Los Angeles envy
Traditionally, L.A. has been known as an entertainment mecca that attracts wanna-be models and actors. And thus far, graduates of elite colleges and MBA programs tend to not move there. But just anecdotally, I know a lot of NYC and SF people who are dying to move to L.A.
Several trends will favor L.A. in the coming years.
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As the brutal winters and oppressive humidity of cities such as NYC continue to get worse, weather will become an increasingly attractive draw.
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As NYC/Chicago/SF plunge into urban chaos and crime due to terrible policies, people will look to L.A. as a viable urban option.
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The 2028 Olympics will result in massive infrastructure improvements, allowing people to more easily navigate L.A. without a car.
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The L.A. tech scene is still nascent but growing rapidly, with Google/Amazon/Apple/Facebook expanding their reach there, along with large presence by Snap, Netflix, Activision, Riot, and slew of startups such as Bird/Fair/Service Titan.
LA is nice. I’m happy you’re finally happy, Brady.
Is this Brady's new account?
Lol
I’ve lived in LA/ OC my whole life. I’ll only move if I have to. Otherwise, I’m perfectly content here indefinitely. It’s great.
A lot of people make the mistake of going downtown and hating it. Go to the Westside- Santa Monica, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Century City, Westwood, Beverly Hills, Fairfax/ Melrose, West Hollywood and you’ll enjoy it. For OC- Newport Coast/ Beach, Corona Del Mar, and Laguna Beach (my personal favorite) are the way to go.
Laguna is incredible but how do people deal with the COL there? I spent a week there and it was definitely a beautiful place with a great laid back vibe, but all the decent houses seemed to be like $3mm+ and it’s a long commute to LA and other areas with concentrations of high paying jobs. What am I missing?
.
Agreed with @tbateman". What's up dude?
People in Laguna don't commute to LA, typically. I would love to end up living in Laguna but I suppose that's after I've made some money, set up investments, and can afford to take a pay cut/ be an adjunct professor.
I'm trying to find an LA equivalent of Laguna. Malibu seems somewhat close but it's always on fire/ the hills are sliding down/ some other thing is wrong.
May be a dumb question but seriously not familiar - why not DTLA? I know back in the day it used to be a dump but I've heard that in recent years it's been turning around. No?
LA Live area is cool but it’s so small it’s easy to get bored of. Financial district is cool but only once. Beyond that there’s not much else
what about SKID ROW?
No better place to SLAM the BLACK TAR with strangers
LA got AD. Enough said.
“As the brutal winters and oppressive humidity of cities such as NYC continue to get worse, weather will become an increasingly attractive draw.”
Hell yeah brother. What’s more attractive than peaceful, non-extreme wildfires?
Every place has to have pros and cons. Without the cons, I'm sure more people would want to live here.
An uncomfortably cold winter that WILL go away is a lot easier to deal with in my opinion than a fire that will just burn all your shit to the ground. But maybe that's just me...
Don't forget the totally cool and could-never-be-a-problem earthquakes that are like, super under control.
My friend moved with his new wife from D.C. to Los Angeles a year ago and loves it. I asked him what he loves about it--"The weather." Anything else? "No, just the weather." The people? No. The school system? Terrible. Traffic? Absurd. Cost of living? Obscene. The beaches? Dirty and disgusting. The water? Arctic cold. Natural disasters? Frequent. Despite LA being terrible in almost every objective way, my friend plans to live there for the rest of his life because of the weather. It really shocks me personally because I don't like warm weather--I prefer late fall weather--so I would never put up with all of the down sides of LA.
If the weather is all that matters to you, I think you'll love LA. And it looks like a lot of people are willing to settle for less to enjoy perfect weather. And this needs to be emphasized--LA doesn't have pretty good weather most of the time. LA and SoCal have arguably the best weather in America, including Hawai'i, nearly year round. People can put up with a lot of bullshit in exchange for perfect weather.
