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Notes on Living in Los Angeles

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Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#51

Post by solomonb »

8458e112e7b2 wrote: post #6

Nothing on Homeless? Skid row? Hollywood aka Pedowood "holier-then thou" losers?

No offense, but your comment sounds like you only know LA from what you read in your social media bubble online.

The "Hollywood" you are referencing is not geographic. Yes the film studios are in Los Angeles but hollywood celebrity culture is not a property of nor exclusive to Los Angeles the city.

And what about the homless population? Yes it is a problem that there are so many unhoused people. But is it really surprising that they would congregate in a city with such mild weather and access to social services? Do they not also have a right to live their lives?

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#52

Post by notreallyhere00 »

thesausageking wrote: post #2

I lost trust in the whole article when it came to the paragraph on food. LA has a great food scene, but I would put Tokyo, Bangkok, Barcelona, Chicago, and probably another 5-10 cities ahead of it. Saying "Los Angeles is the world’s best food city, and it’s not close" is myopic.

If by best food scene, you were to take the top 20-25 cuisines of the world and look for good examples .. ?

Probably Melbourne, London and New York.

Have spent enough time in Los Angeles to know that it doesn’t reach the level of the above cities. It’s great at what it does - Mexican, Korean, Chinese, Salvadoran even, fusion - but the geography just doesn’t help it.

Barcelona is not a particularly great food City (sure, there are a few elite chefs but in general the food scene offers little of variety). Want good food in Spain, go to Basque Country.

Tokyo, San Sebastián, Lyon are cities which are insanely good at rocking their own cuisine which puts them in a different category of food cities. You might say ‘International’ v ‘Local’

International food cities -

Melbourne London New York

Sydney Los Angeles

(And probably Toronto Houston Vancouver but have never been)

The above cities are the great melting pots of the world

Something very special is happening in Melbourne’s food scene, especially in the last 10 years. Pick literally any Asian cuisine or food trend. you can name, even something super obscure, and you can find special examples.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#53

Post by simonw »

tinyhouse wrote: post #48
thesausageking wrote: post #2

I lost trust in the whole article when it came to the paragraph on food. LA has a great food scene, but I would put Tokyo, Bangkok, Barcelona, Chicago, and probably another 5-10 cities ahead of it. Saying "Los Angeles is the world’s best food city, and it’s not close" is myopic.

I disagree about Chicago. Good food in America is only where there are many foreigners, esp from Asia. Los Angeles and NYC have the best food (personally I prefer NYC). Outside of the US there are much better cities but if you're into diversity of different foods, then LA and NYC are excellent. Tokyo for example has way better Japanese food than LA but not so good Middle Eastern food for example. LA also has the bett…

Chicago has a very diverse population.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#54

Post by CalChris »

tinyhouse wrote: post #48
thesausageking wrote: post #2

I lost trust in the whole article when it came to the paragraph on food. LA has a great food scene, but I would put Tokyo, Bangkok, Barcelona, Chicago, and probably another 5-10 cities ahead of it. Saying "Los Angeles is the world’s best food city, and it’s not close" is myopic.

I disagree about Chicago. Good food in America is only where there are many foreigners, esp from Asia. Los Angeles and NYC have the best food (personally I prefer NYC). Outside of the US there are much better cities but if you're into diversity of different foods, then LA and NYC are excellent. Tokyo for example has way better Japanese food than LA but not so good Middle Eastern food for example. LA also has the bett…

When I worked in Italy, I learned that Italy is pretty much the best place in the world to eat Italian food. The variety there was amazing too. On the other hand, they were crap at Chinese food and couldn't figure out the humble hamburger to save their lives.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#55

Post by golemiprague »

yokaze wrote: post #27
thesausageking wrote: post #2

I lost trust in the whole article when it came to the paragraph on food. LA has a great food scene, but I would put Tokyo, Bangkok, Barcelona, Chicago, and probably another 5-10 cities ahead of it. Saying "Los Angeles is the world’s best food city, and it’s not close" is myopic.

I can't speak about Bangkok, or Chicago. On Tokyo, Barcelona, and to a lesser extend LA, SF, I feel more confident to say something. It is greatly a question what you are looking for, and the author quite apparently appreciates the variety. And I have to give it to them, I do not think that Tokyo or Barcelona are in the same league there. That is not to disparage the quality of the food. I hold Tokyo in high regard,…

It is not only the quality of the food in Tokyo, it is also the quality of the restaurant design, the service and the price. Especially in the mid range there is no way you can get a similar overall experience anywhere in the US. I had friends coming to visit me from NY and they were in shock from the overall experience they can get for a $50 meal just popping into a random place without even booking because there are so many good places per square km.

