What you can love and hate Los Angeles

I love Los Angeles, otherwise I would not live here. Some people perceive dislike for their city as an attack on themselves and take offense as if it is not a matter of the landscape and the point on the map, but of their own mother. I live in Los Angeles 10 for years and want to share thoughts about why this is one of the best cities in the world. And then I will tell you why you should hate this city, why you should never come here or leave immediately.

You always have something to say to those who do not like Los Angeles.

Not so long ago, it was about 30 of various cities and districts - Venice, Pasadena, Burbank, Encino, Beverly Hills, Hollywood and others, which were later merged into one city. Do not expect from Los Angeles that "city" to which you are used to - this is a set of very, very different towns and districts. Knowing this, you will avoid disappointment. And when someone says he "hates Los Angeles", be sure to specify: «Which part do you hate? ” Because Santa Monica is not the San Fernando Valley, and Hollywood is not Brentwood or downtown with skyscrapers.

Downtown - a few skyscrapers along the freeway. Photo author

There is no downtown in Los Angeles. Downtown is just one of the districts. It's a little ridiculous to see the mud riders in Los Angeles spend their 3 days in the city going to Hollywood Boulevard, one of the most criminal areas of the city, filled with prostitutes and the dregs of society. Although in the same downtown there is a lovely area "Little Tokyo" - why not go there and enjoy great food, buy a bunch of cute Japanese nonsense and climb onto the roof of the hotel Double treeto admire the unique Kyoto gardens? And along the boulevard, drive slowly enough and see the “sights”.

It is impossible not to fall in love with this climate.

At the end of January, we have + 20, the sun is shining brightly and so the whole “winter”. Of course, the nights are cold, but it is unlikely that many will call + 14 a real cold. Therefore, a big plus is that there is no need for winter clothes, no need to wear a coat, wrap a scarf.

Many say that there is no change of seasons in Los Angeles. Well, thank God, I tell you! Since when did the good weather all year round become a disadvantage?

Los Angeles has a heavenly Mediterranean climate. Coastal breezes from the ocean keep winters mild and summers cool. Those who complain that it’s hot in summer and cold in winter live in the San Fernando Valley - the climate there is more continental, and when it’s +23 in August, it can be +40 for them. And, on the contrary, in winter it is much colder there.

2 hours until winter

And if I'm still bored on the winter, then I have it here, at my side, in 2's hours of driving. Is there another city in the world where, within a few hours of driving, you can find a magnificent ski resort, desert and beautiful beaches?

Two hours before winter. Photo author

There are a lot of beautiful places around Los Angeles, ideal for both day trips and weekend trips. Everyone knows that the road to San Francisco is very beautiful, but there are other roads. Not worse, or even better - just a few of the tourists know about them. And here there are hills, lagoons, beaches, fur seals and lions - whatever! Santa Monica, Malibu, Rancho Palos Verdes, where I live, Beverly Hills.

Typical view. Photo author

City for aristocrats and romantics

In Los Angeles, it can be comfortable for anyone if you find the right place. Want to live in a quiet residential area with oaks and fences? Or maybe in an artistic loft? Want an ocean view? On the mountains? On the skyscrapers? Do you want to walk in the park with the children every day? Choose!

Los Angeles - a city built on the hills - wherever you turn your head, a new breathtaking view awaits you! Sunrises and sunsets are amazing! I get up early and every morning I sit on the balcony, drink coffee and admire myself. The beauty of the species makes it possible to stay for a few minutes at the most stressful lifestyle and admire - this helps a lot to the modern man.

City of beaches

In Los Angeles, more than 50 km of beaches, some of them (Santa Monica, Venice, Hermosa, Redondo, Malibu, Marina del Rey) are extremely picturesque thanks to the bright sand and beautiful sunsets. On this beach until finish.

Huge picturesque beaches of Los Angeles: plus and minus in one bottle. Photo author

Forget parking problems

Shopping centers have free parking, with the exception of some malls, for example, the Beverly Center or Santa Monica Mall, but even there it is very inexpensive. Underground parking in Beverly Hills is more than available - you can easily park a car there for $ 1.50 per hour or $ 6-8 per day, and making a purchase at a nearby store or having lunch at a restaurant will get 2 hours of parking for free.

Gourmet paradise

When I hear that someone did not like the food in our city ("they have everything plastic there"), I get lost. I eat at restaurants 2-3 times a week, and for all these years I have been unhappy with food 3 times. In Los Angeles, 25 has thousands of restaurants and bars, and mostly small family restaurants with homemade food. The choice is huge! Do you want Thai food? Chinese? Italian? French? Or maybe a new American one? Gastro pub? Japanese? Persian? Arabic? Mexican Yes please! All this is prepared from local fresh products come from different countries. All the most authentic! One of the main reasons why I love Los Angeles is food.

And, of course, in stores all year round, local Californian fruits and vegetables - how can they be bad if they hung on a branch this morning? Smelling tomatoes here, my mother said that the last time she had eaten such children was in Kuban.

Want a delicious hamburger? Try the famous Double-Double at In-N-Out Burger, an exclusive West Coast burger chain, and tell me it's bad! Or grab the world's best milkshake at Carls Jr. (and eat a green burrito there) and you'll see what I'm talking about. Fast food is different!

Hollywood Factor

Mallholland Drive, Laurel Canyon, San Seth and Santa Monica boulevards, Mellrose, Beverly Hills - all these are pictures from cult films, and they are here at every corner. The best place in the world to see the stars - would they live in a bad place?

