You have in the five counties that comprise what everyone thinks of as LA, that's about 13 million people, in 88 different towns. That makes it the largest place in the US size (area) wise, and second only to NYC in the number of people. It's awful darn close to 100 miles x 100 miles more or less. That's a lot of people,1 and that's a lot of space.2
And despite what many may think of as problems or reasons not to live (and die) in LA, there are many fine points of the town that have drawn 13 million people there to live eh what?
You have places there that are truly and duly world famous for opulence, decadence and conspicuous consumption. Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Malibu and Topanga Canyon come to mind. And, on the other side of the coin, some of the worst, most famous gansta' ghettos hell, the Crips and the Bloods both started in LA, so it's a city world renown for violence, riots, and mayhem. Places like South Central, Compton, East LA are there, and did you know the original, like the place that gave all the other's it's name, Skid Row is in LA? Still like it ever was too, and that's about as sketch as anyplace I've ever been. And, it's easy to get into trouble in LA because some of the worst places, like say South Central or Compton, look kinda nice. At least they don't look like some East Coast/Euro/Third World ghetto. So it can fool you. Me, I'd live in the MacArthur Park or Echo Lake areas in a heartbeat, if you could do something about the crime rate there.
Where you live is pretty much a neighborhood by neighborhood, and sometimes a building to building deal. It's not as much 'trans-friendly' so much as it's 'trans we don't care.'
Next is the rather weird deal that I bet more people in the world know more about LA than just about any other city. It's because LA controls it's own myth making process in such a weird way, and indeed part of what LA exports to the rest of the world are stories of it's own myth. And there are times when I'm there that I almost feel like I'm walking around a huge set that they just let these other people live behind.
But what you think you know about LA is only what people want you to know, and they are people who never let the truth get in the way of a good story, so a lot of what people know isn't true at all.
It's very international. Out of those 13 million, I'd be shocked if more than eight or nine spoke good English. Huge sections of the city are Spanish (subdivided/clustered according to nationality at that), Korean or Chinese. So it's good to be able to communicate in several languages, or at least a little Spanish.
It is in many respects the City of the 20th Century, and you can get anything, find anything, you want. But it's going to cost you too. They have the best plastic surgeons in the world, all you have to do is cut them a check.
It's not much of a night town. The Industry of course set the standard for fortune, fame, glamor and party style in LA, and as a result it doesn't have the best nightlife. It's not a Miami, NYC, SF, Chicago kind of town. It's early to bed and early to rise because The Industry still runs on the same schedule it used to back when they needed sun light to make movies so anybody that matters in film is going to be at work at 4 am. That's why there is the famous LA - let's do breakfast, let's do lunch - because dinner is too much to eat to late in the day. Breakfast for normal people is lunch in movie time, and lunch is the end of the day dinner in a lot of ways.
So a hella lot of people really, get off work in the early afternoon, for that reason, and because the weather is simpley perfect most of the time3, it's a very outdoors place. You just live a lot more of your life outside, as opposed to inside. It's an active place - ya' know, people jogging and running the dog at 4 am. People spend a ton of time on their porch, balcony, patio - and with all the windows wide open and all that. In LA, it's not just sunny, they worship the sun and being outside. It's not a very good place for indoor people. It's very California in that way, but a lot of people find that constant outdoor deal kinda weird.
You have to have a car, and it has to be a pretty good one, and that sucks. If Oakland is where Gurturde Stien once said 'there is no 'there' there, then LA is where there is no where. EVERYplace is someplace else and in LA people treat 20-30 miles like it was next door. Nothing is central, it's all scattered to the wild winds. There is no centerl downtown LA. Oh there is one, but it's like one of four. You stand on the hills and look down and you see several collections of towers, one in LA, one in Century City, one down in Norwalk - that's why the idea tall buldings blocking out the sun is not exactly correct, LA is mostly flat, one-two stories sprawling on out past the horizon, the only thing that blocks the sun are palm trees. So you have little concentrations not one huge Manhattan/Chicago Lakefront deal going on.
As a result, you're going to be doing some drivin. And the public transportation sucks. Tons of areas have no sidewalks, so walking places gets tricky - and everyone looks at you funny if you do.4 Bikes are like points in some Demolition Man game everyone is playing in their cars, so it's not like it's bike friendly either. That to me is the worst part of LA is all the driving. People down there carry these maps of LA that I swear to you are like a frickin phone book, and they need and use them. It's crazy how many miles you'll put on a car there.
And it's not just the miles, it's very fast freeway miles (they are so friendly with their freeways that they have named all of them), hellish urban miles, and, oh yeah, lots of hills - so make sure you're parking break is working too - kind of driving. So it hard to just get by with some beater that you only put a couple of miles a day on.
1 - It would place about halfway in the parade of nations if it were it's own country, but to live there, it's more like it's own planet. So it would rank about 70, so that's more people than Greece, Czech Republic, Austria, any of the Scandinavian nations - so it's hard just to up and quickly say what it's like, except to first note that it's totally farkin' huge.
2 - Not in a square though, that's roughly from Santa Clarita to San Clemente and Santa Monica to San Berdoo. It's got a weird configuration due to the mountains, ocean and history.
3 - the yearly average temp, day and night is 65. Harsh.
4 - I have a good friend in Marina del Rey. I go down there about once a year, and while they are at work I like to walk, and frequently walk from MdR to Venice Beach and up to Santa Monica. I look OK, I'm not dressed like some hood or anything, but I've yet to do that without a cop slowing down and asking me some question while I'm walking.
