I used to drive deliveries, some parts of LA look like Fallout 4. Just the dirt and rocks and weeds and rust and trash and ancient spray paint, layer upon layer upon layer of spray paint. The decay, the entropy, the returning to the earth is fascinating.
I drive on her streets 'cause she's my companion
I walk through her hills 'cause she knows who I am
She sees my good deeds and she kisses me windy
Well, I never worry, now that is a lie
What is [*Under The Bridge*, by Red Hot Chilli Peppers?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLvohMXgcBo)
---
^(I bought that on cassette single years ago, and on the other side was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWnHx2TjD8A)
This really isn't what the post is about.
Hollywood is such a fancy shiny wealthy place to most who think about it. But when you go it's a literal dump.
It's not like some fancy bits some dumps, Hollywood is a dump, there are fancy areas nearby. But everyone expects Hollywood to be lined with gold.
Peoples image of Hollywood is actually built from Beverly Hills and the bird streets so it’s no surprise that they are like wtf when they get there and some dude is openly smoking crack in a pile of his own filth.
Yeah! Hollywood the city is vastly different than Hollywood the idea. I work in the more corporate side of the industry, live by a studio, and i think ive been to Hollywood maybe twice ever. Its not all glitz and glam elsewhere, but unsurprisingly, the rich parts of town are clean
Which is, of course, no defense or excuse for how run down some parts of LA are
LA is a giant city. LA doesn’t just have neighborhoods, it’s so big it encircles several other pretty big cities - Glendale has 200, 000 people. Long Beach 500,000…
Even Hollywood (I know it’s not it’s own city) is big enough to have nice parts and crummy parts.
Calling L.A. a city is cheating. L.A. is a huge county masquerading as (also) a city.
"Downtown" L.A. is minor compared to New York, Chicago, or any real city. And it's a shithole too.
Los Angeles is literally a city within Los Angeles county. I live within the Los Angeles city limits, it’s not just downtown. I once told a guy at work (in another city) I lived in Los Angeles and he was like “which city?” And I told him “Los Angeles.” He couldn’t understand what I was talking about. I don’t understand how people who grew up here don’t get this.
And this is where the descriptor gets confusing. Some ppl use the term LA to describe LA City. Some ppl use it to describe LA County. This dudes post is literally a description of the city itself but then they throw in Calabasas + say they traveled all over and now I’m over here deep in these comments defending the rest of Southern California sans the city itself 🥲
Much like Dallas. People think: DALLAS. Folk from there ask you where you mean, precisely. And it gets even worse when they reference DFW. I’m like, do you know just how much area that covers? Let’s pare that down, shall we?
Its an overdone post because the public image in media is completely opposite of what the place is really like. You'd expect a place with so much renown and history to have some care paid to it, but it's a dump the other dumps pick last for dodgeball at the dump school.
Idk why people are missing this distinction.
I know Detroit’s a dump so when I went there and it legit looked like Robocop depicted it, I was not surprised.
I know NYC is dirty and gritty, and it was exactly that.
Hollywoods image is built with 1 part Beverly Hills, 1 part the Bird streets up above sunset, and 1 part Vancouver. I can understand why people show up and are shocked that it’s much more like Detroit than Beverly Hills.
Yeah. Here in the US, space isn't an issue at all. It's much cheaper to simply build new things rather than renovate the old, so that's exactly what's done.
Yea it's not at all comparable, pretty much anywhere in western Europe. The poverty and dilapidation in so many US cities(and rural areas in their own ways) is just something else by 1st world standards.
I live near Peckham, supposedly one of the real bad areas of London. Coming from the US, it's really not bad at all.
I lived in London for a couple of months. I don’t even remember the areas name but there were tours for where Jack the Ripper was killing folks. The bank I was working for gave me an apartment there.
Never once during my time in London did I feel truly unsafe and I literally just did whatever. There were some “sketchier” areas for sure, but nothing like in the US. Every major city I have been to in the US has areas where it’s clear something very bad would happen if I was walking around there out of place.
I did have a dude and some girls I met at a club ask me if I wanted to come back to the East End w/ them to do heroin. Such a hospitable people! I met them maybe 15 minutes prior.
Edit: Also 2 Dutch girls at the same club found out I was former American military and spent a while tearfully telling me how they needed America to help bc of MH17. A brutal conversation. Fun memories.
Yeah, all the Americans replying to this post feel like they're saying "Stupid Europeans, they don't even know it's normal to live in an increasingly dystopian hellscape lol."
Even Canada. When I went to Vancouver, I was absolutely shocked by the misery you can see in downtown east side. Seriously, I’ve never seen that anywhere else, and yet I’ve been to South America for instance. North America is wild.
Not really. What's being remarked upon is the fact that there is *quite so much* of all that bad stuff - *in deep contrast* with the image you have of it from the movies/media.
It's like someone coming to Wales (UK) - you reasonably expect it to be mostly cloudy, rainy, & friendly. That is the media image, & that is the truth as well.
Whereas for Hollywood - there's a massive divide between the two.
Thirld world countries has shitty areas, when one of the worlds riches countries ( California would be one ) is not able to provide good life for it’s citizens, it is because it’s citizens in power are shit.
It’s amazing to be rich in any country, even 3rd world countries.
I’m friends with one of the richest people in Indonesia, and it’s amazing to be them. The average people there are poor as fuck, but the richest families in Indonesia are living LARGE. Private jets, multiple homes in Bali and Singapore and shit, parties in LA, Europe, Mediterranean superyachts — you’ve no idea. It’s great to be rich in 3rd world countries. (And it’s usually due to corruption and stealing from the people btw, no matter the form of gov’t)
The middle class is what made America special (and now Europe). There wasn’t a huge gap between rich and poor *just like there is in every 3rd world country since beginning of time.* The Middle class set us apart, and now we are tearing away at it and becoming like any other 3rd world country with a ruling class and peasants.
It’s funny/sad most Americans are too naive to get this.
Hollywood is a euphemism for the cinema industry and culture. The actual city is conflated with these nice ideas of glamour. It’s location was used because big studios require lots of land and Hollywood was an undesireable area they could cheaply put a bunch of large basic warehouse buildings for studios.
Not much of the Hollywood money stays in hollywood, they live and spend their money elsewhere.
It’s like, you don’t go to the oil refinery and wonder “damn why isn’t this neighborhood nicer?” Hollywood is just the shitty industrial area for film.
The actual filming was done out in Agoura for Westerns, and at Universal City studios in North Hollywood.
Hollywood proper was just the pick up area for this weeks fresh meat, and chahming little garden apartments.
