This as-told-to essay is predicated on a dialog with Stevie Howell, an artist and enterprise proprietor who lives in Los Angeles. It has been edited for size and readability.
I moved to Los Angeles about 5 years in the past from San Francisco, and I beforehand lived in New York Metropolis and Chicago.
I anticipated my transfer could be simple since I would nonetheless be residing in California — however I have been shocked that I have never seen a variety of issues in LA that I’ve seen in a smaller metropolis like San Francisco.
LA has many positives past the good climate that allows you to do outside actions year-round. Town additionally attracts creativity — it is dwelling to nice design, artwork, and comedy. This space additionally has wonderful produce — you may develop virtually something right here, so it is lemon bushes and keenness fruit vines galore.
However these are the 5 of the worst issues that I’ve skilled whereas residing in Los Angeles.
1. LA has horrible city planning
LA’s city planning may very well be so significantly better. Many years in the past, the planners made enormous errors that destroyed this metropolis. They eliminated many of the canals that made Venice, Venice; took away the streetcars; constructed freeways that reduce by all of the low-income areas; made too many enormous streets that aren’t walkable and buildings that are not human-scaled; and put strip malls all over the place as a substitute of charming storefronts to stroll by and window store.
On the whole, it appears as if LA does not worth city magnificence. Magnificence occurs inside right here, behind partitions, and in non-public houses.
I’ve observed that there aren’t sufficient inexperienced areas. LA lacks nice parks in comparison with different cities like San Francisco and New York Metropolis. If solely Frederic Olmstead had made a few journeys to Southern California.
Driving round LA I can see how the neighborhoods change. Some areas obtain extra consideration and infrastructure whereas others do not.
2. Town feels boring
For a bustling metropolis, life in LA can have a stunning lack of vibrancy. It does not really feel city the best way cities like NYC or SF do — I do not really feel an city buzz or pleasure.
Folks-watching is a rarity right here except I depend DIY photoshoots arrange in entrance of pink partitions. Whereas I like overhearing the occasional only-in-LA type dialog or listening to my neighbors observe traces of their yard, the conversations usually contain an excessive amount of speak about visitors.
The visitors makes it so exhausting to get locations that I find yourself doing so much lower than I would do in different huge cities. For me, this implies much less going to museums, galleries, reveals, talks, and even only a dinner on the opposite aspect of city. Typically the identical museum reveals exhibited in LA will journey to different cities, and there have been occasions after I’ve missed the complete length in LA however see it on a fast journey to NYC or Chicago.
3. I really feel remoted
LA felt socially distant even earlier than COVID and earlier than “socially distant” was a factor. It appears like a sprawling mass of suburban enclaves subsequent to one another. Individuals are sort of in their very own worlds, doing their very own factor.
It’s normal for me to go months with out seeing my closest associates right here. That is one other factor that largely has to do with visitors and the way sprawling the town is — folks appear to remain of their neighborhoods and houses.
4. Driving sucks right here
Everyone knows visitors is a large downside in LA — in spite of everything, LA is dwelling to 11 of the highest 25 worst visitors corridors within the US. Good luck ever seeing your greatest buddy who lives 12 miles away. Going from the east to the west aspect or vice versa may be excruciating, even with an arsenal of nice podcasts loaded up.
Strolling is not actually an choice normally due to enormous streets and excessive distances, and each time I strive, I virtually get hit by a driver who simply does not anticipate there to be somebody strolling — even in a crosswalk.
And on the uncommon day it rains, everybody forgets methods to drive. A drizzle provides about double the commute time.
5. I do not really feel any sense of neighborhood
I do not really feel a robust sense of neighborhood in LA. It lacks cohesion that brings the entire metropolis collectively, and I believe for this reason folks should work to discover a sense of neighborhood.
As a result of it is such a driving tradition, I do not work together with folks as a lot as I do in different cities I’ve lived in. I do not journey the subway and get to take a seat subsequent to somebody who lives a very totally different life than I do.
Due to this lack of interplay with a wider demographic vary, it is exhausting to really feel related to the town as an entire.
In case you moved to a brand new metropolis or state and need to share your expertise, e mail Manseen Logan at mlogan@businessinsider.com.