We used to raise an eyebrow questioningly when we hear about the culture in America, but Los Angeles wears the title of the world capital of the entertainment industry for good reason - the city has more independent 300 cinemas with its repertoire. What about the Getty Museum, the LACMA and MOMA museums, hundreds of other museums, private galleries and exhibition halls? Los Angeles exports the culture to the whole world, and it’s just silly to think that there is no culture in the city.

But despite all this, I’ll give you as much reason to hate Los Angeles right now.

Dirty beaches in the city

Since Americans work a lot, then on the beaches, mostly residents of neighboring Mexico have a rest with their huge families. Instead of keeping the beaches clean, they make an effort (and succeed) to make our beaches and cities look like in Mexico — eat chips, drink cola — throw garbage into the ocean!

But even on clean beaches (almost) you can not swim. Water is cold. Even if + 18 C (but this is extremely rare, usually water in the + 16 area) does not seem to be cold, it is difficult to force yourself to enter the water, because you can be blown away by the wind when you go out. And, secondly, the waves. The height of the waves is always excellent for surfers, the water is muddy from them, but I can’t psychologically go into muddy water. There is the only beach where I can swim - in Santa Barbara, there are no waves there, but still because of the marine life - sharks, seals - I flounder in cold water at the “depth” to the waist.

Traffic jams

Oh, they are famous all over the world!

Constant noise

Silence simply does not exist. At least Arbat sleeps at night, but here helicopters fly around the clock. I live on the coast, and they patrol all the time, either watching for sharks or something else, or they fly in to support the police and fly in circles for hours with spotlights. Incredibly noisy garbage trucks, and they collect garbage even at 7 am on Saturday. Someone is bound to mow the lawn. Some people do renovations—they love “projects.” In the houses there is complete audibility; here they are built literally from plywood - due to the fact that heating is not needed.

Air pollution

Los Angeles leads not only in the number of "stars", but also in the lowest level of ozone in the air - there is simply nothing to breathe! When my mother came to me for the first time, we lived in a high-rise near the ocean, and, going out to the balcony and breathing deeply, she said: “What a clean air you have!” I almost cried: "Mom, do you not see the torches of oil rigs right in front of you in the ocean?", but, of course, I restrained myself. In Moscow there is Kapotnya with an oil refinery, and there is the cheapest real estate in Moscow. The price of real estate in Los Angeles has nothing to do with the fact that oil is being produced near you. Well, they drive - and okay!

Public Transport

In fact, public transportation in Los Angeles is more than diverse, and the transport network is the largest in the country after New York, but the distances here make your chances of surviving without a car close to zero. Although I survive, I work at home and my husband takes me everywhere. Sometimes I go by bus, but it’s not even close to what I’m used to in Moscow - the nearest bus stop is about 20 minutes on foot.

Hence another problem - drunk and stoned drivers. An inconvenient system of public transport makes everyone drive by car, and people drink and get behind the wheel (officially allowed to drink a glass of wine, but who can stop?). People who smoke smoked very slowly and often sit on the tail in order (from their point of view) to be safe. Despite all this, my friends from Moscow say that the movement here is exemplary, everyone is polite (you will be polite - at the first driving lesson I was warned that 50% of drivers carry a weapon with them), but when you live here all the time, it suffices.

Earthquakes

Not that I was shaking every day - maybe I feel something a couple of times a year, but after I experienced an 5,5-scale earthquake on the 20 floor, when the house threw up several times, I began to be afraid - then I still for a long time it seemed that it began again, especially at night! I recently sat on the balcony, and also shook a couple of times - in short, we all live in anticipation of the “Big Push” - the question is not whether it will be, but when it will be. Moreover, when they cover us here, all of America will be happy, because the Americans hate Los Angeles (it reminds us that the Russians were waiting at home when the bricks would go out).

High taxes

Los Angeles is an expensive city. There are a lot of municipal taxes, the most expensive gasoline in the country. When the price of oil has recently collapsed, it was only in LA that they rose during the same time. The average price in America is now the lowest for 7 years and is $ 1.80 per gallon, which is about 4 liters (a year ago $ 2), in Los Angeles the average price is $ 2.8, and a year ago it was $ 2.4. Given that our state produces a bunch of oil! These are all taxes.

Crazy

In Los Angeles, it is not uncommon to meet people who are not just talking aloud, either with themselves or with an imaginary interlocutor, and often shout at passers-by. Who knows what they have in mind? Many people say that there are a lot of hippies in LA, and this is true. These people froze in the 70 of the last century, and since then have never left the semi-drug state. They are not dangerous, but there are a lot of them, and they are talkative. There has always been a lot of people who use medical (and not only) marijuana, and there are more and more of them. What will happen now that recreational use has been allowed is hard to imagine ...

Actors and broken hearts

All-all-all in Los Angeles - actors and producers. Once the actor Oleg Vidov said that in Los Angeles there are very beautiful receptionists in dry cleaners - they are, they are also all actresses. Like the waiters, like everyone else. What does it mean? That you are constantly in someone's graveyard of broken hopes. Even with Hollywood and hundreds of other studios, it’s simply unrealistic for millions of actors to find work.

Well, instead of a resume, answering the question “how do you survive there?”, I would say that I consider this to be a kind of tax on life in the megalopolis. No pure mountain air will force me to leave this city. So, take it as a grunt, nothing more. I've been used to this for a long time.

Katya Matoyan, life coach

See also:

Personal opinion: why bloggers are looking for dirt in America

How to spend a weekend in Los Angeles

How I fell in love with Las Vegas

Why, after two years in New York, I am NOT returning to Kiev

Napkin notes on Russian restaurants in California

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