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Los Angeles' Booming Creative Class Lures New Yorkers
- elangelcentral 11y agoThey bury the lede: Los Angeles is pretty great if you don't have to commute to work.
- number1235 11y agoI don't think this is an article about people who work.
- anigbrowl 11y agoArtists and other creative people enjoy their work. That doesn't mean it's not work, and hard work.
- gdubs 11y agoLived in LA for a decade. Fantastic city if you don't need to commute during business hours, which are essentially any times between 7am and 8:30pm these days.
- mullingitover 11y agoQuality of life tip: Living within walking distance of your job is priceless. I've been in LA for over nine years and never been more than fifteen minutes from the office. I'd sooner move to another city than spend some significant fraction of my life in traffic.
- modfodder 11y agoSame goes for NYC. I enjoyed going to work every day more when I didn't have to think about the subway commute.
- mechagodzilla 11y agoThat requires that you work somewhere that you'd want to live, though. A few hundred thousand people work in midtown manhattan, but it would be a miserable place to live. The subway isn't great, but commuter rail is pretty pleasant. Commuting 10 miles each way in LA traffic is definitely the worst commute I've ever had!
- harryh 11y agoI live in midtown manhattan (46th & 2nd) and while I don't enjoy it quite as much as I did living downtown it's still pretty great. I've no idea why you think it would be miserable.
- modfodder 11y agoI lived on 37th and 10th for a while (working about 10 blocks south). You don't have to live a block from your office to make it enjoyable. A 15-20 min walk is more enjoyable than a 20min (more likely 40min) subway trip. While it obviously wouldn't work for everyone, it worked for me and was more pleasurable than living in even nice parts of Brooklyn and dealing with crowded trains in the morning.
- avn2109 11y ago9AM L train is pretty bad nowadays.
- giaour 11y agoI used to work next to Times Square and before that in Hoboken. I would never want to live within walking distance of either.
- dr_ 11y agoI live in midtown Manhattan. It's not at all a miserable place to live. We can catch most of the subways within a block or two. We are a couple of blocks from Central Park. There are more and more families that have been moving into the area. There's an increasing number of restaurants, cafes etc. There are a lot of tourists coming thru, but we don't mind. It's been fun living here.
- nathanvanfleet 11y agoReally? I always thought that was not possible in LA. I like living without a car and having a semi-urban house with a backyard. Is that possible in LA? I seriously would love to live somewhere like that. I do iOS dev work, so I considered SF, but maybe 20 years ago...
- enraged_camel 11y agoI lived in LA for 7 years, in a variety of locations. Living within walking distance to your job isn't possible unless a) you make a lot of money or b) you don't mind living far from everything else.
- Sundog 11y agoHave lived in LA for 12 years, have lived walking distance from my job for all but one of them. Just takes planning, like anything else.
- mattdeboard 11y ago> Just takes planning... ...and significant markup in housing costs, no?
- anigbrowl 11y agoSomewhat, but that's offset by the savings of not running a car or spending a significant percentage of your valuable time sitting in traffic.
- maxk42 11y agoLA is a patchwork of small "neighborhoods" -- each typically only a few square miles. Adjacent to any particularly pricey area will probably be several more affordable ones. Can't afford pricey Beverly Hills? There may be parts of Century City or Culver City or Mid-Wilshire more in your price range.
- danboarder 11y agoI live in LA county (Long Beach) and yes, there are a lot of great little historic tree lined neighborhoods spread all over LA... For example, I work downtown Long Beach, and live in beautiful Cal Heights, a short 3 mile bike ride, drive, or blue line subway ride to my office. live: http://calheights.org http://calheights.org work: http://www.downtownlongbeach.org http://www.downtownlongbeach.org
- mkramlich 11y agotake that notion to the limit: be able to "work" wherever you are; or wherever you have an Internet connection. trust me, its a better thing.
