Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics Ain't This America SoCal/NoCal

They say San Pedro is the Venice of the South Bay.
If we're lucky we may end up buying a house there.
I don't really know if the funkiness of Venice appeals to Mr. Rick but I still say it has its charms.

The funny thing I notice is, most of the NorCal/SoCal hostility is a one way street. I don't know anyone who expresses open hostility toward Northern California.

I don't think most people consider wasting any energy on such a thing.
And that makes me wonder why anyone in NorCal would bother.

But they do, California Rick is by NO MEANS alone.
I've heard this millions of times.
I even have close friends who also moved "away up North" to get away from L.A. and they said that they can't stand it either, but most of them have mellowed into more of a "I won't live there but I can manage a visit, live and let live." approach.

What are the issues, aside from "You're ugly and too industrial!" ??
Who really cares?

Yes, besides to two very important factors - what's there not to like?

Either way, you'll still be living the city of Los Angeles. Both Venice and San Pedro are simply sections of El Lay city proper.


You know I grew up there - Redondo Beach - 190th & Beryl St. Now that both folks are gone, I haven't been back. Bro still lives there - but he's also never traveled anywhere in the U.S. - let alone around the world - so he can't miss what he doesn't know what he's missing.

'
I find it mildly interesting that Rick's attitude to Los Angeles somewhat mirrors my attitude to the USA as whole.

Apart from all its other deficiencies, the people in LA are unusually repellant. There are far too many people who are violent, unstable, nasty, and all too ready to do someone a bad turn rather than be helpful and friendly. A hell of a lot of Schadenfreude, envy, and all-round ignorance and nastiness -- far too much brainwashed roadkill and cultureless trash.
But that is so true of the USA as a whole, though more prevalent in LA -- and in California everywhere, for that matter, despite Rick's praise for northern California. Now Eureka, there is a town that is trashy in every way! I keep hoping for a tsunami to wipe it out.
As soon as you cross the northern California border, there is a real change! You start meeting people who you could imagine are real human beings! Just over the border in Oregon is the pleasant town of Ashland, known for its culture and art. Further north, there is the university town of of Eugene, and, except for its spaghetti of freeways, the quite livable city of Portland.
It is true that one must pass through Washington and the horrid Black Hole of Seattle before one can escape to the refuge of Canada and actual traces of civilized living, but once over the blesséd border one's experiences in the Hysterical States of America dwindle to a repulsive, but fading dream.

We do have Pixar Studios, Lucas Studios, Industrial Light and Magic, THX®, Dolby® Sound Studios, and Current TV. I find it hard to believe that Silicon Valley doesn't use "media" or is not in need of a good all-around media guy.

Well that's my point, what IS there NOT to like.
There are plenty of friendly people, there's lots of fun places, there's lots of work, the weather is absolutely delightful (as long as you're not in The Valley - and even THAT isn't so bad when it's not summertime) and for the first time in well over a decade I am not being annoyed by redneck thinking.

Even my son, who is famous for doing poorly in school and hating every minute of it, is now taking a serious interest in history, science and auto shop.
He put up with years of nonstop bullying because of his health problems. No matter what we did, the schools in Texas never made a serious effort to put a stop to it.
Now he comes home every day with a smile on his face and new friends.
I credit the school system. So does he.

So it's not the cultural gem that San Francisco is.
Oh well, we can't all live in Saint Petersburg, some of us have to live in Moscow.

Now you make it sound like you don't even remember the place.
How on earth can Venice be anything like the rest of L.A.?
I used to live there, I can talk all day about how different it is.
And, excuse me, San Pedro is not part of the City of Los Angeles. Neither is Long Beach.




Yeah well, here's where I've lived:

Bethesda, Maryland (till age 21)
New York City (summers)
Long Island (summers)
Minneapolis (1977-1982)

Starting in 1982---

Marina del Rey
Venice
Santa Monica
Culver City

Starting in 1999---

Jonesboro, Arkansas
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX

And now back in El-Lay again. (Downey)
And I've been all over the world as well.

So I'm not like your brother.

I don't know when you left Redondo, so I don't have a frame of reference for Los Angeles but if you haven't been back you're fighting ghosts.

Maybe you should just forget about that and regard it as just another city, or do you hold contempt for ALL other cities?
That would take a LOT of time and energy!

Pixar is okay but again Rick, they do a ton of work in L.A.
Lucas has been making the same movie for THIRTY YEARS!
ILM, again if you work for ILM (which I don't think I'd mind!) you wind up right back in Los Angeles again.
THX and Dolby might be headquartered there but they are L.A. operations too.

Current TV? Sure Rick, they're still losing money.
Gore isn't putting the effort into it that he should be.

Again, all of this is a one way argument, so many of you folks up North have this hostility and yet the people down here don't go on campaigns to disparage any of the cities up there.

Did we piss in your Cheerios or something?

With global warming moving agricultural belts further north, leaving southern areas more dry - SoCal be gunning for more of our water. (Mt Shasta just broke a record this past weekend - 139" of snow!)

...just a pre-emptive strike. Voters in SoCal won't control growth and sprawl. SoCal lets developers run roughshod over the environment showing how weak the populous of SoCal is to standing up to those dirty bastards.

Here we fight developers tooth and nail and rarely loose.

Plus, all the neon is so tacky. The minute one goes over the Tejon pass down into Valencia - it's neon for hundreds of square miles. Gross.

We don't do strip malls and neon. Gouche.

Rick you are really wrong about most of the Los Angeles basin. But I have no interest in your rage-on.