The Westside: What's the big deal?

[majoun]

Originally Posted by TheBarrenLands

I personally don't care for LA's West side. It is sadly full of many of the stereotypes that outsiders have about LA: the rich, bleached blonde types driving around in their Ferraris, drinking wheatgrass on their way to yoga class. Too many high-end boutiques and snotty folk over there, with the exception of Santa Monica. I personally like the South Bay area of Los Angeles the best (Redondo, Hermosa, and Manhattan Beaches, Torrance, Gardena, Palos Verdes).

And there are no high end boutiques and snotty folks in Santa Monica Or for that matter in Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, or Palos Verdes

Doubt there'd be too many in Torrance except perhaps in the part of South Torrance right next to PV and Redondo.

[West of Encino]

Originally Posted by majoun

The good schools on the westside are in Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Culver City. BH and CC all have considerably fewer families with kids than they used to. As does WLA (I read that only 2% of the population in the 90025 and 90064 zip codes consists of families with kids and one of the two junior highs- now-middle schools I attended as a kid, Webster, now has VERY few kids from the neighborhood. Not sure about the current composition of Walgrove Elementary, which I attended back in the late '60s and '70s, or Mark Twain Middle School where I attended 7th grade)

The rest is LAUSD and thus has pretty damn lousy schools (although when I was growing up it was a different story).

I've seen what's happened to the westside over the years - it's not what it was. While I never lived north of Wilshire I did go to Uni High many years ago which Brentwood, Westwood, Bel Air, Holmby Hills, etc. are part of the area for and had friends growing up in those areas. Not that many kids from the neighborhood go to Uni these days and it no longer is the jewel of LAUSD as it was.

If any LAUSD area has more kids than the rest of westside areas outside SM, I'd think it wouldn't be Pacific Palisades but probably an area with more immigrants like Del Rey.

As for the best place to live in L.A. if money were no object: Los Feliz hands down (except for the schools issue but everywhere you mentioned as being "good parts of the westside" except for BH and SM has that same issue). But if you think CC is a "boring wasteland" you know little about CC - it's hardly the most exciting place around but has more to offer than you'd think....I'd like to see down to earth bars and restaurants try surviving in the Palisades. (OTOH, if a certain pub which is a hangout for the westside's white racist crowd moved to the Palisades from Culver City, they'd be perfectly welcome to it!' CC would gain by its absence)

Where is this racist white crowd prominent on the Westside apart from CC and SM?

[West of Encino]

So it looks like the Westside of L.A. is becoming less family friendly and that's a good sign.

Originally Posted by majoun

You mean "sterile, boring, overpriced wasteland with no culture that I'd only live in for free"?



Not too many little kids on the westside these days outside of Santa Monica.



Well, the 405 is right in the middle of the westside, and many of the areas you mentioned are east of the 405.



True, and there are even a couple of British pubs in Hollywood if you really miss the westside - contrary to popular belief they're not all west of the 405, just most of them.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by West of Encino

Where is this racist white crowd prominent on the Westside apart from CC and SM?

CC is the farthest thing from racist that you can get, it's very diverse and very comfortable in its diversity. It's actually a model of ethnic and racial tolerance in SoCal. Non-Latino whites, Latinos, Asians, blacks, Middle Easterners, etc. all live in harmony. In fact Southern Culver City/Fox Hills is mostly black and also happens to be the wealthiest part of Culver City.

One single pub right near the 405 on Washington (which I'll just say is "Glasgow oriented") does not define ALL of CC. If anything it is an embarrassing exception to the general rule of a very tolerant place with a considerable mixture of races and ethnicities that is one of the last middle class bastions on the Westside.

I highly recommend CC to anyone. I do NOT recommend ONE very specific drinking establishment. And I'm sure many most of the people who go there don't live in CC - it's just a gathering place for like minded scum from throughout the westside to gather. CC has much better places to drink anyways.