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Notes on Living in Los Angeles

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Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#61

Post by 8458e112e7b2 »

solomonb wrote: post #51
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 surp…

> 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?

Sure. It is a "free" country after all. I have no dog in the fight since I am not in the US and do not intend to visit LA any time soon (maybe in the 70s I would have).

All I am doing is, pointing out the reality of LA.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#62

Post by timavr »

ng12 wrote: post #46
timavr wrote: post #32

Lived in LA for a decade plus. The biggest problem in LA is the traffic, plus that you need a car to go anywhere. Try to go on average day from Griffith Park(Observatory in the picture) to Santa Monica(surfing). You will hate your life. People who live in LA are kinda used to crazy traffic, but if your value your time, LA is not the place to be

I feel like the author covered this pretty well. If you have the luxury to organize your life around the terrible traffic (e.g. living and working in Venice) it's fantastic. If you need to get on a highway to get to work your experience will probably be much worse.

Sure, but if I can work from home in Malibu, it is a sweet deal too.

But for most people in LA, it is not the case.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#63

Post by solomonb »

8458e112e7b2 wrote: post #61
solomonb wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 surp…

> 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? Sure. It is a "free" country after all. I have no dog in the fight since I am not in the US and do not intend to visit LA any time soon (maybe in the…

I'm sorry but I fail to see what reality you are pointing out. Yes there are homeless in LA. Same with many places.

You are commenting on a post about the _experience_ of living in Los Angeles without--by your own admission--having visited the city.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#64

Post by pjerem »

twinkletwinkle_ wrote: post #44
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…

Anecdotally I have a French acquaintance who dreads his trips back home because the food is so terrible. Paris might be famous for fine dining at the extreme top end, but that doesn't necessarily make for the best eating.

Eating great food in Paris is expensive on average. And the service is unfortunately known to be horrible. It’s not a rule though.

But other French cities are full of restaurants that serves really great food, with either gorgeous local specialities (hello Britain and Provence), or excellent « French » cuisine for really modest prices as low as 12-15€ for the « plat du jour » (which is made from what the restaurant bought in the morning) to 30-40€ for meals you’ll keep in your memory.

This is due to a law that enforces employers to pay for your mid-day meal. Most of them do this by giving you restaurants vouchers so a lot of people in France got to eat at restaurants on a budget every day. So as a restaurant owner, you’d better have nice food if you want to see your customers come back every week.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#65

Post by lhorie »

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,…

I thought it was interesting that the author specifically calls out Thai food. LA has a thai population of only about 27k (Chinese is about half a million, for comparison). The abundance of Thai restaurants in LA and other large cities is largely due to a Thai government culinary diplomacy initiative[0] to promote gastro-tourism.

I tend to find that Chinese food, for example, is more organically represented. In San Francisco, despite there being a Chinatown proper, and several other minor pockets (around Sunset for example), the quality of offerings is fairly mediocre, mirroring the americanization of its chinese population, compared to, say, Toronto, where you can find great a many restaurants with untranslated menus, catering to a large native chinese population.

> My armchair theory is, that both cities "suffer" from the fact of having a great culture of own cuisine. Not sure, if their customers do not appreciate the otherness, or the cooks are preemptively trying to "fit in"

I think this is a variation of the concept of "food grammar"[1]. I've noticed, for example, that in San Francisco, a lot of asian eats feature jalapeno peppers, and there's a number of mexican inspired fusion things (senor sisig, for example).

California rolls have quite a life of their own: they themselves are spin-offs of traditional sushi meant to cater to those who may be squeamish about raw fish, but I've seen restaurants in Toronto's Annex neighbourhood (an area w/ a lot of sushi restaurants) make some very flamboyant rolls that are completely detached from that rationale (mango sauce, anyone?)

The thing with a city developing its own food grammar is that it can be hit or miss. Personally, I'm not big on SF's jalapenos-everywhere thing. Sometimes, I just want a good traditional bahn-mi, not a San Francisco take on it.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culinary_diplomacy#Thailand

[1] https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/do-italians-eat-spaghe...

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#66

Post by 8458e112e7b2 »

solomonb wrote: post #63
8458e112e7b2 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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? Sure. It is a "free" country after all. I have no dog in the fight since I am not in the US and do not intend to visit LA any time soon (maybe in the…

I'm sorry but I fail to see what reality you are pointing out. Yes there are homeless in LA. Same with many places. You are commenting on a post about the _experience_ of living in Los Angeles without--by your own admission--having visited the city.

Well, the article was about LA and not "many places".

No, I have not visited but I have seen and heard enough to stay away. Maybe win/win!

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#67

Post by pjerem »

solomonb wrote: post #51
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 surp…

I had a great trip with friends to western USA some years back, including LA where I loved a lot of things.

Food wasn’t one of those but it was 100% due to our bad choices.

However, Hollywood Bd truly was an horrible disappointment. It’s probably the place during this trip where I felt truly unsafe.

But that fortunately was not enough to spoil my good memories.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#68

Post by MrGando »

in3d wrote: post #45
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 wish people would specify how many restaurants they visited in each city they judge. I think 50 is the minimum before we can judge any city as a whole. NYC > Chicago > SF > LA > Miami.

I think LA is still deeper and more interesting foodwise than SF. NYC is above all by a good margin though

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#69

Post by MrGando »

twinkletwinkle_ wrote: post #44
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…

Anecdotally I have a French acquaintance who dreads his trips back home because the food is so terrible. Paris might be famous for fine dining at the extreme top end, but that doesn't necessarily make for the best eating.

That's definitely not true. Source: my wife is French and from Paris, I lived in France etc. Paris is AMAZING to eat, in every single tier. And that doesn't mean you'll be eating French cuisine everywhere. Asian food is incredible in Paris, so is Moroccan for instance. It's a deep city though, if you do "shallow dining" you'll eat garbage, like in pretty much every single major western city.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#70

Post by finiteseries »

secondaryacct wrote: post #37
yokaze wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

I m not sure what level of pricee you expect, also. But LA is really far and hispano-american to be truly neutral culinarily. I'm french and therefore a bit food snob. I live in Hong Kong, a place where the local food is 3 USD a meal, and the meat dicey while most nationalities, French especially, are represented at all price levels. It's still going to be skewed toward Asian taste (where are the Camembert sushi, a s…

Purely outsider anecdotes:

Despite also using a similar (or even less!) amount of spice and largely enjoying the same “beige” palette and textures as the rest of the continent, I found Northern Europe’s cities so delightfully open to the rest of the world’s cuisine in contrast to my experiences in the south, I don’t think the other comment is completely off the mark in how immense “local pride” kind of definitely factors into a very certain way of doing things to the exclusion of others, even locally between eg Barcelona & Valencia.

It probably isn’t a coincidence how curry, and donër kebab are devoured left and right by rich-ish and poor in England and Germany to the point of entering the national identity after rocky starts in the middle of the last century while France and Italy’s right wings are still to this day thriving on specifically culinary othering, to the point of coining things like “kebabization” and trying to ban kebab stands in the city centers of Florence and Marseille.

I would also maybe be careful conflating simply being very French or very Italian, and being a food snob in food circles these days. Interest in French, and recently the Italian cuisines have absolutely plummeted globally and its over the top vocal adherents are often linked to some rather unpopular social attitudes (in food circles, anyways).

eg Indian and Thai are booming, though! https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=french%2...

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