One cannot discuss the pros/cons of a city in a vacuum; it's all relative. So when we talk bout the cons of LA such as traffic and cost of living, what other cities are we comparing it to and what are the tradeoffs? No city is perfect, so one needs to carefully weigh the pros and cons. If you hate traffic so much that you cannot fathom being in a car for longer than an hour per day, then yes, LA is not right for you. But if you are willing to deal with it in exchange for other advantages, then the calculus is different.
No offense, but D.C. is absolutely horrendous. A city on a swamp that is filled with some of the most sanctimonious liberals working in government and law. Gross. In terms of nightlife, food, things to do, LA is so much superior to D.C. that it's comical to even mention them in the same sentence.
As for weather, the older you get, the more important it is. Studies show that great weather plays a crucial role in one's mood and happiness. I have lived in cold as fuck cities, and 9 months out of the year, it's too cold to be outside and it's depressing as hell. And unlike other factors, weather in a given location is not something you can change or improve with money. You just gotta deal with it. This is hard to explain to someone who has never lived in SoCal, but if you were to come out here during the winter, you will have a better understanding of what I'm saying.
I'm personally comparing it to D.C. The worst traffic I've ever been in was a blizzard in D.C. and a day ending in "y" in Beverly Hills. At least we have options in D.C. for those of us close to the Metro.
We aren't talking perfection. We are talking about LA being one of the worst managed cities in the Western world, salvaged entirely by its weather. If not for its weather, LA would be a worse city (or metro area) than Baltimore under the same management. Let's be intellectually honest about this.
Did you not read my post? Honest question. Because that was the specific point of my post. LMAO. But I guess this is a good summation of exactly what I said.
That's weird since we have atrocious weather yet a huge population boom. So, ya know, people move here in spite of the weather. So, that's called talking with your feet.
Do you really want to compare your complete freak leftists of Los Angeles to our still-relatively-normal liberals? LOL. Every city in metro D.C. is better run than LA. Every single one.
Maybe. If you're young and good looking night life takes care of itself in most major American cities. Is the liquor better on the west coast? And food? Really? Yeah, D.C. isn't Kansas, brah.
I personally don't care. Mid-atlantic October/November is my favorite weather.
Been to SoCal in February and January.
Honest question: does LA do anything well other than weather?
Your friend who thinks the beaches are horrible probably doesn't have friends that are taking him to the right ones - you can't go to the beach along the santa monica pier and expect to have a great day surrounded by 100s of tourists. You have to go to private beach clubs or know the right spots. The beaches in LA are beautiful
Dude I grew up in the LA area. It peaked in like 95 to 2000 back when half of it wasn't developed and houses were still relatively cheap. Think of chilling at a beachhouse in newport/malibu with a fire listening to californication.
My parents got their house for ~$100/sq ft, now it's more than triple that for your suburban house in an upper middle class neighborhood.
The weather is great, but everything else sucks. Horrifying traffic, clubs full of dudes (at least in 2010, gotta be connected to get invited to the good parties), housing prices out of control. It's also not the biz hub that NYC or San Fran is -- though if you're in tech you should do ok.
You'll wake up at 6:30 to leave by 7:30 to be sure you get to work on time due to traffic. Then the same shitty commute back. Everything is also really spread out, not like NY where you can go to happy hour then be on a quick train back home.
I'm not going to mention illegal immigration because someone here will get mad, but you will really see it there. Hospital waits of 3 hours (at least in the 2000's) because all the illegals don't have health insurance and the hospitals have to help them.
On the contrary if you're a big swinging dick and can afford a house in the hollywood hills/malibu or can afford a beachside condo go for it. Without money it's not a very fun experience living 45 minutes out in a tiny condo because that's what you can afford.
Agree on illegal aliens making things worse. They are a scourge on our country and need to be deported, but that's a different topic altogether (legal immigration should also be reduced by 90%+).
Traffic is bad, but if you choose your location wisely, you can bypass a lot of the hassle. For instance, if your job is in Santa Monica you can live anywhere in the west side and have a reasonable commute. Century city, you can live in Santa Monica, Culver City, Beverly Hills, even WeHo. Downtown and burbank/glendale is tougher but you can still live in WeHo/Hollywood or downtown itself since the neighborhood is building up and has a lot of luxury highrises.
