Because it’s kind of awful if you don’t work in the entertainment industry? The public schools are crappy (which is a statewide issue), and the private schools are populated with the spawn of awful people. Public transit is half-assed, the traffic is unendurable if you have to commute during the long rush hours (thankfully, I don’t), the smog, while miles better than it was twenty years ago, is still pretty bad, and you really have to hunt around to find the culture tucked between the strip malls. With a few cultural exceptions, there’s nothing you could want in Los Angeles that you couldn’t find in San Diego, and enjoy a better standard of living to boot.
Of course, the not-too-distant future may hold the return of the NFL’s beloved Rams/Raiders/Chargers to Los Angeles, so whooptyfuckindoo for that.
LA is like a city of cities though. Silver Lake (for example) only has something like 35,000 people living there with great diversity and pretty good schools. The public school system in general may be struggling, but the best schools in that system are fantastic.
If you prioritize what you want, chances are there is a neighborhood in LA that will provide it. Plus then all the other things that aren’t at the top of your list are just an uber ride away.
Having been to LA on several occasions, the whole megaregion looks pretty continuous and undivided from the air, as far as I can tell.
I mean, the cops might be different between Anaheim and LA and Hollywood, but the urban density doesn’t seem to change at all between the different “cities”.
I avoid LA just because it smells like a city dump compared to Seattle, and the smog is visible at ground level. I prefer that my air isn’t chewy.
London is to LA as LA is to pretty much any other small-to-medium city in the US.
You can rent a 3 bedroom house in Iowa City for $1200. You can BUY a 3 bedroom house for $175K, and buy an exquisite house for $250-$300K.
Or you could move to Detroit, which is urban, full of people doing interesting work, and dirt cheap compared to everywhere except Dehli.
I suppose being in LA puts you close to the Boing-Industrial Complex, and it has its charms, but any place decent is expensive and any place affordable isn’t decent.
Makes sense to me, london just ain’t economically viable unless you got some serious monies. Just surprised you’re not moving to another valid and often overlooked uk city as has been mentioned. Also expected the reasoning to include the security state theatre that london, indeed the uk as a whole, is becoming unfortunately known for. And that’s partly why i’m sorry to see you go because you were a voice of reason and sanity against those asshats.
I agree with you wholeheartedly, Cory, concerning the decline of London (as a livable, creative, blossoming city). I am glad I got the privilege of speaking to you while you were here (at first London Maker Faire). However I would question what you said regarding LA and the States. Surveillance is ever increasing in the US as you should know better than most people (otherwise you are kidding yourself), while Obamacare has gained some traction overall national welfare is in decline. Worst of all is probably American foreign policy which has gone from bad to worse with countless illegal strikes against or close to vicinity of civilians… I couldn’t live in a country like that. The UK is bad and the last election has put everyone in dystopian nightmare but I hope we can fight back.
My London friends who moved here to Houston three years ago said the EXACT same things you did. So, you’re not alone in your opinions. There are plenty of better places to live where you won’t spend your life savings just to own squat in a crap tiny place. ed.: amended for Chesterfield
As an American, I don’t know where you mean, but I can only assume that you mean some place with polar bears, lumberjacks, fur hats, and an unfulfilled longing to be as important as America.
Thank you for saying that. The New York I’ve lived in for over a decade is being terraformed in front of me into a playground for people, the surreal wealth of whom is all the more disgusting for how nonchalantly they live with it.
Thanks to the state of things now, I almost think of the 2008 recession as a saner, more reasonable time.
This gentleman isn’t moving to nyc, but as someone who lives there and hasn’t a clue where to flee to: all the major cities are toxic.