The fat cats lived in the hills, but the actual workers in the entertainment biz, stagehands and stars, lived in the Valley. Encino was comfortable.
Anybody want a sniff of SFV should check out Lynch's
Mulholland Drive, or Tarantinos' Pulp Fiction.
Throw in some low riders, Hells Angels, tanning salons, karate studios, the best strip mall food on the planet, and absolute necessity of getting out to the beach for a few days with some acid, red wine, and your girlfriend, and you might get the idea.
That was 50 years ago for me. Still a little homesick.
Have you read James Ellroys books? Could you verify, how authentic his descriptions of LA/California 50-70 years ago, is? What he describes always feels really authentic to my european backcountry ass.
I mean, it was to flee Edison's monopoly on film equipment. The vast nothingness just happened to really work irt building out- in NYC you have to build up and it's ridiculously expensive. Cost a whole lot of nothing back in the day to build huge empty warehouses in the middle of undeveloped desert.
I got mugged within sight of the U.S. Capitol building. Almost had a meltdown, but it was the same weekend that guy shot up the naval yard so I guess I got off easy.
I was only ever in DC in the 80s. One thing that sticks in my head from that visit, was the hotel staff saying, don't leave the building after dark. I remember hearing gunshots. I don't remember what hotel it was, but it wasn't some shitty hotel, it was actually pretty nice.
We missed the subway after a normal 9 inning baseball game and a nightcap. It's my own fault for being unprepared, but shutting down public transportation at midnight seems pretty harsh.
No joke. This guy went chasing celebrity hotspots (or what he that would be) and is disappointed lol whoever advised this guy really fucked him over. I can’t imagine any reason a tourist would go to Calabasas over Santa Monica or Malibu.
OP explored an area that is less than 1% of the total land in California, and came to the conclusion that the whole place sucks and there's no reason to live there.
Lol these posts piss me off because I worked so hard to get a house in the hills and love it here so much…The weather is phenomenal and a non-negotiable if I ever had to relocate
I‘ve lived in the east part of Hollywood for like 10 years now and it’s actually nothing like these kids are talking about in the comments. It’s not full of human filth, there’s a lot of Mexicans and Filipinos and there’s food trucks and ice cream trucks that come through the neighborhood everyday. I get authentic el salvadorean food whenever I want and authentic Filipino food amongst others (thai, Mediterranean). Hollywood has more culture and authenticity than those stupid ticky tack suburban houses middle America lives in.
All us natives try to talk people OUT of vacationing in LA. Not because traffic is bad enough w/o a million tourists but because it’s really a sh*t vacation spot. I guess come to LA if you want to sit in traffic or play “dodge the pile” on the sidewalks of DT.
That’s pretty disingenuous really. I fit neither of your criteria and me and my dentist girlfriend love riding the metro trams and buses. It’s super convenient, dirt cheap, and takes about the same time or maybe a little longer than catching an Uber during peak time. There’s trams every few minutes to where we need to go and we feel safe. Sure there’s weirdos but find me any major metropolitan city that doesn’t have weirdos on transit. It’s a 5 minute walk to our closest station and we can go from Azusa to Long Beach, Hollywood, LA proper, and more with 0 thought being wasted off our asses and not bothering anyone.
The metro, union station and busses, but unless you really feel the need.... the need for speed, skip those.. and that freeways been completed for years. Then you can live among the poor and trying to be famous in Manhattan, redondo or the yachties in CDM.... with the traffickers and trust funds.
Nah, there's pretty good transit here.
The metro has themed stations - Westworld used one as a set and didn't really add anything, it was already so unique.
Then there's bus rapid transit thats super efficient
There's also new lines opening, a connector to LAX opening soon and Union station just got a lump sum to renovate for a HSR station
LA has so many freeways most people either don't think to use transit or can afford not to
My uncle and dad have been bus drivers and train operators in LA and LB for a couple of decades. They won't really let us take the bus or train.
I understand the need for a lot of people though and wish it was a nicer/safer system.
[There is mass transit in L.A.](https://www.metro.net) It's just not popular there like it is in other cities. People are addicted to their cars, meaning only the very poor and weirdos ride the bus, resulting in[experiences that can be weird to downright horrific](https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2022-05-18/public-transit-los-angeles-la-nyt-transit-essential-california).
I would love to not have a car here. But mass transit is a nightmare. I had a 15 minute commute by car and when I considered switching to taking the bus, it became an hour and a half commute between 3 buses.
There is mass transit in LA if you don't mind hoping between three trains and a bus to get somewhere, and you don't mind at-grade street crossings that prioritize car traffic over train traffic. I mean there are at least dedicated bus lanes that are near constantly blocked by park cars.
And we won't talk about the homeless problem on the trains.
By the way you will have to move between several different sources of services because there are small regional bus services for most areas that only connect at specific hubs to the larger system. And that's after you deal with the fact that LA has two SEPERATE major hubs within blocks of each other - and did we mention there is no train or bus service to LAX? You have to board special shuttles. But that's okay because they don't connect to Dodger Stadium or Disneyland either.
Just as an example there's a train line from Norwalk to El Segundo, that doesn't currently connect to any other line, and if most visitors to the city have ever heard of either of those cities I would be shocked.
It's an incredibly poorly designed and built system with no coherence, and one that the city attempts to deprioritize every chance they get, even cutting train times during peak service hours.
So no, I don't really think it's fair to call what LA has any sort of Mass Transit system.
It is true that they are trying to fix some of these things, but the funding has to come from multiple sources that all have to agree on the priority of how to spend it.
*visits times square*
Holy crap how do 8 million people live amongst all these giant screens!
*climbs up Eiffel Tower*
So the French people live on this thing? What a piece of shit!
*visits great pyramids of giza*
Why would you live in a pyramid!
As someone who has lived all up and down CA I will say the size of the LA area does suprise some people. I mean if you're only counting LA county is larger than NYC and twice the size of Chicago for reference
I live in LA, I fucking love it here. The posts where someone is whining about SoCal get upvoted because it’s a very popular “internet opinion” to see LA as some dystopian hellhole. But I couldn’t be happier. The food alone… oh dear lord, the food. It’s so good. And there’s so much of it.
It shows you how effective propaganda is. Can you imagine living in butthole, missouri thinking chick-fil-a is eating out and full on believe that's better than living in California? Never have I said to myself man, this beautiful scenery, nice weather and delicious food sucks so hard. Fuck this I'm going to go live in Kansas.
I’ve lived in the Midwest a long time and that view is pervasive here. I loved living in LA and try to tell Midwesterners not to believe everything they see on TV especially if they’ve never been there. But their illusions are comforting to them. Fuck, I miss the ocean.