Agree that LA is not the finance powerhouse of NYC or the tech powerhouse of SF. It still has a ways to go, but it's getting better, and its appeal will only grow in the coming years. My prediction is that by 2030, LA will be the most popular destination for graduates of elite MBA programs after NYC. People can't wait to get the F out of socialist SF.
Why do you think legal immigration should be reduced by so much?
To each his own. I am happy you're happy. Personally I hate LA. I grew up there, and couldn't wait to leave. I like cities with subways so I can get around, and not have to deal with the stress of driving everywhere. I hate traffic. And if you've got kids? Man it sucks growing up in LA because you're trapped in deep residential areas until you turn 16 and can drive, and even then you're only free if you can get a car. I think for kids being able to hop in a tube and get to a vibrant area is key to a decent social experience. But hey, to each his own. I know a lot of people who love LA, but I'll take SF or NYC any day of the week. I also found the job scene in LA to be quite a bit more spotty than other cities.
I also like density and a real urban environment and LA is the opposite of that. I live in Hong Kong now, and I enjoy that I can go downstairs and get my groceries, walk my kid 100 meters in the morning to his school, walk 300 meters to the subway and get to my office in 20 minutes, and go to the park in 200 meters. I am surrounded by restaurants on all sides too. When I lived in NYC I wouldn't need to plan outings with my wife. We would just go downstairs, walk around, get some food, and we'd just run into things organically. There was always some festival, some event, some parade, etc. It was really living the city.
Can you elaborate on the job scene in LA being "quite a bit more spotty?"
Could not agree more. Having grown up in the area I visit my family frequently and go out of my mind when i realize i have to drive 10 minutes to get a coffee and my only option is a starbucks. I have a soft spot for southern california and i like visiting. But i struggle to live in a place that feels like one giant strip mall with a great ocean view.
You just put into words why I hate LA, you want anything you gotta drive then there is no parking then you finally get there get what you wanted and your just pissed off.
Annoying AF
Ahhhh This^ This is what I want for the future. I just wish my BF would get it. I love big cities and I grew up in the country. Like you I like being able to walk out the door and walk a few blocks to restaurant.
Honestly, I wouldn't mind moving to LA as it has grown on me after numerous visits over the years, but there seems to be zero industry outside of entertainment and I’m in energy.
That's a myth. There is so much more than just entertainment.
There is way more than just entertainment in LA. It has a huge tech scene (dubbed Silicon Beach) with a lot of the Big 4 tech firms moving into large offices around the west side, and a lot of start-ups since rent is cheaper than SF. With startups you get VCs, so they are pretty big around here. The real estate industry is pretty big, too. Almost every national player has an LA office and there are countless small shops doing debt, PE, development, etc.
I'd like the LA vibe a bit more. Only thing I hate is the lack of developed mass transit. The Olympics better force LA to invest in trains. I don't feel like spending time in LA traffic.
Definitely can see myself buying a home and moving to an LA office at some point. Not sure if I'll follow up on that thought though
LA is not a city like NYC/Chicago/SF - it's more of a giant suburb. You can't walk or hop on the train / in an uber and be anywhere in 10 minutes like real cities. It's much harder to get people together. Live in Santa Monica and have a friend in DTLA? May as well live in two different states. Also no shortage of chaos and crime in LA either...seen skid row?!
This is valid. I see this changing potentially with the buildout of LA's heavy rail and light rail systems maybe alleviating traffic, but it can and does get messy. Even worse than Houston and that's saying something.
It's never going to really change. LA is building out the light rail but unless they allow for significantly higher density in the zoning codes people will continue to live too far spread out to take advantage of it. And good luck getting zoning changed, it took ten years for California to allow ADUs.
All fun and games until you get hit by The Big One.
