshire and downtown I saw quite the opposite of integration. I was even flat out told by one LA Mexican native to avoid East LA. And it was simply because I was Black. There is no area in the city limits of Houston that one needs to avoid due to the color of their skin.
But from my personal experiences the most integrated areas of LA were the areas outside the core of the actual city. For instance Inglewood felt more diverse than South Central LA(which is a big chunk of the city). North Hollywood felt more socially and ethnically integrated than where we were staying in Sherman Village (Valley). I also spent some time in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach so I'm very familiar with the meto area in general. I love LA but the integrated spaces didn't blow me away coming from Houston.
And maybe that's where my ethnicity comes into play but I felt like pockets of Manhattan/Brooklyn and Jersey City were more socially and culturally integrated than my experiences in LA. Just MY EXPERIENCE.
You didn't, AsAbove used the 105 marker (I thought he used I 10 and think he used that one in the other post). To be fair, the 105 is much better than the I10, but it still takes away well more than half of the metro. Yes, experiences are experiences so I don't dispute yours or anyone else's. What I'n dispute is splitting a metro in half or a third. Which you didn't do, AASB did, I grouped because of agreement.
Even if you argue that nothing north of Downtown LA is as integrated as any side in HOU (which is one I'd agree with), I would also say nothing in Houston is as integrated as the southern LA/LB/northern OC area (especially socially). And considering the latter holds a higher percentage of the population, I find it weird to not include it/separate it.
On a separate note, I will also dispute Austin. I love throwing Austin as a tech bro hub as much as anyone, but I find it to be making quick jumps to integration. I guess this was expected since its growing so fast. Not necessarily residentially but definitely socially.
Even if you argue that nothing north of Downtown LA is as integrated as any side in HOU (which is one I'd agree with), I would also say nothing in Houston is as integrated as the southern LA/LB/northern OC area (especially socially). And considering the latter holds a higher percentage of the population, I find it weird to not include it/separate it.
.
But I question how OC can really be part of this conversation given its miniscule black population. Im with you on the Long Beach/Gateway Cities/Carson area, but I just dont see it in OC. Even the heavily Hispanic areas of OC tend to be somewhat isolated (specifically Santa Ana). Of course OC has very high integration among Asians and Whites and that is probably the highest in the country. I worked in Garden Grove for years and I remember we all used to specifically mention when we saw a black person because you could go a couple of days without seeing one. That was a long time ago, but Southern California is less black now than then.
I moved to SoCal a few years ago, and it's definitely quite integrated. But, interestingly, I've also lived in Alaska and found it to be pretty socially integrated, too, in Fairbanks and Anchorage.
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