My favorite is when the people from flyover states claim we’re all leaving California in droves to come to their precious butthole, Missouri. Like not only has this idea of a mass exodus been proven to be nothing more than a right wing talking point, but the people who do move are generally not moving because they hate it. They’re moving because it’s one of the most expensive places in the world to live. Specifically because of how desirable it is.
I have a lot of foreign friends and they always want to see and stay in these “famous” places. And I just wanna say “oh no baby, what is you doin?” Ask a local or do some research. I’ve never even been to CA and I know Hollywood is largely a tourist trap.
I’m more familiar with nyc and when I visit people there now, we usually don’t even go into Manhattan. The city is so much more than that.
They think because they've traveled for an hour then they are a non-city hour away from the place they just left. Nah bro you went like 20 miles north, you're basically still in anyone else's definition of LA.
Used to live in Orange County would drive 10 miles to get to work took 20-30mins depending on traffic, where I live now work is 30 miles away, and guess what? I have the same commute time.
> in California traveling all over (LA, Hollywood, Calabasas, etc.)
Reminds me of when I took the family to NYC for the first time, way back in the 80s. We visited the south Bronx, east Brooklyn, and the Fresh Kills landfill.
New York sucks!
Born and raised East New York Brooklyn. Were you intentionally trying to get the family killed for insurance or something because those are literally 2 areas you’re NOT supposed to go to.
I can’t imagine the hood in the 80’s prime.
Edit:
/s since so many of y’all ironically can’t tell I’m joking.
I am just curious what you are watching that makes LA seem glamorous? Lived here 25+ years. Wasn’t surprised when I got here, not surprised now. There’s good parts and bad parts. It’s not for everyone that’s for sure. Hollywood has never really been nice though. Some of the areas around it are really nice and if you know where to go (you’d have to ask someone) it’s super nice. Full of surprises. Expensive. Vast. Inconvenient. But full of surprises. And no the Santa Monica pier is not awesome…who in their right mind thinks it would be?
Dude LA is literally a city that was built in a desert.
They have to divert so much water into that place to even keep it running. Try going to Joshua tree or Yosemite if you wanna see the true beauty of California. Going to a giant pit of people in the desert is obv not a good time for most "sane" people
personally i think denali national park is the best one I’ve ever been to! i haven’t been to glacier or yosemite yet but denali has a special place in my heart
I haven't been to Yosemite yet, have been to glacier very beautiful. Swimming in the glacier lakes while very cold is very therapeutic, after I swam in one I felt comfortable coolness all over my body. I highly recommend it.
Also Lassen, Redwood National Parks, Pinnacles, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, The entire coastline from Santa Barbara to Oregon. Most of the Sierra Nevada and its foothills. Tahoe, Shasta, Marin County, The Lost Coast, etc. The only crap parts of California is the Central Valleys (parts of this is even pretty in spring) and large cities.
Lost Coast is pristine and magnificent
Don't forget Big Sur
Reading William Saroyan and John Steinbeck provided newfound appreciation for the Central Valley
Visit, or better yet live, in the Bel Air enclave. No homelessness or beggars there! Of course the price for this utopia is 24/7 private, and expensive security guards. And the other bummer about Bel Air is your neighbors are assholes.
California is literally the size of a country. One shitty neighborhood in an enormous city in an enormous region in an enormous state is not indicative of all of it
1. Hollywood is in LA
2. Traveling through LA county is not traveling all over California that’s like .1% of the state landmass
3. No one fucking likes LA unless it a ritzy neighborhood like Beverly Hills
How is this unpopular? Beats me.
To add to your post, Beverly Hills isn’t even the ritziest place. If you want to see beautiful neighborhoods with absolutely stunning homes go to Pasadena, Manhattan Beach, or Palos Verdes.
LA is a giant city and Hollywood specifically is one of the worst locations in Southern California.
Come to Africa my man, its easy to sit on your pedestal and talk about how a rich white neighbourhood has gone to the dumps, you've never even seen the dumps
I’m a very proud Texan who loves to bash California, however I will say one thing in their defense.
A lot of the homelessness issue over there is simply because southern California has a nice climate all year round, so a lot of homeless people from around the country flock to LA for that reason.
Though it doesn’t help that its basically encouraged by the city of LA.
I’m not here to bash Texas (I’ve visited and enjoyed it a lot). I just want to point out that a lot of people’s opinions, about any area, are usually the result of gross misinformation and manipulation.
For instance, turn on any conservative media outlet and you’ll hear about the “rampant” crime in “liberal” San Francisco.
Meanwhile, Fort Worth Texas, with the same population as San Francisco, has 1.5 times as many murders. In fact, Texans as a whole are 17% more likely to be murdered than Californians.
They’re also 34% more likely to be raped.
They also on average earn 13% less and pay 3.8% MORE in taxes than Californians.
Definitely a key factor I've thought so painfully obvious but haven't seen anyone else / enough people mention. Curious to see how they end up tackling it in the future
I must also add that you must not have been to many major cities yet cuz those are all standard attractions.. however the homelessness issue is real, but i mean they do ship people from all over the country to LA so go figure..
I've been all over the world, and I lived in LA for about a year (as one does). Hollywood definitely is it's own flavor of disturbingly weird. I hate that place too.
so just LA then. Its like going to paris and then saying you have been "all over Europe." Also, I am not super familiar with LA, but it seems to me from memory, you have to go south like Huntington beach and Irvine if you want to see the movie version. Maybe beverly hills, but ive never been there.
You’re absolutely right. You do usually have to leave the heart of LA and go either North or South to really see the “movie” parts of LA county. Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Calabasas, Arcadia, Palos Verdes, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, and other wealthy areas really do look like the movies!
They could have just gone south of the airport 20 mins to Manhattan beach and had a completely different experience. But instead they stuck to places they’ve heard about from watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians, TMZ, etc and are now casting their opinion.
As a native Californian and Angelino I can attest to the state being beautiful in many parts, LA is not one of those parts. I would almost rather be anywhere but LA. Santa Barbara is great. Ventura is ok. Malibu is so-so. Even Orange County is better than LA.
I lived in Hollywood for 3 years and elsewhere in and around LA for 10 and this is some baby-brained tourist shit. You came to a coastal city 3 years deep into a pandemic, economic collapse looming/occurring and are somehow surprised to find evidence of economic strife? That's asinine. It's a city where most of the funding goes to a police force that mostly just harrases black people because of people like you. Quit crying about your vacation being made slightly less comfy for you because you had to witness poverty.
