I lived in LA for years and sometimes miss it a lot, other times I can't believe I lived there as long as I did.

I essentiallly left because of the expense, it is very expensive to live there. Everything cost more there and I do mean everything, it's very shocking at first. We had a kid whom had congenital defects (VATER syndrome) and felt like we couldn't make it there at the time (three years ago). Hospital situation there was akin to living hell...

I lived in Culver City in the eighties, back then everyone hated it there, now it cost millions to buy something there because of it's 'west side' geography and it's proximity to the ocean, Santa Monica, etc...

I lived deep in the San Berandino Valley in the nineties, Van Nuys specifically, that sucked, fifteen to twenty degrees hotter than the rest of town and really dreary, ugly, etc...

Most recently (2000's) I lived in Silverlake, the Silverlake Hills to be precise, it was right before the big upswing in real estate costs. The houses are neat up there, a mix of modern architecture and Schindler designs, with Spanish houses intermingled. Used to be a gay cruising area with artist's and junkie types, now it's fairly upscale with working actor types and other 'industry' asholes err, I mean people.

Los Feliz is the border neighborhood, but even more expensive, mainly because Madonna, Brad Pitt and other celebrity's moved there in the late nineties.

Used to be no one would touch Echo Park with a ten-foot pole, but now the Silverlake wannabe's have moved there and it has become 'hip' as well, even with the ubiquitous tagging by gang members and the overall rundown state of affairs in parts of that area.

There always Glendale, yes, I lived there as well, a lot cheaper, but less 'cool.'

Pasadena is kind of okay, but hotter than LA, more of a family scene, but interesting history there and a record stor ecalled Canterbury that is run by very nice people whom don't mind selling you collectable LP's that are worth $300 or so for say, fifty cents.

Used to surf in Malibu, never met bigger assholes in my life than I did out there in the water and in the shops nearby.

Once, in Malibu I parked next to Rick Rubin, he was hanging out with Ralph, the guy from the Howard Stern show. They hopped into a Bentley (after Ralph raised a ruckus in the parking lot) with a big dirty looking Puli dog. The Puli dog jumped right into this three hundred thousand dollar car stomping and drooling all over the leather seats, licking the windows, the whole bit... weird. You see a lot of these spectacles out there. Cops out there are pretty fucking scary too.

I guess my advice is that unless your super rich, I would stay on the east side of town, rent should still be cheaper there and there's good food, and nice, friendly people around (for the most part). Be aware that the air quality gets worse the further away from the ocean you get and the temperature is hotter as well. Some of the more up and coming areas in LA now are places like Glassel and Highland Park. Unfortunately, Silverlake and Los Feliz have already 'happened'.

There are some really amazing records stores in LA and some good rock clubs with decent sound systems and no smoking! Lot's of shitty bands though, for a good laugh go to the Viper room...

Many beautiful women as well, never seen anything like it... a lot of 10's running around and I'm not kidding, beautiful people.

There are also many lines of demarcation that run through LA, neighborhood vs. neighborhood, west side vs. east side, lot's of stupid shit like that. The good thing about LA is that every ten blocks or so is a new city or area, so if you don't like one, you can up and move to another and never see those people again!

Parking sucks big time, traffic sucks too. Constant celebrity and entertainment obsession gets old fast; everyone is an actor/producer/writer/director/let's do lunch type. Everyone has an angle, wants something, etc.

I really liked the laid back dress code: wear what you want just about ANYWHERE. People are essentially unshockable too, nothing really raise anyone's eyebrows too much.

I still miss living there sometimes; I guess I'll always have good feelings about the place, even with all the caveats. I live in Atlanta now, which I don't hate but don't really like either, it's cheaper here but well...

An interesting thing to do in LA is to drive all the way down Sunset starting at the old train staion in Echo Park, all the way to the ocean, it's the only way to see it all, the opulence, the poverty, the decay, the beauty and the sheer magnitude of the city of angels.

I live in the Silverlake hills area of Los Angeles. I'm an engineer and I moved here because of an opportunity to come an make a life out of recording music and really dive into it. I agree with just about everything that has been said about L.A., but I found that this city can be whatever you make it. There are things I've seen and learned that I never would have if I would have done something else.


The area I live in is really neighborhood-y, with great views and scenery, not the shithole that I always thought L.A. was like. Alot of my neighbors are photographers, musicians, artists, writers, or just older folks that have been living here for 30+ years. I don't know any of them very well, mainly because everyone is always working away at something or heavily involved in some project.


The cost of living is really high here and I really struggled for a while, but now I've got it to where I make a comfortable living and work just about every day.

Lot's of good shows come to town, and there are some great places to travel from here. There's not much to be said for the local music scene, but you can't really think of the idea of "local music" in L.A. as you would for most any other city.

Not too many salt-of-the-earth types, but I've found you can work your way around the showbiz element and make your own way.

I have chosen L.A. because it's so hateful. I like its ugliness, I feel it will be inspirational to me.

If its hateful your looking for you might want to try Philadelphia. We hate everything.

six acre lake wrote:I have chosen L.A. because it's so hateful. I like its ugliness, I feel it will be inspirational to me.

If its hateful your looking for you might want to try Philadelphia. We hate everything.

John's right, but there are some things we like here: bad cheesesteaks (yes there are good ones), smoking as sport and the best beers in the usa.

Sing the praises of hate Mr. Lee.
Sometimes i feel like i live at the intersection of Ignorance and Hostility. (Plus as an added bonus there are tons of girls covered with terrible tattoos, preferably on there necks.)

Its hard for me to believe any place that close to the ocean as "hateful."

Is LA...
1...Filled with insecure people living in the shadow of NYC.
2...Consistantly ranked as one of the fattest unhealthy cities.
3...Next to South Jersey.
4...never going to win a sporting trophy.

six acre lake wrote:1...Filled with insecure people living in the shadow of NYC.
2...Consistantly ranked as one of the fattest unhealthy cities.
3...Next to South Jersey.
4...never going to win a sporting trophy.

1... insecure people don't live in la or nyc? you've got to be kidding me. i think it takes a sense of security to not feel obligated to move to la or nyc.
2... la is full of sun-baked anorexic plastic surgery disasters. no thank you. even a dude i met there was bragging about how he skinny he was. "i'm 5'10" and 120 pounds, i'm soooo skinny!" good for you, schmuck. sorry we eat in philadelphia, most folks i know aren't an unhealthy weight.
3... south jersey is much like other burbs, except denser and with more sidewalks and less cul-de-sacs. not so bad. it has a shore too, for what that's worth.
4... who the fuck cares? so some meatheads won't get a chance to pour beer on each other's meat heads.

LA is a terrifying sprawl that seems to stretch out infinitely in all directions. It will always be home to me.