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It's ludicrous that you two are assuming that Los Angeles is bashed out of spite or jealousy.
Out of all the places to be jealous of, Los Angeles? Come on, if jealousy were the case, why isn't NYC ever bashed? Why isn't San Fransisco bashed? London? Paris? Isn't there more to be jealous of in a city such as New York as opposed to Los Angeles?
Truth is, Los Angeles isn't as desirable as some claim/want it to be. I don't despise Los Angeles (I honestly like it), but it certainly isn't any sort of paradise. It's just another city, nothing special. Houston on steroids, if you will.
Another bash from someone claiming to live in Santa Barbara!
Houston on steroids
I've been to Houston. Los Angeles does not look like Texas [which suggests you have never been to LA & likely don't live in California
I think LASam hit it with the idea that fans of LA aren't well represented here on City-Data, and Radraja with the observation that many users here have the attitude that a city isn't worth bothering with "if it's not like NYC." Read enough threads on here, and you'll notice that a lot of users on C-D favor old-style cities with the urban amenities packed into a dense central core, like a lot of Northeastern and Midwestern cities. Not only do a lot of users here clearly prefer the older cities, but quite a few are not shy about expressing real disdain for the newer cities where the amenities are spread out over a wide area. For this reason, Houston, Phoenix, and Atlanta take some bashing on here too, but LA is the archetype of the American Sun Belt metropolis, so it gets bashed with special enthusiasm by the apparently numerous Sun Belt detractors on here.
Los Angeles is incredibly exclusive. It has a culture that does not at all derive from New York City, which makes the east coast elitists feel extremely uncomfortable since there's an entire coast of people who couldn't care less about them. When I lived in Manhattan it was a very common to hear colleagues complain on and on and on about how their special Harvard-educated selves were simply out of place. And not for misunderstanding the culture, but because they were clearly so much better and special. Right? Wrong.
It has better weather and coastal elitism, the insane growth of wealth and power, that makes flyover states feel incredibly uncomfortable. Hence many efforts from Chicago posters to downgrade the city.
It's a whole other world that has had an extreme tendency to complete ignore everyone else. Add to this the stunning scenery, the educated and financial elite that rule the state from cities that range from tropical paradise to Tuscan Villa to the distinct European scenery in SF, and you have a place literally like no other in the country. It really is its own country.
Well, here's the funny thing I've noticed about LA. The vast majority of the people I meet on a day to day basis face-to-face love it, or at least like it. It's here on the forum that I find a lot of LA haters.
Welllll......... most of the people I run into here in fly-over country either hate it, or are indifferent towards it. LA is a has-been town. It's fifteen minutes are up. I've been there twice, and have no desire to go back.
Plastic women, smoggy skies, looks-are-everything, substance is nothing, better-than-thou Hollywood preachiness, race riots over a convicted criminal, O.J.... did I mention real estate prices? Even with the current situation, you suckers in L.A. are still paying out the gord for some rat hole to lay your head in. A half-million dollar house out there only costs 100k in the real world. L.A.'s average income isn't nearly enough to cover it, either.
There's people all over the place that don't care for LA, not just on C-D.
No, I'm not the slightest bit jealous, or "uncomfortable". Give me a break. Yes, I'm a proud midwesterner, who loves our old, gritty, close-knit cities.
Last edited by northbound74; 06-24-2008 at 09:40 PM..
Welllll......... most of the people I run into here in fly-over country either hate it, or are indifferent towards it. LA is a has-been town. It's fifteen minutes are up. I've been there twice, and have no desire to go back.
Plastic women, smoggy skies, looks-are-everything, substance is nothing, better-than-thou Hollywood preachiness, race riots over a convicted criminal, O.J.... did I mention real estate prices? Even with the current situation, you suckers in L.A. are still paying out the gord for some rat hole to lay your head in. A half-million dollar house out there only costs 100k in the real world. L.A.'s average income isn't nearly enough to cover it, either.
There's people all over the place that don't care for LA, not just on C-D.
No, I'm not the slightest bit jealous, or "uncomfortable". Give me a break. Yes, I'm a proud midwesterner, who loves our old, gritty, close-knit cities.
This is incorrect on several levels. I bought a three-bed, two-bath house for less than a million in a nice part of LA. Is it Beverly Hills? No. It's just suburbia, but it's close to work and it's very spacious. I didn't pay through the nose. Only in San Francisco proper do you find real estate prices that high.
California real estate is a function of both desire and necessity. CA actually has educated people fighting to get in, unlike your old, gritty cities in the midwest. So I'm not entirely certain where this "15 minutes of has-been fame" is coming from, because Los Angeles never set out to win a popularity contest. We did achieve a level of desire that has the best restaurants, universities and real estate in this country, and all of the problems that come with it.
As I said, and as is evidenced by northbound, most midwesterners are extremely put off by California. A lot of this does have to do with coastal elitism, as I've had to explain to people time and again that Chicago is a real city and yes, I really did use public transit and live in a skyscraper. Blows their minds that I lived across from where I worked for a reasonable price.
But they also understand quite clearly (and without having to be told) that demand in for real estate in the midwest is nonexistant, and supply is sky-high on basically worthless land.
This is incorrect on several levels. I bought a three-bed, two-bath house for less than a million in a nice part of LA. Is it Beverly Hills? No. It's just suburbia, but it's close to work and it's very spacious. I didn't pay through the nose. Only in San Francisco proper do you find real estate prices that high.
California real estate is a function of both desire and necessity. CA actually has educated people fighting to get in, unlike your old, gritty cities in the midwest. So I'm not entirely certain where this "15 minutes of has-been fame" is coming from, because Los Angeles never set out to win a popularity contest. We did achieve a level of desire that has the best restaurants, universities and real estate in this country, and all of the problems that come with it.
As I said, and as is evidenced by northbound, most midwesterners are extremely put off by California. A lot of this does have to do with coastal elitism, as I've had to explain to people time and again that Chicago is a real city and yes, I really did use public transit and live in a skyscraper. Blows their minds that I lived across from where I worked for a reasonable price.
But they also understand quite clearly (and without having to be told) that demand in for real estate in the midwest is nonexistant, and supply is sky-high on basically worthless land.
For less than a million? Sounds like a bargain.
Real estate is in high demand in many parts of my area, thanks to all the soon-to-be ex-Californians flowing out of that state. All lot of them have been forced out, due to hideous real estate prices. Actually, that is true for people from both coasts. All on worthless land, where pretty much everybody's food comes from. Worthless indeed.
For less than a million? Sounds like a bargain.
Real estate is in high demand in many parts of my area, thanks to all the soon-to-be ex-Californians flowing out of that state. All lot of them have been forced out, due to hideous real estate prices. Actually, that is true for people from both coasts. All on worthless land, where pretty much everybody's food comes from. Worthless indeed.
California supplies something like 50% of this state's agricultural produce.
Right now food is so cheap as to be subsidized by the government for basic worth, and even with this ethanol BS taking up corn you'd still find that 99% of the cost associated with price is shipping and handling, maintenance, and target-pricing profit.
Californians cashing out on their real estate are not heading for the midwest-- I don't know anyone who would consider living there among my group of either professional or personal contacts. They head to AZ or the east coast, and the Carolinas are booming with Californian expatriates.
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