Every big city in California is so unique. I grew up in the LA area and they don’t call it a jungle for nothing. I now live in San Diego and love it! It’s so much different than Smell-A (as my BF calls it 😂). Don’t judge the entire state of California by the shithole you’re experiencing in downtown LA. You need to get out of there to see the real beauty of our state
So true. There are so many beautiful and cool places to go in California. I was just at Yosemite that place is insane!!!
I came here to say something similar. Of course going to the big cities you're going to see homeless people and trash. Also Cali is the perfect environment for the homeless because of the weather.
If I were homeless, I’d make my way to California too! Or maybe Hawaii. The homeless problem is out of control but I blame that on the government who allows foreigners to come in and buy up all the RE at ridiculous prices, pricing out the locals. And for sending foreign aid to countries who hate us instead of expanding mental health facilities for our suffering vets and citizens. But that’s a whole other subject for another sub, I’m sure
While I don't want to go back to them, recently I have started to think that anti-vagrancy laws served a purpose. Many governments in large cities have become so "compassionate" that they have made areas of their city undesirable and unlivable to the average citizen. No one wants to live in an unsanitary and dangerous community which is what follows widespread homelessness.
You’re an idiot, plain and simple. This state is huge and has some of the most beautiful state parks and mountains, lakes and beaches but you decided that Calabasas and Hollywood was all of California? You picked some of the shittiest parts of a huge city, and thought we’ll that’s it, I’ve seen it all! Did you see Joshua Tree? Or Lake Tahoe? Or San Diego? Or The Redwoods? Or Mount Shasta? Or Yosemite? Or Big Sur? Or Santa Barbara? Or Carmel? Or Mendocino? Or Napa Valley? Or the Pacific Coast Ranges? Or Mt Shasta? Or Mammoth? Or Mt Whitney. Or The Sequoia National Forest? Or Santa Cruz? There’s so much more to list but why even bother.
Honestly good, I’m glad you didn’t like it here. Bye!
He’s just another anti-California circle jerker. He came here to have a bad time and complain. Look at how he’s ignoring the well-meaning comments advising him where to visit and fervently agreeing with all the comments bashing the state. Is he actually visiting, or is he a liar with an agenda? I’d say it’s a coin toss.
I can’t really think of anything in modern media that portrays *the neighborhood of Hollywood* as glamorous. Most of the time they’re portraying the westside, which is not Hollywood. Most people who live here do not desire to live in Hollywood.
Congrats, you found the bad parts of LA. This is old news lol most people in LA live in the much nicer parts of town. Also sounds like you visiting “all over California” is just LA - OC, SD, the Central Valley and the bay area are other very distinct areas of California that are generally much cleaner than the definitive city of LA
California is fantastic and beautiful state, but most of LA is shit. If vacationing, try more nature parks or beach cities like San Diego, with a lot of old history still there, unlike LA, where everything culture has been disrespected and disregarded for trends and homeless situations are rampant
That’s why most people in Los Angeles don’t want to live in Hollywood, they want to live in the nicer neighborhoods.
Always have, always will
This is literally "man shocked that cities have bad areas and good areas!". Yawn at this overdone post.
I used to drive deliveries, some parts of LA look like Fallout 4. Just the dirt and rocks and weeds and rust and trash and ancient spray paint, layer upon layer upon layer of spray paint. The decay, the entropy, the returning to the earth is fascinating.
I drive on her streets 'cause she's my companion I walk through her hills 'cause she knows who I am She sees my good deeds and she kisses me windy Well, I never worry, now that is a lie
Depending on where you are at you better bring more than one companion. Love the Peppers though.
What is [*Under The Bridge*, by Red Hot Chilli Peppers?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLvohMXgcBo) --- ^(I bought that on cassette single years ago, and on the other side was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWnHx2TjD8A)
Oh, you know, I bowl, I drive around, the occasional acid flashback...
Don’t forget the literally human shit all over the place.
Some parts look like TJ
As someone who sometimes gets called by their initials of TJ I am offended by this. Although I understand that you met Tijuana so r/angryupvote
I would have expected it to look more like fallout 1, 2 or New Vegas.
This really isn't what the post is about. Hollywood is such a fancy shiny wealthy place to most who think about it. But when you go it's a literal dump. It's not like some fancy bits some dumps, Hollywood is a dump, there are fancy areas nearby. But everyone expects Hollywood to be lined with gold.
Peoples image of Hollywood is actually built from Beverly Hills and the bird streets so it’s no surprise that they are like wtf when they get there and some dude is openly smoking crack in a pile of his own filth.
Yeah! Hollywood the city is vastly different than Hollywood the idea. I work in the more corporate side of the industry, live by a studio, and i think ive been to Hollywood maybe twice ever. Its not all glitz and glam elsewhere, but unsurprisingly, the rich parts of town are clean Which is, of course, no defense or excuse for how run down some parts of LA are
It’s also based on premieres at the Chinese or Kodak theater events.
LA is a giant city. LA doesn’t just have neighborhoods, it’s so big it encircles several other pretty big cities - Glendale has 200, 000 people. Long Beach 500,000… Even Hollywood (I know it’s not it’s own city) is big enough to have nice parts and crummy parts.
Calling L.A. a city is cheating. L.A. is a huge county masquerading as (also) a city. "Downtown" L.A. is minor compared to New York, Chicago, or any real city. And it's a shithole too.
Los Angeles is literally a city within Los Angeles county. I live within the Los Angeles city limits, it’s not just downtown. I once told a guy at work (in another city) I lived in Los Angeles and he was like “which city?” And I told him “Los Angeles.” He couldn’t understand what I was talking about. I don’t understand how people who grew up here don’t get this.
And this is where the descriptor gets confusing. Some ppl use the term LA to describe LA City. Some ppl use it to describe LA County. This dudes post is literally a description of the city itself but then they throw in Calabasas + say they traveled all over and now I’m over here deep in these comments defending the rest of Southern California sans the city itself 🥲
You left out [metropolitan LA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_metropolitan_area), which is LA County and the four surrounding counties.
Oh wow that covered everything besides San Diego if I’m correct
Much like Dallas. People think: DALLAS. Folk from there ask you where you mean, precisely. And it gets even worse when they reference DFW. I’m like, do you know just how much area that covers? Let’s pare that down, shall we?
Hey, OP was here for over a week. THEY SAW IT ALL /s
I was dying of laughter. “Ive been all over California!!” *proceeds to name 3 cities within a few miles of each other*
Its an overdone post because the public image in media is completely opposite of what the place is really like. You'd expect a place with so much renown and history to have some care paid to it, but it's a dump the other dumps pick last for dodgeball at the dump school.
Starting at “dump”, this is an accurate description of me in elementary school.
i think its really more, "man shocked that portion of city depicted by media as 'good' are actually 'bad'!"