- epoxyhockey 11y agoIt seems like the Bay Area's creative class made a similar migration to LA a couple of years ago. http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/210-they-got-the-neutron-bomb-los-angeles-potentially-huge-rocknroll-year/ http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/210-they-got-the-neutron-bomb-... http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2014/04/03/priced-out-san-franciscos-changing-values-and-artist-exodus/ http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2014/04/03/priced-out-san-francisco...
- beachstartup 11y agolifelong southern californian and 10 year resident of santa monica/LA. i also lived in san francisco for 2 years and have travelled the world extensively... observations about the changing city/area: * lots of new york license plates driving around in the last 5 years, indicating transplants. midwest/upper midwest states also. * dining and entertainment has taken a major step forward in the past decade. it was never bad, but now it's really good in general. also, ethnic food has always been top notch but is now far more mainstream. food / culture enclaves exist but are frequented by the public at large, i.e. more integration. i see this in other large cities like new york and chicago also. * public transit has improved in a major way. expo line (light rail from downtown to the beach) is opening next year and will have a major effect. uber also has amazing coverage everywhere, not surprising for a city full of cars. * the bus system (and local subsystems) is probably the best in the country by a huge margin and is relied upon by probably millions of lower income people. it's very, very good and covers a massive area. it's probably the best bus system in the world, again not surprising for a driving city. * commercial development was uncorked in the past few years and new construction is happening all over the city. * the key is to live close to work, or to shift your hours. without traffic LA is extremely fast to get around whether in a car or public transit. it's the traffic that kills everything. lots of car enhtusiasts live in the city and drive around town or in the canyons early in the morning or late at night. * traffic still sucks but there are many infrastructure projects to improve it. having said all that, people are still buying cars like mad. if you're into cars, it's like a car show every day. not just expensive, but rare, old, and unique custom-built cars too. * anecdotally, when people leave LA, it's almost always for cheaper places i.e. portland, vegas, denver, etc. they only move to new york or other east coast cities when a lucrative or strategic job offer beckons. * and last but not least.... downtown LA is now a legitimate downtown. it took 10 years of concerted effort by the powers-that-be, but it's a cultural destination and nice place to live now. a residential construction boom (you could buy a condo for < 100k at one point in the last decade!!!) has fueled a rise in shops, cafes, restaurants, bars, etc. in the downtown area. downtown is also the regional transit hub. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_city http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_city
- facepalm 11y ago"relied upon by probably millions of lower income people." That sounds odd, about the bus system. So if you can afford it, you pass on the bus system? Why, if it is so great? Where I live I prefer public transport over driving (cycling is best, though).
- methodover 11y agoThis article really tempts me. About a year and a half ago, I moved to the SF Bay Area. And since moving here I've been just, totally disappointed. There's a tyranny of the useful here. Silicion valley loves boring B2B software -- your Slacks -- and boring social media products -- your Twitters -- and useful but banal consumer products -- your Ubers, and it's just depressing. We don't value fun here. Or art. Or games. Or films. We're like robots, looking for useful things that make money, rather than something risky and expressive and thoughtful. We've fallen in love with money. Reading this article, it's refreshing. A city of artists. I wonder if I might enjoy it to this city of gross utilitarians.
- eclipxe 11y agoYou will. It's great down here. There's a balance - different professions, different perspectives. SV can be a big echo chamber. It's great to geek out, but you also can fall victim to serious group-think.
- gooserock 11y agoThe really depressing thing is that even just 6 or 8 years ago, San Francisco was about all those things. It had artists, it made films, it valued culture and fun and creativity. I moved here 6 years ago for exactly those things, but even then I noticed it was changing. Now the artists and filmmakers and musicians have mostly left - moved to Oakland or LA or elsewhere. In a way, our moving here destroyed the things we moved here for.
- beatpanda 11y agoBy God, one of you finally admitted it.
- api 11y agoThe places utilitarian careerists create are miserable alienating cultural wastelands. As a result, they are repelled from the places they create and drawn to "artsy" cities and neighborhoods. When they arrive they bid up the price of real estate and drive out the natives. Rinse and repeat. If only the humanities had any economic value.