Now for sure, a lot of foreign food places are Japanised to match the local preferences but there are so many places that are true to the original taste that it doesn't even matter, it just adds to the variety. That's true also to the US, they don't have "hispanic" food, what they have is Mexican food everywhere, you will be hard pressed to find a good restaurant from a place below central America.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#56

Post by solomonb »

I grew up in Hollywood and have lived in Los Angeles most of my life. I hated it growing up but upon returning had an experience of rediscovering my home town and finding I love it.

My favorite part of LA is something that is sadly gone with the rise of the LA tech scene, cannabis scene, and migrations from SF and NYC. LA was always a place where you could find a cheap apartment, studio, warehouse, etc, focus on your work (whatever that is) and disappear in the sprawl and then emerge as necessary to engage socially.

There was always an abundance of store fronts and warehouses easily converted into studio spaces and an abundance of fabricators and materials suppliers to feed all sorts of artistic practices. This was due to LA's rich history as an industrial center.

If you wanted to start a small gallery or little studio community you could essentially throw a dart at a map and find the perfect place for you and your friends.

Now with the real estate boom, the expanding tech startup scene, and the cannabis industry LA is becoming more and more expensive and options for creative lifestyles are becoming slimmer and slimmer.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#57

Post by tinyhouse »

notreallyhere00 wrote: post #52
thesausageking wrote: post #2

I lost trust in the whole article when it came to the paragraph on food. LA has a great food scene, but I would put Tokyo, Bangkok, Barcelona, Chicago, and probably another 5-10 cities ahead of it. Saying "Los Angeles is the world’s best food city, and it’s not close" is myopic.

If by best food scene, you were to take the top 20-25 cuisines of the world and look for good examples .. ? Probably Melbourne, London and New York. Have spent enough time in Los Angeles to know that it doesn’t reach the level of the above cities. It’s great at what it does - Mexican, Korean, Chinese, Salvadoran even, fusion - but the geography just doesn’t help it. Barcelona is not a particularly great food City (su…

I can confirm about the Chinese food in Melbourne. It's better than everywhere in the US. Which makes sense given the population there.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#58

Post by cftm »

jayd16 wrote: post #29
MrGando wrote: post #17

> My impression is that Los Angeles is the world’s best food city, and it’s not close. I have a galaxy-brained theory about why this is. Restaurants decline when they sell prestige, rather than food. (This is why Manhattan is often not a good place to eat.) Stops reading and closes the window. Seriously, what the hell. LA is a great place to eat, but for the love of G... Paris? Tokyo? NYC also kicks LA's ass to the g…

It probably depends on how heavily you weight variety, casual vs fine dining, and whether having a food truck with an awesome cheesesteak is the same as "LA has awesome cheesesteaks".

Oh but LA does have an awesome cheesesteak place - it's called Big Mike's and it's located in El Segundo and Hermosa Beach. Amazing cheesesteaks...

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#59

Post by jdhn »

LA never felt like a city to me because of the sprawl. I remember driving into downtown from the airport, and thinking to myself, “This is a suburb with tall buildings in the distance”. I chalk this up to me being from the East Coast and going to NYC a lot as a kid, and therefore seeing a “city” as something that’s dense and walkable.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#60

Post by travel193 »

notreallyhere00 wrote: post #52
thesausageking wrote: post #2

I lost trust in the whole article when it came to the paragraph on food. LA has a great food scene, but I would put Tokyo, Bangkok, Barcelona, Chicago, and probably another 5-10 cities ahead of it. Saying "Los Angeles is the world’s best food city, and it’s not close" is myopic.

If by best food scene, you were to take the top 20-25 cuisines of the world and look for good examples .. ? Probably Melbourne, London and New York. Have spent enough time in Los Angeles to know that it doesn’t reach the level of the above cities. It’s great at what it does - Mexican, Korean, Chinese, Salvadoran even, fusion - but the geography just doesn’t help it. Barcelona is not a particularly great food City (su…

Agree with Melbourne. The bar for good food is set so high in Melbourne and when you combine that with the incredibly diverse population, you have the best most impressive international food scene I have ever encountered. London and New York definitely give it a run for its money, but I'd argue the standard in Melbourne is still higher.

Heading to LA in a few months for the first time so keen to compare.

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