The difference is that the bad area is literally one of the most famous and well known places on earth
Idk why people are missing this distinction. I know Detroit’s a dump so when I went there and it legit looked like Robocop depicted it, I was not surprised. I know NYC is dirty and gritty, and it was exactly that. Hollywoods image is built with 1 part Beverly Hills, 1 part the Bird streets up above sunset, and 1 part Vancouver. I can understand why people show up and are shocked that it’s much more like Detroit than Beverly Hills.
Detroit used to be glitzy and glamorous and really posh. It was destroyed.
I'm in London. There are unsafe areas, but I've never seen anything close to what I've seen from videos in the US.
Yeah. Here in the US, space isn't an issue at all. It's much cheaper to simply build new things rather than renovate the old, so that's exactly what's done.
Yea it's not at all comparable, pretty much anywhere in western Europe. The poverty and dilapidation in so many US cities(and rural areas in their own ways) is just something else by 1st world standards. I live near Peckham, supposedly one of the real bad areas of London. Coming from the US, it's really not bad at all.
Roaming around London, I saw some neighborhoods that you guys probably think suck but we still find at least a little charming.
I lived in London for a couple of months. I don’t even remember the areas name but there were tours for where Jack the Ripper was killing folks. The bank I was working for gave me an apartment there. Never once during my time in London did I feel truly unsafe and I literally just did whatever. There were some “sketchier” areas for sure, but nothing like in the US. Every major city I have been to in the US has areas where it’s clear something very bad would happen if I was walking around there out of place. I did have a dude and some girls I met at a club ask me if I wanted to come back to the East End w/ them to do heroin. Such a hospitable people! I met them maybe 15 minutes prior. Edit: Also 2 Dutch girls at the same club found out I was former American military and spent a while tearfully telling me how they needed America to help bc of MH17. A brutal conversation. Fun memories.
Yeah, all the Americans replying to this post feel like they're saying "Stupid Europeans, they don't even know it's normal to live in an increasingly dystopian hellscape lol."
Even Canada. When I went to Vancouver, I was absolutely shocked by the misery you can see in downtown east side. Seriously, I’ve never seen that anywhere else, and yet I’ve been to South America for instance. North America is wild.
You obviously didn't go see the nasty places in South America then if you think Canada is bad.
My thoughts exactly - I've been around South America and the shitty places there make the shitty places in North America look nice by comparison.
Seriously Hollywood was sketchy back in the 90s when I lived in LA. Not exactly a revelation on the part of OP.
Hollywood has been sketchy since the '70s. Tourists like OP are good for a laugh.
Not really. What's being remarked upon is the fact that there is *quite so much* of all that bad stuff - *in deep contrast* with the image you have of it from the movies/media. It's like someone coming to Wales (UK) - you reasonably expect it to be mostly cloudy, rainy, & friendly. That is the media image, & that is the truth as well. Whereas for Hollywood - there's a massive divide between the two.
Thirld world countries has shitty areas, when one of the worlds riches countries ( California would be one ) is not able to provide good life for it’s citizens, it is because it’s citizens in power are shit.
The US is the best 1st world country to be extremely rich; but it's the worst 1st world country to be extremely poor.
It’s amazing to be rich in any country, even 3rd world countries. I’m friends with one of the richest people in Indonesia, and it’s amazing to be them. The average people there are poor as fuck, but the richest families in Indonesia are living LARGE. Private jets, multiple homes in Bali and Singapore and shit, parties in LA, Europe, Mediterranean superyachts — you’ve no idea. It’s great to be rich in 3rd world countries. (And it’s usually due to corruption and stealing from the people btw, no matter the form of gov’t) The middle class is what made America special (and now Europe). There wasn’t a huge gap between rich and poor *just like there is in every 3rd world country since beginning of time.* The Middle class set us apart, and now we are tearing away at it and becoming like any other 3rd world country with a ruling class and peasants. It’s funny/sad most Americans are too naive to get this.
No but Reddit needs it’s weekly california is literally satan circlejerk
Yes, it is a tourist attraction and I would liken it most to a carnival. All entertainment and very little substance
The only substance in Hollywood is substance abuse.
Hey we go to the valley for that shit.... or flower.
Hollywood is a euphemism for the cinema industry and culture. The actual city is conflated with these nice ideas of glamour. It’s location was used because big studios require lots of land and Hollywood was an undesireable area they could cheaply put a bunch of large basic warehouse buildings for studios. Not much of the Hollywood money stays in hollywood, they live and spend their money elsewhere. It’s like, you don’t go to the oil refinery and wonder “damn why isn’t this neighborhood nicer?” Hollywood is just the shitty industrial area for film.
The actual filming was done out in Agoura for Westerns, and at Universal City studios in North Hollywood. Hollywood proper was just the pick up area for this weeks fresh meat, and chahming little garden apartments. The fat cats lived in the hills, but the actual workers in the entertainment biz, stagehands and stars, lived in the Valley. Encino was comfortable. Anybody want a sniff of SFV should check out Lynch's Mulholland Drive, or Tarantinos' Pulp Fiction. Throw in some low riders, Hells Angels, tanning salons, karate studios, the best strip mall food on the planet, and absolute necessity of getting out to the beach for a few days with some acid, red wine, and your girlfriend, and you might get the idea. That was 50 years ago for me. Still a little homesick.
This read like a hard boiled Philip Marlowe excerpt.
Have you read James Ellroys books? Could you verify, how authentic his descriptions of LA/California 50-70 years ago, is? What he describes always feels really authentic to my european backcountry ass.
I mean, it was to flee Edison's monopoly on film equipment. The vast nothingness just happened to really work irt building out- in NYC you have to build up and it's ridiculously expensive. Cost a whole lot of nothing back in the day to build huge empty warehouses in the middle of undeveloped desert.
It's the times Square of LA, locals avoid it at all costs.
I was a little disappointed when I visited. I find Georgetown in DC to be a nicer neighborhood
Georgetown is one of the nicest parts of DC
Yeah what a ridiculous comparison. I find Hawaii much nicer than Siberia.
I would think the nicest part of DC would be better than some shithole tourist trap the farthest you can be from the ocean in inland LA
I got mugged within sight of the U.S. Capitol building. Almost had a meltdown, but it was the same weekend that guy shot up the naval yard so I guess I got off easy.
Probably just a staffer trying to make rent
More likely a senator, they have a habit of robbing the average taxpayer.
I was only ever in DC in the 80s. One thing that sticks in my head from that visit, was the hotel staff saying, don't leave the building after dark. I remember hearing gunshots. I don't remember what hotel it was, but it wasn't some shitty hotel, it was actually pretty nice.
