Like Aliana said, L.A. like NOLA has its high and its low, I was a baby when brought to L.A., so I had no choice, you grow up used to where you live and oddly appreciate it, I know I do. The great places to visit are Santa Monica, West L.A.,Newport Beach and the Southbay part of Los Angeles. Believe it or not, parts of Southcentral L.A. and Compton are pretty decent areas. Some parts are notoriously rough. You get a sense of where and when to go where. The block over other than where I live, well, lets just say its rough. Compton is changing alot, with more hispanics, and its better in some areas and just the same in others, just that it has a different feel. Southcentral L.A., well lets just say, you'd better know where your going, I do, I"m 44 years old and have been living here on and off, 35 years of my life Southcentral L.A., has more Mexican/Central American immigrants, then East L.A., which has more mexican american/central americans born in the U.S. Through the thick and thins, you get used to life here and tend to appreciate life a little bit more, then in other areas. One thing about where I live, the culture is way less Americanized then East L.A., there is sort of a clash between American and authentic Mexican/Central American culture, Spanish is the first language in some parts of L.A., and waving the mexican/central american/south american flags is common here, other than the U.S. flag. Believe it or not, coming to L.A. here, is still safer than Mexico/Central American and some South American countries, dont' believe me, read their newspapers. In other parts of L.A. County, you hear Persian, Korean, Chinese, Russian, Armenian, Cambodian, Tagalog, to sum it up, over 100 different languages all over the place. Wierd but it adds a nice flavor to the neighborhoods and L.A. metro/County, some people abhor how unamerican some immigrants are, but immigrants they know this is the U.S., and do their best to acclimitize to American ways, its not easy learning a different language or culture.
Anyway, this is a primer if you have no other choice but to survive rough environments, other than a warzone, yea yea, I heard it before we live in a warzone and some parts are becoming a third world, but trust me, warzones are far worse, like Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, some parts of Asia, even Mexico with their narcoterrorism, America has it light so far.
Lucia,
P.S. just wanted to add the lighter side of this topic. All in all, L.A. is complicated like life.