There's actually much less risk of this in So Cal than other places on the west coast. It could happen anywhere, but the buildings have been retrofitted so much that they can usually withstand a large quake. Also, since there are frequent earthquakes, the pressure gets released gradually, and you don't worry about substantial buildup. The place I'm terrified of every time I visit is Seattle/Portland. Those towns are basically sitting on a massive fault line that hasn't blown it's top substantially in a while. If you think San Andreas is scary look up the Cascadia fault line.
All I see is a bunch of people bitter that they don't live in LA.
The food is wonderful, the girls are hot, there is always something to do, you can ski and surf in the same day, the houses are on plots of land with pools (rather than tons of apartments/condos), there is sunshine all year round (currently 70 degrees and sunny in January) and there is so much more opportunity here than just entertainment---including tech, finance, and real estate.
Sure, it's expensive, but it's still cheaper than NY or SF.
The wildfires happen once a year in rather fringe areas (Malibu and Thousand Oaks are 40 minutes out of traditional LA), and in 30+ years of living here, I have never gotten bored of finding new areas to explore.
Edit: Also, those takes about illegal immigrants are a croc of shit. You don't notice any effect of that living here whatsoever. It's a flat-out lie.
Yup. Lot of jealous bitter east coast people who are mad that they don't live in LA. The guy pumping up DC is a typical example of that (and I agree with him like 95% of the time on politics).
Disagree on illegal aliens, but that topic is beyond the scope of this thread.
I'm not pumping DC, jackass. I'm pointing out that DC has atrocious weather and if LA had the same weather it would be a third world hell hole. The only reason at all LA is live-able is the weather. You know it; I know it. Everyone knows that.
That's dope. Good thing they're elsewhere and not in LA then.
Agree with everything you say except re: the illegal immigration. Serious question, have you been to a DMV lately?
When I went to the DMV to get my California drivers license, I was shocked at how many illegal aliens there were. Ditto for hospital emergency rooms. They are a massive strain on our resources.
Hot girls are not the same when you're married.
Lived in LA for 6ish years now and was in NYC for 4 before that. I love LA and you could not pay me enough to move back to NYC
Lifestyle- LA is awesome if you live near the beach (walking distance) and live near work (sub 15 minute commute) if you can find that balance your life is going to be awesome and if you are young and single it does not cost that much to do it. 100K you are living a nice life with roommates, 200K you can live a nice life solo. You are going to be confined to your area a bit due to how spread out it is but you can uber to other areas on the weekends. I would much rather have to take a longer uber ride than have a longer commute. Also Downtown LA is getting better but still sucks, would hate to live there or have to commute there. It has all the city problems with very few of the benefits.
Jobs- While there is not as many finance/tech jobs as NYC/SF there is still plenty of these jobs available that allow you to live close to the beach and work. One thing that is lacking right now in LA is fintech, most of the ones someone with a traditional finance background would be useful for are in SF (SOFI, Lending Club, Funding Circle, Prosper, etc.). Think that will change as there is more tech coming to LA and those companies mature and will look to open additional offices. There is plenty of public markets careers in LA especially buyside.
Agree that on the west coast, LA beats SFO by a huge margin. For that matter, LA Is the only city on the west coast that I'd even consider. San Diego is beautiful but too small. Portland is trashy. Seattle is better than Portland but too sleepy for me; you got Bellevue but that's it.
New York is one of my favorite cities in the world but I hear what you're saying about its recent downturn. But, the city survived even Dinkins. Hopefully once De Blasio is out we can get back to normal and crack down on the rising crime. This isn't even me being "rah rah go Trump MAGA" or anything. I'd be fine with a New Yorker who leans slightly left (I'm not exactly expecting someone hard right in New York) but has common sense.
Long term, not going to happen any time soon but I think would make a LOT of people happy if we could pull this off, separate NYC from NY State. Make NYC its own city state. A problem we have now is 51% of people in a democracy can use their power to screw over the other 49%. Separate the two regions into 2 separate states, and then they can have whatever policies they want on a more local level. If the new "NYC State" wants high taxes and high social programs, then so be it. "North New York State" can then do its own thing. Win-win, both sides get what they want instead of 51% does the other 49% wrong.