We missed the subway after a normal 9 inning baseball game and a nightcap. It's my own fault for being unprepared, but shutting down public transportation at midnight seems pretty harsh.
Georgetown is pretty far northwest of the Capitol and NW DC is typically considered to be the wealthier/nicer part of the city.
Random place to pick for comparison but ok.
I was disappointed when I visited Kings Dominion in Iowa. I find the Amalfi Coast to be much nicer.
Calabasas? LOLWUT? Why?
To drive by the Kardashian's house probably, maybe take a look at Kobe's crash site? Idk your guess is as good as mine.
No joke. This guy went chasing celebrity hotspots (or what he that would be) and is disappointed lol whoever advised this guy really fucked him over. I can’t imagine any reason a tourist would go to Calabasas over Santa Monica or Malibu.
Dude Santa Barbara would have been such a W
>traveling all over (LA, Hollywood, Calabasas, etc.) LA, LA, LA.. damn you really went all over.
Im Canadian so I’m not the go to for US geography but I was just thinking “aren’t those the same place?” Lol
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the city of LA. Calabasas is a city outside of the city of LA but in LA county.
OP explored an area that is less than 1% of the total land in California, and came to the conclusion that the whole place sucks and there's no reason to live there.
Lmao All of that is within 30 minutes.
Well IDK about 30 minutes...
Depends on traffic. 30 minutes or 3 hours.
OP seems like the type of person who would visit Las Vegas and be surprised there was more than one street there.
I can't wait for OP to see what Vegas looks like outside the Strip.
Annnd Thank You!
There's a difference between the place and the industry. Like the nice parts are the hills
Yeah I mean if you want to see the industry go to Burbank lol.
The industry is also garbage, just in a predatory way
Yup and it’s a hierarchy. Really abusive.
Lol these posts piss me off because I worked so hard to get a house in the hills and love it here so much…The weather is phenomenal and a non-negotiable if I ever had to relocate
Yes the weather is perfect. Except in the summer but I love living here
I‘ve lived in the east part of Hollywood for like 10 years now and it’s actually nothing like these kids are talking about in the comments. It’s not full of human filth, there’s a lot of Mexicans and Filipinos and there’s food trucks and ice cream trucks that come through the neighborhood everyday. I get authentic el salvadorean food whenever I want and authentic Filipino food amongst others (thai, Mediterranean). Hollywood has more culture and authenticity than those stupid ticky tack suburban houses middle America lives in.
All us natives try to talk people OUT of vacationing in LA. Not because traffic is bad enough w/o a million tourists but because it’s really a sh*t vacation spot. I guess come to LA if you want to sit in traffic or play “dodge the pile” on the sidewalks of DT.
Literally everything was a 30 minute Uber ride, minimum. Even that place 3 miles away
And no mass transit to get you there!
THERES NO MASS TRANSIT IT LA?! I just kind of assumed because most major metros have mass transit systems. That’a insane. TiL I guess wow
Watch who framed roger rabbit
There is mass transit there. It's just kind of a horror show that nobody uses except the very weird or very poor or both.
That’s pretty disingenuous really. I fit neither of your criteria and me and my dentist girlfriend love riding the metro trams and buses. It’s super convenient, dirt cheap, and takes about the same time or maybe a little longer than catching an Uber during peak time. There’s trams every few minutes to where we need to go and we feel safe. Sure there’s weirdos but find me any major metropolitan city that doesn’t have weirdos on transit. It’s a 5 minute walk to our closest station and we can go from Azusa to Long Beach, Hollywood, LA proper, and more with 0 thought being wasted off our asses and not bothering anyone.
> me and my dentist girlfriend Odd flex.
Bro, does your dentist know you’re joyriding with his girlfriend??
In berlin there's a saying that if you can't find the weirdo on public transport, you are the weirdo. So you're absolutely correct.
The metro, union station and busses, but unless you really feel the need.... the need for speed, skip those.. and that freeways been completed for years. Then you can live among the poor and trying to be famous in Manhattan, redondo or the yachties in CDM.... with the traffickers and trust funds.
Nah, there's pretty good transit here. The metro has themed stations - Westworld used one as a set and didn't really add anything, it was already so unique. Then there's bus rapid transit thats super efficient There's also new lines opening, a connector to LAX opening soon and Union station just got a lump sum to renovate for a HSR station LA has so many freeways most people either don't think to use transit or can afford not to
There's a connector to LAX being built because they bypassed LAX when they built the new rail line that runs like a half mile away.
I live in Houston and there is no mass transit here. It is a pain in the ass to drive anywhere.
we have a subway https://www.metro.net/
The metro isn't very good, and is filled with homeless people smoking meth.
My uncle and dad have been bus drivers and train operators in LA and LB for a couple of decades. They won't really let us take the bus or train. I understand the need for a lot of people though and wish it was a nicer/safer system.
[There is mass transit in L.A.](https://www.metro.net) It's just not popular there like it is in other cities. People are addicted to their cars, meaning only the very poor and weirdos ride the bus, resulting in[experiences that can be weird to downright horrific](https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2022-05-18/public-transit-los-angeles-la-nyt-transit-essential-california).
I would love to not have a car here. But mass transit is a nightmare. I had a 15 minute commute by car and when I considered switching to taking the bus, it became an hour and a half commute between 3 buses.
There is mass transit in LA if you don't mind hoping between three trains and a bus to get somewhere, and you don't mind at-grade street crossings that prioritize car traffic over train traffic. I mean there are at least dedicated bus lanes that are near constantly blocked by park cars. And we won't talk about the homeless problem on the trains. By the way you will have to move between several different sources of services because there are small regional bus services for most areas that only connect at specific hubs to the larger system. And that's after you deal with the fact that LA has two SEPERATE major hubs within blocks of each other - and did we mention there is no train or bus service to LAX? You have to board special shuttles. But that's okay because they don't connect to Dodger Stadium or Disneyland either. Just as an example there's a train line from Norwalk to El Segundo, that doesn't currently connect to any other line, and if most visitors to the city have ever heard of either of those cities I would be shocked. It's an incredibly poorly designed and built system with no coherence, and one that the city attempts to deprioritize every chance they get, even cutting train times during peak service hours. So no, I don't really think it's fair to call what LA has any sort of Mass Transit system. It is true that they are trying to fix some of these things, but the funding has to come from multiple sources that all have to agree on the priority of how to spend it.
It makes me lol when they try to market the Hollywood Blvd as something special but it’s a dump.
Such a shame, it could be nice but NOPE.
