It has come to my attention over the past few days there are some people who are
hattin' on the City of
Angeles. Now I will say it is not my dream city BUT in that same breath I will say how much I really really like this place. There are lots of reasons for this but my more articulate (and time-enabled) friend made a listing of these ideas and I wanted to share them with you accompanied by some recent shots in LA. So turn on your
gansta' rap, put on your sunglasses and sit in your car and enjoy these thoughts by fellow
Angelean Michael
Eller:
Top Ten Reasons to Relocate to Los Angeles even if you aren't directly involved in the Entertainment Industry:10).
The Perpetual Energy: This is one of those things that's rather difficult to articulate, but there's something very unique about
Los Angeles in how vibrant and alive it feels. I find myself feeling this most often at night. It just feels like a city that is constantly going. There's always something to do. There's always something going on. I was telling Robert and Catherine that I genuinely can't imagine feeling "bored" in L.A. There are just too many options and and too many things happening for that to ever happen. (keep in mind that
i'm not saying that i have no "down time." i DO. i just don't ever have situations where i WANT to do something and i can't think of anything. this HAS happened periodically in every other city
i've lived in [with the exception of the few months I spent in London.])
9).
The Weather: I imagine that there will come a time when I grow weary of the same nice weather 350 days a year and
i'll eventually get to a point where i miss the seasons. But until that happens, I'm including the beautiful weather in my top 10. And to answer a potential rebuttal... Kelly, I don't want to spend the time coming up with 10 things that are ONLY true for L.A. i KNOW that San Diego also has beautiful weather... but
i'm not trying to convince southern
californians to move to LA...
i'm just making a general list for all citizens of the world.
8).
The Fact that Everyone has a Home... even the Homeless: Weird statement, right? Well hear me out. I like the fact that there is an area in L.A. where pretty much everyone can fit in. If you're
latino (east L.A.), if you're black (south central), if you have a suburban family (the valley or
pasadena), if you're a student (
westwood), if you're a goth (
hollywood), if you're a yuppie (downtown), if you're homeless (also downtown...but a different part),
yadda yadda yadda. I know that this is also true in Charlotte to a certain extent... but I just feel like it's multiplied by 1000 out here. I'm not happy where I live right now because I'm surrounded by blue-collar foreigners who keep to themselves and try to avoid contact with anyone (probably because they're illegals). So I'm gonna move to Santa Monica/
Brentwood where
i'll be surrounded by mostly young, single people. Living in a city where you can easily find where you fit in has a lot of advantages.
7).
The Beach: This one's fairly simple and straightforward. Most people like living near the beach. Especially when it doesn't mean sacrificing you're career. I could move to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, but what am I gonna do for a living? Fish? Arts and Crafts? In
Los Angeles, you can live near the beach and still have a job in pretty much any industry you want. And unlike the Pacific Northwest or New England... you can actually USE the beach all year long. I moved here in January and I've already been like 5 or 6 times.
6).
The Special Factor: I don't care if you're working in the entertainment industry or not... we're all fans of this industry to some extent. And it is unquestionably cool whenever you're driving down the road and you stumble upon Santa Monica Blvd. or
Melrose or the Hollywood sign or Rodeo Dr. OF COURSE you get used to it... and it starts blending into the background after a while... but the cool thing about
Los Angeles is that since SO MUCH of our culture glamorizes L.A. that you really never run out of these things to 'stumble upon.' Perfect example... when
Karli was in town, the movie 'Rumor Has It' randomly came on HBO... we were just talking and all of a sudden we noticed that on their trip back from LAX Jennifer
Aniston and Mark
Ruffalo were taking THE EXACT road to Pasadena that i take to work every morning. They even had some stupid game that they played whenever they went under the set of 4 bridges. And so now (as dorky as this sounds) i find myself playing the same 'hold your breath' game whenever i go under the bridges to work. Dorky yes... but i think it still proves my point. Our culture loves movies and our culture loves finding themselves in the same places as movies/
tv shows that they've seen. (
kelly,
meghan... remember Serendipity in NYC... same thing)
5).
The Never-Ending Visitor Factor: Living in
Los Angeles virtually guarantees that you're going to have old friends visiting you on rotation for as long as you're there. If I moved to Austin (which is a VERY cool place) how many people do you think I'd have lined up to come see me? Sure it would happen every once in a while... but everyone wants to come to
Los Angeles (the same is true for NYC). It's just one of the few places in America where EVERYONE wants to spend at least a little bit of time. And I'm not saying it's better than San Diego...
i'm not saying that it's prettier or nicer or superior in any way... I'm simply saying that given a choice to someone who's been to neither, I think most people would choose a trip to
Los Angeles. And that's a benefit for someone who lives in L.A. After only being here a short time...
Karli's come to visit, Rebecca's coming here soon, Zack and Tracy are coming soon, Andy
Metzler is coming soon, John
Kessler is coming soon, my parents are coming here soon. People want to visit
Los Angeles and that is a huge benefit to me, as a resident.
4).
Music/Sports: Much like Nashville, all relevant musicians WILL play in
Los Angeles. It's irrelevant that I haven't taken advantage of this as much as I should. The fact is if you love music, and if you love seeing your favorite musicians perform, there are few places in the US that would be better for you to live. This kinda pertains to Topic #10... but you can also see The
Lakers, The Clippers, The Dodgers, The Angels... or any other comedian that you'd desire to see.
Los Angeles is the world capital of Live Entertainment... if you have an interest (even if it's professional bowling) there's a good chance that you'll be able to see it live in
Los Angeles. The only thing LA is currently missing is an NFL team and word on the street is
that'll change in the next few years.
3).
Overall Promotion of Healthier Lifestyle: Maybe you could argue that this is a California thing... or a Southern California thing (that doesn't take away from it being a benefit of living in L.A.). But I really like the fact that there's more of an emphasis put on healthy living. They put avocado on everything. They fry about 1/10 as much stuff as they do in the south. Most people run... there are tons of places outside to run and to workout. The beaches all have public exercise equipment and tons of volleyball courts.
Los Angeles is just a more active city than anywhere I've ever lived before. If you wanna eat at In-N-Out everyday you can... but where I feel like the South has fast food on 3 out of every 4 corners, LA has a little more variety (even if some of those options are dirty
mexican restaurants).
2).
More Diverse Style/Fashion: No need for an elaborate explanation. But there's something very freeing about the fact that you don't have to wear a "uniform" in L.A. to feel like you fit in. I'm not gonna talk like I'm some fashion king... but there really is a "new norm" out here where alternative/funky/out-of-the
-box clothing is more accepted than it is elsewhere. There were many instances in charlotte where I would meet someone for lunch and i would almost ALWAYS feel underdressed b/c i wasn't wearing slacks and a tie. Out here... it's far more rare to see people in the tie than in the casual dress. and i feel like past emails between you girls have only confirmed this for females as well (maybe not in terms of "niceness," but definitely in terms of less restrictions and definitions as right or wrong.).
1). Better Odds of Having More Diverse Friends: I say this as kind of a joke... but not really. Pretty much everyone we were friends with in Charlotte was a "white, middle-class, republican" (as derek webb sang). And in L.A. there are far greater chances of us making friends with people outside of that "bubble." And I think that's better for us. And look... I know this list has many traits that could be applied to other cities in the Southern California area... but you asked for 10 reasons why it would be beneficial to move to LA (excluding work reasons) and I think I've answered that quite sufficiently.
