No really, I’m sick of it. Get over it. Stop whining. Here is a list of things I’m tired of hearing about Los Angeles and a list of things I think people should learn to love instead.
1) Hating the San Fernando Valley
40% or so of Angelenos live in the Valley. More than the population of Philadelphia. If you live in LA and know more than 10 people you probably know someone who lives in the Valley. Sure, it's a newer, sprawl-ier place than a lot of Los Angeles. Sure, it's typically 10 degree (F) hotter than a lot of Los Angeles. Sure, it doesn't have quite the cultural facilities like some other parts of Los Angeles. But let's not get started on the lack of interesting qualities in a lot of places from where you might have moved.
Plenty of awesome stuff comes from the valley. Do you like movies from Disney, Warner Brothers or Universal? Do you watch television on CBS, ABC or NBC? Have a problem with Marilyn Monroe? Or anyone on this list?
GET OVER IT!
2) There are no seasons in Los Angeles
Okay, I understand that you might miss a crisp fall day with the leaves changing if you live in New England. In Los Angeles, that's the depth of Winter.
Sure snow is pretty when it's falling or has recent fallen, but does anyone look forward to shovelling it? Or when it turns to dirty slush? Or the sidewalk ices over and you risk your life to shuffle down the street?
Oh, and Spring, don't start with Spring. Spring is all in bloom and green in May... after two months of rainy wet and mud.
LA has winter... it's drizzly or brisk and cool. Sometimes you need a jacket or a sweater, but at least you can still get around without special tires or digging the walk out. LA has spring... it's beautiful and green, and the air clears up, and there are lots of wildflowers in bloom... spring in LA is gorgeous. Summers can get hot, but we have great beaches AND it is, in fact, a dry heat, so you can use a FAN or OPEN YOUR WINDOWS instead of running the AC most of the time. It still cools off at night so there is respite! And LA has Fall... it's bright and clear like Spring, some trees do lose their leaves, and you don't have to worry about snow on Halloween or Thanksgiving.
GET OVER IT!
3) Everyone is in the Industry
That's like saying that EVERYONE in Detroit works for the auto industry. Or, everyone in San Francisco works at a Start-up. Or, everyone in Houston works for Oil and Gas companies. Or, everyone Austin is trying to start a band... There are lots and lots of people who don't work in the Industry and don't really care about the Industry. You know how many people living in Los Angeles are in "entertainment occupations"? In 2001 it was 1.8%! Yup, 98.2% of the people who live in Los Angeles do not work in entertainment. If you find yourself surrounded by people "in the industry" you're missing out on, literally, over 4 million people who work in Los Angeles. It's less than 75,000 people that work in entertainment. And you know what, it doesn't make all 75,000 of those people famous and rich, for many it's a job, it puts food on the table and your kids through college.
GET OVER IT!
4) Los Angeles has no Public Transit
Los Angeles has the second largest bus system in the US behind New York City. Which makes sense, because it is the second largest city in the US. It has the third largest transit system by ridership in the US as well.
Why do people think there is no transit? Some guesses:
- There is no single center. New York's subway is built to get you to Manhattan, especially Mid Town and lower... where people from outside of Manhattan, or the residential parts of Manhattan work. Chicago gets you Downtown too. It's easier to plan a system if you're really focused on getting people to a concentrated single area for work.
-There are literally dozens of other transit systems from surrounding and overlapping cities like Culver City's Bus, Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus, Foothill Transit and so on, which don't always play nice with each other.
So it's not that it isn't there, it's that it's really complicated and people just don't want to figure it out. So they jump in the car.
GET OVER IT!
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