Opinion of Los Angeles?

[Sbane]

Doing a little experiment here. I think a lot of the Los Angeles metro hate comes from people who haven't even visited the city, and have been brainwashed into thinking it's the worst sprawl there is in America. It's as if they have never even lived in America!

And I am not talking about Atlanta here, let's take the New York City metro. Please find me any place in SoCal which has as bad of sprawl as suburban New Jersey, Westchester County, Long Island or Fairfield County, Connecticut. Everyone here seems to love Chicago.... but do you guys realize it's just suburbs within a few miles of the loop? And not just that, but a lot of the new suburbs aren't medium density suburbs like most of the LA metro, but houses build on huge lots with no services accessible without a 3 mile drive. Also the LA urban core doesn't start and end in downtown, it stretches out to Santa Monica and Venice! That's a good 20 miles stretch of an urban area. People, please don't forget that 18 million people live in Socal, of course it's not going to be as small as other urban areas.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Kill it with fire.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Kill it with fire.

Of course given that this is its certain fate (via an earthquake) at some point, perhaps poor taste? Anyways...

[Sbane]

Kill it with fire.

Well is that your opinion of most of the urban areas of America? In that case you are not a hypocrite and entitled to your opinion.

[Goldwater]

I don't like it's politics, but I like the weather down there so I'll go with FF.

[Pheurton Skeurto]

Never lived there, but kinda neutral. I'd be okay with living there.

[Franzl]

Not as good of a city as some others on the West Coast, but much much better than its reputation, and certainly has the best weather.

[RIP Robert H Bork]

Extremely negative.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Never visited or lived there, but massive Freedom City.

[Marnetmar]

It's hell, complete with the fire, brimstone and little red guys that poke you in the bum with pitchforks.

[Torie]

Topography is what gives LA its charm. It also has the most sophisticated landscaping in the world that I have seen so far.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Kill it with fire.

Of course given that this is its certain fate (via an earthquake) at some point, perhaps poor taste? Anyways...

Yep, buy up all the soon to be beachfront property in eastern CA asap.   

HC

[Torie]

Kill it with fire.

Of course given that this is its certain fate (via an earthquake) at some point, perhaps poor taste? Anyways...

Yep, buy up all the soon to be beachfront property in eastern CA asap.  

HC

This is not quite so fanciful as it sounds. A big enough San Andreas fault quake on its southern end, just might cause a crack in the 30 foot high or so mud berm created by the Colorado River when the river moved (also due to a quake back when) at its mouth that sealed off the Gulf of California down at its present location just south of Mexicali. Thus there is this vast swath of below sea level territory running north of the berm up though the southern end of the Coachella Valley, the lowest portion of which (133 feet below sea level at its surface) is where the Salton Sea is located, formerly dry land which filled up due to an irrigation glitch in 1906 or something.

My desert house in La Quinta is about 60 feet below sea level. Beachfront would be at the northern edges of La Quinta and Indio. You can see where sea level is in La Quinta, by looking at the horizontal discoloration line of the rocks at the base of the Santa Rosa Mountains. I inquired about flood insurance precipitated by such a quake, concerned that if the sea comes flooding back in, not only my home, but also my lot would be lost at the bottom of the sea. The premium for this special kind of insurance not covered by ordinary quake insurance, was about 12K a year, so I took a pass. But I was concerned enough about it to inquire.

[opebo]

I associate LA with three things, (my experiences there):

1.  Chapped lips
2.  Customs troubles
3.  Surly staff/Hispanics

The place is horribly dry - ones lips are chapped within an hour or two, and LAX is a hideoous night mare place with US customs and security.  This isn't to say LA is any worse than the rest of the US, but it is almost invariably where I enter hell, so it stands out.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

LA is where your diazepam smuggling enterprise went awry, isn't it? That was a while ago now. Bizarre.

[Donerail]

Horribly polluted.

[Torie]

Horribly polluted.

It is about 80% less polluted now than it was 50 years ago (one reason why Pasadena has now become such a chic place to live - pollution was far worse as one went inland due to the prevailing winds off the ocean). Those catalytic converters in cars were a life saver!

[Donerail]

Horribly polluted.

It is about 80% less polluted now than it was 50 years ago (one reason why Pasadena has now become such a chic place to live - pollution was far worse as one went inland due to the prevailing winds off the ocean). Those catalytic converters in cars were a life saver!

It's still #1 by ozone, #3 by year-round particle pollution, and #4 in short-term particle pollution.

[Torie]

Horribly polluted.

It is about 80% less polluted now than it was 50 years ago (one reason why Pasadena has now become such a chic place to live - pollution was far worse as one went inland due to the prevailing winds off the ocean). Those catalytic converters in cars were a life saver!

It's still #1 by ozone, #3 by year-round particle pollution, and #4 in short-term particle pollution.

As a life long resident in the area (other than for college and advanced degrees), it's the delta function that counts, bro. Really. 

[Sbane]

Long time LA residents will tell you they never realized they lived just 30 miles away from 10,000 foot mountains. Now people can actually see them usually. Still, it's pretty bad but it's the worst out in the IE.

[opebo]

LA is where your diazepam smuggling enterprise went awry, isn't it? That was a while ago now. Bizarre.

Yes, but it wasn't an 'enterprise'; it was a casual and a-bit-too-complacent fellow forgetting what sort of place he was entering.