- olivermarks 11y agoslightly off topic but I'm always baffled by photo captions like the one in this article "Hamish Robertson, an artist, with his wife, the writer Andi Teran, at their home in Los Feliz" Why is Hamish just 'an artist' while the other person is 'the writer' Andi Teran? seems like some kind of bourgeois class system. Makes me suspect Andi is a well heeled trustafarian and other isn't ...but then I'm a terrible cynic
- mturmon 11y agoRobertson: http://www.hamishrobertson.com/about-me/ http://www.hamishrobertson.com/about-me/ Teran: http://anditeran.com/about/ http://anditeran.com/about/ They both seem to be doing fine, but "from the deserts of West Texas" (Teran) doesn't seem like the tagline of a trust funder. The thing I have observed about LA artists and "creatives" who are featured in the NYT is that they are well-connected, but not necessarily wealthy. There tend to be repeats; i.e. one person's art will be reviewed one month, and then five months later there will be a spread with their garden, or an opinion piece on work/life balance that quotes them. I assume it's just laziness, or (to be generous) keeping it simple by looking into a NYT pooled rolodex for [LA] [artist] while under deadline. Probably all it takes is a lucky encounter, or a well-timed press release, and you're "in the system". It seems like Teran has linked to a couple of articles about moving NYC->LA, and has a book coming out with Penguin in June, so there's your peg.
- alexnewman 11y agoHipster class moving to LA. Wowsers!
- happytrails 11y agoPlease don't move to LA. Housing is already too expensive.
- bluthru 11y ago"When artists can’t afford to live in a city you can’t call that place a “city.” What you have is a Workplace Housing/Dining Zone." https://twitter.com/johnroderick/status/590738232851181568 https://twitter.com/johnroderick/status/590738232851181568
- nether 11y agoThe outdoorsy opportunities of LA blow NYC out of the water. This is two hours from LA: http://i.imgur.com/xQfttik.jpg http://i.imgur.com/xQfttik.jpg (Mt Baldy in the winter).
- somberi 11y agoI live in NYC and the startup I had found before had an office in L.A. In fact the first time I had ever been to L.A was to get that office / team running. Here are my 2cents: 1. At about 50% of NYC's economy, LA is the second largest GDP contributor. So, one can expect all the pluses and minuses of a large economy. As a side, economy of LA county alone will make it 21st largest "country" in the world by economy. 2. It helps to think of LA as a string of different "Cities", each unique in one way or another. This is different than how NYC behaves. Yes, you can argue that each neighborhood in NYC is unique, but by and large, NYC behaves like a single organism. 3. The people. It is just different, how people communicate, connect and further an Idea in LA. It seems much more peppy, group-hug (not being cheeky) kind of a collective progress, than the cut-and-dry of NYC. If you like that sort of diffused but more social way of progress, you will like LA. 4. Weather. All around it is nicer than NYC. But air quality is significantly worse in LA than in NYC. If you are Asthmatic, or just breathing-in vile air bothers you then LA may not be for you. 5. Traffic. I took the Bus or walked in LA. I realized only poor people took the Bus and no one walks (for commute. Not including the joggers). 6. Cars are status differentiators in a way that most New Yorkers do not even get. If a fancy $50K car is out of your reach, you need to get a Hybrid and lean in on your green credentials. 7. The Valets (they are everywhere) and Wait-staff are better looking in LA compare to NYC (most of them are aspiring actors). Source: Economy : http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/09/here-are-the-10-biggest-us-cities-by-gdp-and-how-theyve-grown-since-2009/279833/ http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/09/here-are... Air Quality: http://www.lung.org/press-room/press-releases/healthy-air/SOTA-2014-National-Press-Release.html http://www.lung.org/press-room/press-releases/healthy-air/SO...
- superdude12 11y agoPlease see http://laist.com/2015/05/03/the_new_york_times_has_some_mixed_f.php http://laist.com/2015/05/03/the_new_york_times_has_some_mixe... for why this article is annoying to Angeleños.