I could not agree more with your voice of reason and common sense. Portland is a socialist shithole where ANTIFA beats up conservatives with impunity. Seattle is not as crazy as Portland but still filled with whackos, and half the city is socially awkward tech geeks at Amazon/Microsoft, many of whom can't even properly speak English. If I were forced to live there, it would be Bellevue, which has somewhat of a city feel and cleaner. SD is beautiful, but as you said, it's too small and geared toward older people. SF is a total third world mess, and its crime and homelessness will get worse with the new socialist DA Chesa Boudin (his parents were weather underground radicals who committed armed robbery and murder and he was raised by Obama's former BFF Bill Ayers). But SF does have a lot of great jobs in tech, so my friends are forced to live there despite being miserable and wanting to be in LA.
I used to live in NYC and had an amazing time. It's sad to see what DeBlasio has done to the once great city. The difference in management and quality of life from the Rudy and Bloomberg years is as stark as night and day. There is no chance I even consider moving back until DeBlasio is out of office.
Don't want to get too political in this thread but agree that NYC should be a separate state. Ultimately, much of our problems stem from college educated white liberals moving into cities and continuing to vote for Democrats, which results in terrible policies. They then whine about how bad things are but don't realize it's because of their votes. Our cities will only improve when white liberals realize how much damage they have done, get tired of the conditions, and vote for the GOP. This is what happened when Giuliani won the NYC mayoral race in 1993 and changed the city's destiny.
Having lived in Portland...the Antifa problem isn't as bad actually as the media reports, there have been some high profile crimes but by in large it's been right wing protest groups duking it out with the left wing ones. The right wing street protest groups are kind of a new phenomenon. Politics is maybe only 10% of why I wouldn't like Portland. The women are just butt ugly, the nightlife is a joke, the food scene and outdoor scene is actually pretty good but that's it. If you're a single guy trying to start a career then it's terrible. The only investment bank worth mentioning is DA Davidson and they are irrelevant outside of Portland. You got corporate finance at Nike, Intel, and a couple others but that's about it.If you're married with kids and want to drink microbrews then ok maybe, but it's nowhere near a top tier city for talent, so if you want to network to get another job later, you're in a microscopic pond.
There is NO amount of money you could pay me to live in San Francisco and politics is less than 10% of that. http://wallstreetplayboys.com/new-york-vs-san-francisco-landslide-for-n…
I feel East Coasters and Texans just have higher standards of conduct for themselves than West Coasters except for Los Angeles. This isn't even about politics. Yes New York leans left but people do stuff like bathing, grooming, generally not being totally ratchet and unkempt, actually have reasons behind their opinions instead of just taking something they heard on TV as the truth because the TV said so. It's either NY, LA or Texas for me. Miami sounds like I'd have a lot of debaucherous fun but don't know if it would be good career-wise.
How is 90's NYC is better the current NYC?
Looking to eventually move somewhere with a better climate (mostly more sunshine), and LA along with Dallas and Denver are high on the list. Just found out Denver has over 300 days a year of sunshine.
The Denver stat is misleading. They count any day that the sun peaks out at all as a sunny day. So it could be snowing/raining for 7 hours, and if the sun peaks out for 10 min they will say "Oh look sunny day"
Appreciate it, that number did seem a bit suspect.
Check out Austin
Used to live in Dallas and loved it. Downside though is that outdoor type stuff in Dallas is limited. Austin is much better in that regard, but Austin is just not a finance hub. GREAT city and I've had a ton of fun there, but it's just not a finance hub. So depends what you're trying to do.
>As the brutal winters and oppressive humidity of cities such as NYC continue to get worse, weather will become an increasingly attractive draw.
In the 1970s winters were so brutally cold in the north east that they were predicting the next coming ice age (remember global cooling)! Now it's too hot, oh the humanity!
>The 2028 Olympics will result in massive infrastructure improvements, allowing people to more easily navigate L.A. without a car.
