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.