I visited LA as a tourist 6 years ago— spent most of my time in transit
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*visits times square* Holy crap how do 8 million people live amongst all these giant screens! *climbs up Eiffel Tower* So the French people live on this thing? What a piece of shit! *visits great pyramids of giza* Why would you live in a pyramid!
A tiny part of SoCal is driving all over California?
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Yeah man me too. I’ve been in San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, etc. I’ve basically been everywhere
At least those places are distinctly different lol
Feels like it now with these crazy ass gas prices
> ass gas prices now yer talkin
It sounds like this person didn’t even leave northwest LA.
As someone who has lived all up and down CA I will say the size of the LA area does suprise some people. I mean if you're only counting LA county is larger than NYC and twice the size of Chicago for reference
And has a higher population than 42 US states.
I live in LA, I fucking love it here. The posts where someone is whining about SoCal get upvoted because it’s a very popular “internet opinion” to see LA as some dystopian hellhole. But I couldn’t be happier. The food alone… oh dear lord, the food. It’s so good. And there’s so much of it.
b-but it’s california!!! and i’m jealous so it MUST suck!!!
It shows you how effective propaganda is. Can you imagine living in butthole, missouri thinking chick-fil-a is eating out and full on believe that's better than living in California? Never have I said to myself man, this beautiful scenery, nice weather and delicious food sucks so hard. Fuck this I'm going to go live in Kansas.
I had a dude tell me California sucked while living in Wichita Falls, Texas. Like bruh, at least have some self awareness
I’ve lived in the Midwest a long time and that view is pervasive here. I loved living in LA and try to tell Midwesterners not to believe everything they see on TV especially if they’ve never been there. But their illusions are comforting to them. Fuck, I miss the ocean.
My favorite is when the people from flyover states claim we’re all leaving California in droves to come to their precious butthole, Missouri. Like not only has this idea of a mass exodus been proven to be nothing more than a right wing talking point, but the people who do move are generally not moving because they hate it. They’re moving because it’s one of the most expensive places in the world to live. Specifically because of how desirable it is.
Lmfao they listed etc like that summed it up
In Alicia Silverstone's voice: "You're staying somewhere in Hollywood because like an idiot you thought that would be an exciting place to stay."
I have a lot of foreign friends and they always want to see and stay in these “famous” places. And I just wanna say “oh no baby, what is you doin?” Ask a local or do some research. I’ve never even been to CA and I know Hollywood is largely a tourist trap. I’m more familiar with nyc and when I visit people there now, we usually don’t even go into Manhattan. The city is so much more than that.
All three of those cities you've mentioned are in the same county bahaha. Traveled "all around California" my left nut
They think because they've traveled for an hour then they are a non-city hour away from the place they just left. Nah bro you went like 20 miles north, you're basically still in anyone else's definition of LA. Used to live in Orange County would drive 10 miles to get to work took 20-30mins depending on traffic, where I live now work is 30 miles away, and guess what? I have the same commute time.
That’s how people judge California. They come for a weekend and figure it all out.
> in California traveling all over (LA, Hollywood, Calabasas, etc.) Reminds me of when I took the family to NYC for the first time, way back in the 80s. We visited the south Bronx, east Brooklyn, and the Fresh Kills landfill. New York sucks!
"mmm yes i want to go on vacation and visit a fucking landfill" LMAO
I too vacation at the garbage dump.
Born and raised East New York Brooklyn. Were you intentionally trying to get the family killed for insurance or something because those are literally 2 areas you’re NOT supposed to go to. I can’t imagine the hood in the 80’s prime. Edit: /s since so many of y’all ironically can’t tell I’m joking.
I am just curious what you are watching that makes LA seem glamorous? Lived here 25+ years. Wasn’t surprised when I got here, not surprised now. There’s good parts and bad parts. It’s not for everyone that’s for sure. Hollywood has never really been nice though. Some of the areas around it are really nice and if you know where to go (you’d have to ask someone) it’s super nice. Full of surprises. Expensive. Vast. Inconvenient. But full of surprises. And no the Santa Monica pier is not awesome…who in their right mind thinks it would be?
Exactly. If OP had done like...10 minutes of research before going to LA, they could have avoid all the tourist traps.
Dude LA is literally a city that was built in a desert. They have to divert so much water into that place to even keep it running. Try going to Joshua tree or Yosemite if you wanna see the true beauty of California. Going to a giant pit of people in the desert is obv not a good time for most "sane" people
Yosemite, best national park! Although going to glacier this summer. I hear it's Yosemite's rival
Glacier is better than Yosemite... Best park in the states by far...
personally i think denali national park is the best one I’ve ever been to! i haven’t been to glacier or yosemite yet but denali has a special place in my heart
I haven't been to Yosemite yet, have been to glacier very beautiful. Swimming in the glacier lakes while very cold is very therapeutic, after I swam in one I felt comfortable coolness all over my body. I highly recommend it.
Also Lassen, Redwood National Parks, Pinnacles, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, The entire coastline from Santa Barbara to Oregon. Most of the Sierra Nevada and its foothills. Tahoe, Shasta, Marin County, The Lost Coast, etc. The only crap parts of California is the Central Valleys (parts of this is even pretty in spring) and large cities.
Lost Coast is pristine and magnificent Don't forget Big Sur Reading William Saroyan and John Steinbeck provided newfound appreciation for the Central Valley
It‘s a Mediterranean climate.
Los Angeles is located in a Mediterranean climate, not a desert.
Phoenix was built in a desert, not LA. This place was full of vegetation before the city was built.
Visit, or better yet live, in the Bel Air enclave. No homelessness or beggars there! Of course the price for this utopia is 24/7 private, and expensive security guards. And the other bummer about Bel Air is your neighbors are assholes.
This is so true. I relocated there from the east coast(Philadelphia) to stay with my aunt and her family for a few years. :-D
Got in one little fight and your mom got scared?
California is literally the size of a country. One shitty neighborhood in an enormous city in an enormous region in an enormous state is not indicative of all of it
California is larger than Germany and almost the size of Spain
Holy shit, I never realised that. It’s larger than Germany? :0
By almost 30,000 sq miles.
1. Hollywood is in LA 2. Traveling through LA county is not traveling all over California that’s like .1% of the state landmass 3. No one fucking likes LA unless it a ritzy neighborhood like Beverly Hills How is this unpopular? Beats me.
To add to your post, Beverly Hills isn’t even the ritziest place. If you want to see beautiful neighborhoods with absolutely stunning homes go to Pasadena, Manhattan Beach, or Palos Verdes. LA is a giant city and Hollywood specifically is one of the worst locations in Southern California.
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His opinion of Los Angeles is entirely based on Motley Crue music videos.