LMFAO. Is this a troll post?
yeah wtf - this has to be a joke - its a fairly difficult problem, unless people started flying around on brooms
Thought people are leaving LA.....
people will always come and go, no two cities are alike and now two people will have the same experience in the same city. Hell, even the same person moving across the city makes a huge difference.
LA is the best. Moving there in March. Chillest vibe. Hottest girls. Perfect weather. Not a single cloud in the sky.
I have lived in the northeast my whole life but I have been to LA a few times and love it. As we all know, the weather is spectacular. It would be awesome to move to LA but I do not think that is going to happen any time soon.
really?
Lived in Torrance, went to school to in OC, worked in Irvine and all over OC. Also lived in the east coast.
The LA metro area is basically a collection of neighborhoods and cities. You can live, work, socialize in OC and basically never come out to LA. You can live in a city like Irvine in OC which is suburbia- clean, one of the safest cities in the country with little to no crime, good schools, ample job opportunities- there are HQ's of Kia, Mazda, Vizio, Blizzard, Edward Lifesciences, In n out, Taco Bell in Irvine. Many companies like Google and Amazon have satellite offices in Irvine. There is a very diverse economy with jobs in finance, tech, real estate. I am in real estate and most national firms have a presence in SoCal. If you live and work in Irvine, you will have a 10-20 min commute to work, be 20 mins from the beach and have a very pleasant life. Or you can live in Costa Mesa or Laguna Beach and be in a more walkable area. Point is there is something out here for everybody depending on what type of lifestyle you want.
LA county is a little more tricky because it is more spread out. If you live in Burbank which is a 30 min drive to downtown, you might want to spend a lot of time in Pasadena, North Hollywood, West Hollywood, Los Feliz, downtown. You may not go to Santa Monica or Venice every day or even every week. You can also decide on the type of lifestyle you want here in LA. A place like Burbank, even though its only a 30 minute drive from downtown, is a completely different place than the urban downtown area. It has good schools, its own police force, helicopters and 10 cops will show up within 2 minutes if you make a call as they are that bored with little to no crime in the city. Many people who live in Burbank work at the studios and have a 10 minute commute to work. Commuting an hour to work is entirely on us- nobody is forcing us to work or live anywhere. We can decide on the type of lifestyle we want to have.
I often see here "weather" just being mentioned as a single point here. But it is a lot more than that. It's the ability to spend time outdoors, be close to the beach, not be cooped up inside all the time with the AC or the heater on, these elevate our mood and help our mental health. I can be in the desert, go snowboarding or be in the beach all in a single weekend here. Weekend getaways to Palm Springs, Catalina, Vegas, Tahoe, San Diego are always fun. Love the food and diverse cuisine- from michellin starred restaurants to food trucks and hole in the wall places.
Transit- While it is not NY, compared to other major cities, I would say LA has been making more transit improvements and is on the right track. Metro link and metro is pretty underrated. You can take the metrolink from Irvine and be in downtown LA in an hour or 30-45 mins from Anaheim. Its not convenient to live in OC and commute to LA regularly using metrolink daily but its an option available for a weekend trip if you do not want to drive.
Cost of living- It is very expensive, but is it any more expensive than NYC or SF? For what it offers, it is a little more affordable compared to NYC and SF and I will gladly pay a premium to live here. But any way, we can make any place our home. for me it is LA.
Forgot to mention, if it was not already clear from my post, one of the downsides I guess is that because the metro area is so spread out, we can tend to live in a bubble. People may work in OC, spend time with friends there, and just never come out to LA. If you live in OC and have a friend in Santa Monica, it is almost like having a friend in another state. Unless you make an intentional effort, you wont be seeing each other frequently. You better hope you have a social life in your part of the world. Similarly, within LA county, you dont live/work in Burbank and go to the west side every day to grab drinks, if that is a priority to you, then you should just live in the west side, but then you better hope you dont commute to work in Burbank. Ideally the goal is to live/work/play in one place. It is not too hard given that we are not in the boonies, there is plenty of job opportunities and stuff to keep us entertained which ever part of the city we decide to live.
Lmao I'm from Torrance as well.
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