4 ms·

As someone who moved from the Northeast to Los Angeles for work, LA is not really what it was advertised to me. Outside of certain special areas, it's a dump, a

by mjfl 4y ago

As someone who moved from the Northeast to Los Angeles for work, LA is not really what it was advertised to me. Outside of certain special areas, it's a dump, and I don't want to settle here.

maybelsyrup 4y ago
> Outside of certain special areas, it's a dump There are several comments in this thread already with this general vibe. As a CA resident, I definitely don't disagree, but I travel a lot in the US and outside it, and have done so for most of my life (immigrated here fairly young), and I'm really confident when I say that, in terms of infrastructure and general urban/suburban aesthetics, the US has gone from "fairly bad for a developed country" to "complete shithole" pretty quickly in the last ~20 years. (My experience is mostly with larger urban areas, for context, so maybe rural USA doesn't feel as much like Mad Max.) Every time I come back to the US, as soon as I deplane into the (inevitable) 65 year-old airport with low popcorn ceilings and stained carpeting, I sense it more and more. If I'm coming back from another 1st-world country, it's like "this feels like Guatemala", and if I'm coming back from Guatemala, it's like "this feels like Guatemala". (No hate on Guatemala btw it's an incredible place with incredible people, but it's very poor (thanks in large part to US but that's another hot take for another thread).) This is an anonymous internet comment on an emotional issue so maybe I'm like 10% exaggerating here, but mostly not.
- usrn 4y ago
  We've imported a ton of people from third world countries to the point that the demographics have substantially changed. I don't think we should be surprised that the country changed as well.
  - dredmorbius 4y ago
    Much of the worst degradation is (somewhat unsurprisingly) in locations with stagnant or declining population. Hardly where in-migration is highest. And areas with the highest levels of migration tend to be magnets strictly on the basis that they do have more vibrant economies. The fact that the US saw massive growth in the decades following WWII, and that much of that building stock and infrastructure were built quickly and cheaply, or are just simply old, also contributes. 40--60 year infrastructure, particularly where weather is a factor --- freeze-thaw cycles, salt, and moisture especially --- can beat the heck out of virtually anything surprisingly quickly. It's also news to me that a generalised opposition to government and community investment is an ideology especially acquired from immigrants, unless you're referring to, say, the Murdoch family.
  - maybelsyrup 4y ago
    Jfc dude. What do "the demographics" have to do with the bridges falling down?
    - usrn 4y ago
      These people bring their culture with them. Sometimes that's good and sometimes that's bad.
- neither_color 4y ago
  From my own trips to central America I'd say you'd have to be staying only in 5 star hotels in the Northern Triangle to find it comparable to the US, the squalor in those countries is on a different level. The closest thing I've seen in the US that comes to it might be in a biased YouTube video of a few city blocks of homeless tents(and indeed that's a reputation California is gaining on the east coast), only I'd feel safer walking through that tent city than parts of Honduras or El Salvador.
carom 4y ago
Curious where in LA you are. Everything north of the 10 is pretty nice. West of the 405 is really nice. I'll take it over Baltimore any day.
- mjfl 4y ago
  > I'll take it over Baltimore any day. That is an amusingly low standard.
  - scruple 4y ago
    Well, I'm originally from Ohio by way of western Pennsylvania. And I'll never go back. I took my wife out to the Outer Banks one year, in North Carolina, to spend time with my family, during their annual pilgrimage to OBX, and we were riding bikes (to get fresh boiled shrimp) and a large truck tried to run us off the road while shouting some racist shit in our general direction. I'm white, she's not. I lived in the south, primarily in Texas and Georgia, but I spent a lot of time in Tennessee and Alabama and Louisiana, too, and I'll pass, pass, pass, pass, and pass on all of those places, too. So, out of the 9 states in this country that I've personally spent significant time in, in many cases living in these states for years of my life: California is the only one I'm willing to put down roots in because I have a minority wife. Baltimore is a low standard but you could trip over the fucking bar in this country.
    - milkytron 4y ago
      > So, out of the 9 states in this country that I've personally spent significant time in, in many cases living in these states for years of my life: California is the only one I'm willing to put down roots in because I have a minority wife. It sounds like you've spent time in areas that tend to be more racist than others, particularly the south. I'm sure you and your wife would have different experiences in the northeast, northwest, north midwest, or even Colorado. California will certainly be better than the south too, but it seems like the places you've been aren't generally the most welcoming to whom they deem as outsiders (non white).