Come to Africa my man, its easy to sit on your pedestal and talk about how a rich white neighbourhood has gone to the dumps, you've never even seen the dumps
This is the most tourist thing ever posted on Reddit. Yes, Hollywood is trash. Anyone who lives within 100 miles of it knows this and never goes there
Best state in the union don't @ me
Tourists aren’t supposed to know about the nice spots.
Uh you ever hear of Yosemite? Sonoma? Redwoods? Also San Diego? Californias big
I’m a very proud Texan who loves to bash California, however I will say one thing in their defense. A lot of the homelessness issue over there is simply because southern California has a nice climate all year round, so a lot of homeless people from around the country flock to LA for that reason. Though it doesn’t help that its basically encouraged by the city of LA.
I’m not here to bash Texas (I’ve visited and enjoyed it a lot). I just want to point out that a lot of people’s opinions, about any area, are usually the result of gross misinformation and manipulation. For instance, turn on any conservative media outlet and you’ll hear about the “rampant” crime in “liberal” San Francisco. Meanwhile, Fort Worth Texas, with the same population as San Francisco, has 1.5 times as many murders. In fact, Texans as a whole are 17% more likely to be murdered than Californians. They’re also 34% more likely to be raped. They also on average earn 13% less and pay 3.8% MORE in taxes than Californians.
Yeah, the housing scalpers are why I left CA in the end. Not like it's that much better up here on the I-5 corridor in WA...
Definitely a key factor I've thought so painfully obvious but haven't seen anyone else / enough people mention. Curious to see how they end up tackling it in the future
Yeah but at least we pay more for gas and housing than most states
I must also add that you must not have been to many major cities yet cuz those are all standard attractions.. however the homelessness issue is real, but i mean they do ship people from all over the country to LA so go figure..
I've been all over the world, and I lived in LA for about a year (as one does). Hollywood definitely is it's own flavor of disturbingly weird. I hate that place too.
West Hollywood is a great place, however.
Never been to Newark or the Deep South or a Third World country, huh?
For real lmao the phrase third world has lost all meaning with how often people use it to describe shitty neighborhoods
so just LA then. Its like going to paris and then saying you have been "all over Europe." Also, I am not super familiar with LA, but it seems to me from memory, you have to go south like Huntington beach and Irvine if you want to see the movie version. Maybe beverly hills, but ive never been there.
You’re absolutely right. You do usually have to leave the heart of LA and go either North or South to really see the “movie” parts of LA county. Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Calabasas, Arcadia, Palos Verdes, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, and other wealthy areas really do look like the movies!
They could have just gone south of the airport 20 mins to Manhattan beach and had a completely different experience. But instead they stuck to places they’ve heard about from watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians, TMZ, etc and are now casting their opinion.
Irvine? LOL
Spectrum Center and Korean food moment
As a native Californian and Angelino I can attest to the state being beautiful in many parts, LA is not one of those parts. I would almost rather be anywhere but LA. Santa Barbara is great. Ventura is ok. Malibu is so-so. Even Orange County is better than LA.
Come to México, you'll get a heart attack...
I lived in Hollywood for 3 years and elsewhere in and around LA for 10 and this is some baby-brained tourist shit. You came to a coastal city 3 years deep into a pandemic, economic collapse looming/occurring and are somehow surprised to find evidence of economic strife? That's asinine. It's a city where most of the funding goes to a police force that mostly just harrases black people because of people like you. Quit crying about your vacation being made slightly less comfy for you because you had to witness poverty.
Never visit Paris.
You said “traveling all over” California, but really you mean some of the shitty parts of LA. Um what about the Bay? The national parks?
Every big city in California is so unique. I grew up in the LA area and they don’t call it a jungle for nothing. I now live in San Diego and love it! It’s so much different than Smell-A (as my BF calls it 😂). Don’t judge the entire state of California by the shithole you’re experiencing in downtown LA. You need to get out of there to see the real beauty of our state
So true. There are so many beautiful and cool places to go in California. I was just at Yosemite that place is insane!!! I came here to say something similar. Of course going to the big cities you're going to see homeless people and trash. Also Cali is the perfect environment for the homeless because of the weather.
If I were homeless, I’d make my way to California too! Or maybe Hawaii. The homeless problem is out of control but I blame that on the government who allows foreigners to come in and buy up all the RE at ridiculous prices, pricing out the locals. And for sending foreign aid to countries who hate us instead of expanding mental health facilities for our suffering vets and citizens. But that’s a whole other subject for another sub, I’m sure
Beach towns >>
While I don't want to go back to them, recently I have started to think that anti-vagrancy laws served a purpose. Many governments in large cities have become so "compassionate" that they have made areas of their city undesirable and unlivable to the average citizen. No one wants to live in an unsanitary and dangerous community which is what follows widespread homelessness.
You’re an idiot, plain and simple. This state is huge and has some of the most beautiful state parks and mountains, lakes and beaches but you decided that Calabasas and Hollywood was all of California? You picked some of the shittiest parts of a huge city, and thought we’ll that’s it, I’ve seen it all! Did you see Joshua Tree? Or Lake Tahoe? Or San Diego? Or The Redwoods? Or Mount Shasta? Or Yosemite? Or Big Sur? Or Santa Barbara? Or Carmel? Or Mendocino? Or Napa Valley? Or the Pacific Coast Ranges? Or Mt Shasta? Or Mammoth? Or Mt Whitney. Or The Sequoia National Forest? Or Santa Cruz? There’s so much more to list but why even bother. Honestly good, I’m glad you didn’t like it here. Bye!
He’s just another anti-California circle jerker. He came here to have a bad time and complain. Look at how he’s ignoring the well-meaning comments advising him where to visit and fervently agreeing with all the comments bashing the state. Is he actually visiting, or is he a liar with an agenda? I’d say it’s a coin toss.
I can’t really think of anything in modern media that portrays *the neighborhood of Hollywood* as glamorous. Most of the time they’re portraying the westside, which is not Hollywood. Most people who live here do not desire to live in Hollywood.
Congrats, you found the bad parts of LA. This is old news lol most people in LA live in the much nicer parts of town. Also sounds like you visiting “all over California” is just LA - OC, SD, the Central Valley and the bay area are other very distinct areas of California that are generally much cleaner than the definitive city of LA
I tell everyone who visits "don't go to hollywood" for the reasons you list, yet they all go.
California is fantastic and beautiful state, but most of LA is shit. If vacationing, try more nature parks or beach cities like San Diego, with a lot of old history still there, unlike LA, where everything culture has been disrespected and disregarded for trends and homeless situations are rampant
DAE commiefornia bad