The "Small" Feeling (Los Angeles, Inglewood: transplants, hotels, homes)

[jeffredo]

Originally Posted by BarcelonaFan

Central LA, DTLA and East Hollywood >>>>>> West LA.

Get it right and knock off the uneducated little quips.

Got it right (more or less), and you're more than welcome to make quips about San Francisco and the Bay Area. I won't assume you know nothing about the place.

[moonsparkle]

Another thing to factor in...in most cities, the dating competition past a certain age isn't that impressive.

In LA, you might be competing with the cast of Prison Break.

[New Horizons]

The only small feeling I got there was because the city was so damn huge! I walked around Rodeo Drive, saw some fancy people walking around. I'm breathing the same air as them, and I'm sure if I said Hi or asked them a question they would respond. I was up in the Hollywood hills checking out the Ennis House, a resident steps out of his house with a magnificent view and says all cheerfully to the Mexican help, "Great day for painting isn't it!" Wealthy people aren't always jerks, sometimes they're very friendly because they are happy with their own lives.

[BarcelonaFan]

Originally Posted by New Horizons

The only small feeling I got there was because the city was so damn huge! I walked around Rodeo Drive, saw some fancy people walking around. I'm breathing the same air as them, and I'm sure if I said Hi or asked them a question they would respond. I was up in the Hollywood hills checking out the Ennis House, a resident steps out of his house with a magnificent view and says all cheerfully to the Mexican help, "Great day for painting isn't it!" Wealthy people aren't always jerks, sometimes they're very friendly because they are happy with their own lives.

The point is to not individualize the reaction people have against wealth, but to look at it systemically. They're not mad at the individual wealthy person who may or not be a great guy, but the system that creates rich and poor, destroys opportunities, creates social antagonisms. The wealthy are just the immediate representation people have with that system.

I've noticed that in America we all think in overly individualized, atomized form. That if we see a nice rich person, or a nice cop, or a fair boss, then that excuses the system we live under. As if these exceptions negate the belief that the institutions we know are failing us; the state, the police, capitalism, etc.

Oh and most rich people are happy because they do not lack security which most of us do.

[UrbanAdventurer]

America has always been this way to some extent...the winner-takes-all mentality. The past couple of decades it seems to have gotten worse though. Rampant consumerism, obsession with wealth and fame and "reality TV stars", tax systems that favor wealth and allow the rich to easily get richer, etc. Places like West LA are merely symptoms of what happens when society allows a small minority of people to play by different rules than the rest of us.

[readymade]

So, I'm too lazy to read the whole thread, but wanted to put in my two cents.

The Hollywood people talk about on this forum is very very different than the Hollywood I have experienced. I have personally found that the richer and or more famous you are in LA, the more dressed-down you are. It's the ones that feel they need to prove something or keep up appearances that are making you feel uncomfortable.

I've hung out with celebrities/producers and (the ones I've hung out with, anyway. And I'm not talking Angelina Jolie types... more like "I'm the star of How I Met Your Mother" types) they tend to be of the t-shirt & jeans "I forgot to shave" variety. If ANYthing, I've felt overdressed around them. A couple of times, I knew someone famous would be there (wherever I was going... a party or whatever), and I'd wear a skirt & nice shoes or something to look nice, and I felt really awkward and overdressed. (one time, at a party, I changed into my jeans because I was horrified at how "fancy" I looked compared to everyone else.) - Now I dress as crappily as I can get away with because god forbid you look like you care about your appearance! It's all about having artfully messy hair and disheveled clothing.

I once was on a set with this B-movie actor (that you have definitely heard of) and most of the women there were fairly dressed to the nines. Hair extensions, cleavage, etc... but all the men were wearing ripped jeans & raggedy t-shirts (except the actor). The women were all perfectly nice, though. So were the men. I was wearing stuff from Old Navy. No one seemed to care. They were shooting at this mansion, and the owner had original works of art by Duchamp, Warhol, & Basquiat (and a bunch of others). I was the only one who noticed (and was impressed by) this.