by mjfl 4y ago

As someone who moved from the Northeast to Los Angeles for work, LA is not really what it was advertised to me. Outside of certain special areas, it's a dump, and I don't want to settle here.

maybelsyrup 4y ago

> Outside of certain special areas, it's a dump There are several comments in this thread already with this general vibe. As a CA resident, I definitely don't disagree, but I travel a lot in the US and outside it, and have done so for most of my life (immigrated here fairly young), and I'm really confident when I say that, in terms of infrastructure and general urban/suburban aesthetics, the US has gone from "fairly bad for a developed country" to "complete shithole" pretty quickly in the last ~20 years. (My experience is mostly with larger urban areas, for context, so maybe rural USA doesn't feel as much like Mad Max.) Every time I come back to the US, as soon as I deplane into the (inevitable) 65 year-old airport with low popcorn ceilings and stained carpeting, I sense it more and more. If I'm coming back from another 1st-world country, it's like "this feels like Guatemala", and if I'm coming back from Guatemala, it's like "this feels like Guatemala". (No hate on Guatemala btw it's an incredible place with incredible people, but it's very poor (thanks in large part to US but that's another hot take for another thread).) This is an anonymous internet comment on an emotional issue so maybe I'm like 10% exaggerating here, but mostly not.

usrn 4y ago
We've imported a ton of people from third world countries to the point that the demographics have substantially changed. I don't think we should be surprised that the country changed as well.
- dredmorbius 4y ago
  Much of the worst degradation is (somewhat unsurprisingly) in locations with stagnant or declining population. Hardly where in-migration is highest. And areas with the highest levels of migration tend to be magnets strictly on the basis that they do have more vibrant economies. The fact that the US saw massive growth in the decades following WWII, and that much of that building stock and infrastructure were built quickly and cheaply, or are just simply old, also contributes. 40--60 year infrastructure, particularly where weather is a factor --- freeze-thaw cycles, salt, and moisture especially --- can beat the heck out of virtually anything surprisingly quickly. It's also news to me that a generalised opposition to government and community investment is an ideology especially acquired from immigrants, unless you're referring to, say, the Murdoch family.
- maybelsyrup 4y ago
  Jfc dude. What do "the demographics" have to do with the bridges falling down?
  - usrn 4y ago
    These people bring their culture with them. Sometimes that's good and sometimes that's bad.
neither_color 4y ago
From my own trips to central America I'd say you'd have to be staying only in 5 star hotels in the Northern Triangle to find it comparable to the US, the squalor in those countries is on a different level. The closest thing I've seen in the US that comes to it might be in a biased YouTube video of a few city blocks of homeless tents(and indeed that's a reputation California is gaining on the east coast), only I'd feel safer walking through that tent city than parts of Honduras or El Salvador.

carom 4y ago

Curious where in LA you are. Everything north of the 10 is pretty nice. West of the 405 is really nice. I'll take it over Baltimore any day.

mjfl 4y ago
> I'll take it over Baltimore any day. That is an amusingly low standard.
- scruple 4y ago
  Well, I'm originally from Ohio by way of western Pennsylvania. And I'll never go back. I took my wife out to the Outer Banks one year, in North Carolina, to spend time with my family, during their annual pilgrimage to OBX, and we were riding bikes (to get fresh boiled shrimp) and a large truck tried to run us off the road while shouting some racist shit in our general direction. I'm white, she's not. I lived in the south, primarily in Texas and Georgia, but I spent a lot of time in Tennessee and Alabama and Louisiana, too, and I'll pass, pass, pass, pass, and pass on all of those places, too. So, out of the 9 states in this country that I've personally spent significant time in, in many cases living in these states for years of my life: California is the only one I'm willing to put down roots in because I have a minority wife. Baltimore is a low standard but you could trip over the fucking bar in this country.
  - milkytron 4y ago
    > So, out of the 9 states in this country that I've personally spent significant time in, in many cases living in these states for years of my life: California is the only one I'm willing to put down roots in because I have a minority wife. It sounds like you've spent time in areas that tend to be more racist than others, particularly the south. I'm sure you and your wife would have different experiences in the northeast, northwest, north midwest, or even Colorado. California will certainly be better than the south too, but it seems like the places you've been aren't generally the most welcoming to whom they deem as outsiders (non white).