Some surprising realizations I had living in LA for 7 years, that were not mentioned in the article:<p>- Great cycling weather. LA has come a long way in bike lanes and buses that can carry your bike. It's not all about cars.<p>- It's basically working class due to the garment and aerospace industry. These are filipino and hispanic workers that have families and live generally outside of the trendy neighborhoods (or they do, but in cramped conditions). Most of HN will probably never interact with this demographic though.<p>- Your "LA is fake" speech as a disgruntled transplant is super lame and cliche, and lamer than actually being a fake/shallow Angeleno. Get over it. It's fake if you hang out with fake people. I found it refreshing to meet people who were not the standard tech bro who lifts weights.<p>- Great outdoors. Hiking, rock climbing, limited skiing. Take a sailing class thru UCLA.<p>Edit:<p>- LA food: Best East Asian (especially Chinese), Mexican, and Persian food in the country, and possibly the best Ethiopian. LA I thought had the highest density of high-quality but midrange ethnic restaurants that you could visit for a weekday lunch. It is not as good for technical haute cuisine that you'd find in SF, NYC, but it's the best for food that you could actually eat everyday.
I grew up in Hollywood and have lived in Los Angeles most of my life. I hated it growing up but upon returning had an experience of rediscovering my home town and finding I love it.<p>My favorite part of LA is something that is sadly gone with the rise of the LA tech scene, cannabis scene, and migrations from SF and NYC. LA was always a place where you could find a cheap apartment, studio, warehouse, etc, focus on your work (whatever that is) and disappear in the sprawl and then emerge as necessary to engage socially.<p>There was always an abundance of store fronts and warehouses easily converted into studio spaces and an abundance of fabricators and materials suppliers to feed all sorts of artistic practices. This was due to LA's rich history as an industrial center.<p>If you wanted to start a small gallery or little studio community you could essentially throw a dart at a map and find the perfect place for you and your friends.<p>Now with the real estate boom, the expanding tech startup scene, and the cannabis industry LA is becoming more and more expensive and options for creative lifestyles are becoming slimmer and slimmer.
I lost trust in the whole article when it came to the paragraph on food. LA has a great food scene, but I would put Tokyo, Bangkok, Barcelona, Chicago, and probably another 5-10 cities ahead of it. Saying "Los Angeles is the world’s best food city, and it’s not close" is myopic.
At the end of the day, this is an outlook of someone who enjoys the city, and I can get behind that. But there is not much in this article that wouldn't still hold true if you replaced Los Angeles with 'X well known metropolis in the world'. I moved to San Francisco a couple of years ago and had a negative mindset going into the move given my circumstances at the time...and you know what, I had a bad attitude that led to a worse experience. Ultimately, fantastic things can be found almost everywhere these days, we just have to go in with an open mindset.
> The average walking experience is poor, but the peak walking experience is marvelous.<p>I feel this applies to almost everything about Los Angeles - the average <i>anything</i> probably sucks, but the peak is probably ether than you’re gonna find almost anywhere. What makes LA so great for me is that you can get those peak experiences in so many different areas of life.
Lived in LA for a decade plus.<p>The biggest problem in LA is the traffic, plus that you need a car to go anywhere.<p>Try to go on average day from Griffith Park(Observatory in the picture) to Santa Monica(surfing). You will hate your life.<p>People who live in LA are kinda used to crazy traffic, but if your value your time, LA is not the place to be
The thing that sold me on LA was seeing that Atlas Obscura lists 221 things there!<p><a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/los-angeles-california" rel="nofollow">https://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/los-angeles-califo...</a><p>I've visited rather than lived there, but the overwhelming impression I've got is that LA is /weird/ - in all of the best ways.<p>That density of creative people - with a business model that actually supports them - plus areas of the city that are affordable (at least in comparison to the SF Bay Area) means LA has an abundance of quirky and interesting culture to it. And great food.<p>There is an entire area of LA full of prop rental warehouses which I am very keen to explore on my next trip there.
> My impression is that Los Angeles is the world’s best food city, and it’s not close. I have a galaxy-brained theory about why this is. Restaurants decline when they sell prestige, rather than food. (This is why Manhattan is often not a good place to eat.)<p>Stops reading and closes the window. Seriously, what the hell. LA is a great place to eat, but for the love of G... Paris? Tokyo? NYC also kicks LA's ass to the ground regarding food. I know my food, LA's great, but come on.
LA never felt like a city to me because of the sprawl. I remember driving into downtown from the airport, and thinking to myself, “This is a suburb with tall buildings in the distance”. I chalk this up to me being from the East Coast and going to NYC a lot as a kid, and therefore seeing a “city” as something that’s dense and walkable.
I found LA depressing on so many levels, everytime I've been there I can't wait to get home. I'd feel that cold mist on the Golden Gate bridge, and felt great immediately.<p>As a kid in high school, blonds (most are out of a bottle) were worshiped. I guess it was the beach Surfer thing? My cousin was so depressed because he looked ethnic. Women just wouldn't give him the time of day.<p>When he came to visit us in Norther California--he was a rock star. Women really liked him. I never saw him so happy.<p>It's weird how certain places are just different on so many levels.<p>(best Mexican food there is though.)
I loved LA. There's so much to love about it. Food, beaches, weather, creativity, etc etc.<p>If I had millions of dollars and could live anywhere I would probably live in LA.