When I feel uncomfortable/awkward around rich/famous people, it's usually because I feel fat. And I'm actually not fat... they are just very very VERY (like, shockingly) thin!

[Elle Oh Elle]

Originally Posted by readymade

So, I'm too lazy to read the whole thread, but wanted to put in my two cents.

The Hollywood people talk about on this forum is very very different than the Hollywood I have experienced. I have personally found that the richer and or more famous you are in LA, the more dressed-down you are. It's the ones that feel they need to prove something or keep up appearances that are making you feel uncomfortable.

I've hung out with celebrities/producers and (the ones I've hung out with, anyway. And I'm not talking Angelina Jolie types... more like "I'm the star of How I Met Your Mother" types) they tend to be of the t-shirt & jeans "I forgot to shave" variety. If ANYthing, I've felt overdressed around them. A couple of times, I knew someone famous would be there (wherever I was going... a party or whatever), and I'd wear a skirt & nice shoes or something to look nice, and I felt really awkward and overdressed. (one time, at a party, I changed into my jeans because I was horrified at how "fancy" I looked compared to everyone else.) - Now I dress as crappily as I can get away with because god forbid you look like you care about your appearance! It's all about having artfully messy hair and disheveled clothing.

I once was on a set with this B-movie actor (that you have definitely heard of) and most of the women there were fairly dressed to the nines. Hair extensions, cleavage, etc... but all the men were wearing ripped jeans & raggedy t-shirts (except the actor). The women were all perfectly nice, though. So were the men. I was wearing stuff from Old Navy. No one seemed to care. They were shooting at this mansion, and the owner had original works of art by Duchamp, Warhol, & Basquiat (and a bunch of others). I was the only one who noticed (and was impressed by) this.

When I feel uncomfortable/awkward around rich/famous people, it's usually because I feel fat. And I'm actually not fat... they are just very very VERY (like, shockingly) thin!

It's more superficial, yeah. In the end it does depend on what kind of celebrity you speak of. Not so different from a discussion I had some time ago about models. There are plus size models. Same with this, there are celebrities who don't value appearance or brands. I know comedians would definitely fit your description.

[TimTheEnchanter]

I have never felt small in LA because I have never been impressed by celebrity or conspicuous consumption. As someone pointed out earlier I wouldn't know a 20k leather jacket from one from Walmart. Because I don't care.

I dress roughly the way I always have, beach casual, for over 50 years now because I am a casual beach person other then when I am in business dress and I am pretty conservative there, greys, blues, pinstripes and Glen plaids (also all blue and grey).

In the days that I clubbed I didn't dress much differently except I did put on long pants (Levi's) instead of shorts and maybe a Polo collared shirt instead of a Reyn Spooner Aloha shirt (but not always). It always cracked me up that all my friends who liked to talk about what rebels they were conformed to whatever group they were in at the time and tried to get me to change.

I hope when people are talking about "Hollywood" they mean Hollywood the industry, not the physical place because I think Hollywood is a pit. Yes it has improved since Hollywood & Highland went in, new clubs and restaurants, but nothing to pretend that Hollywood has any kind of cool or panache about it now.

I think if someone feels "small" they need to examine what it is that they value.

[BarcelonaFan]

You were too lazy to read the whole thread lol

The topic of celebs being the least of the OPs worries has already been discussed.

It's usually the real estate moguls, lawyers and surgeons (and their spawn) that prance around town all fancy.


Celebs, especially comedians are really down to earth.

[disgruntled la native]

Why do you even care? They aren't doing anything to you personally. As for the Westside being one thing and the Eastside being another, it's a matter of preference. I don't really go "east of La Brea" but I don't have anything against the eastside, I'd even check it out, but drunk driving laws and traffic kind of prevent me from doing so.