What an interesting two weeks it's been. I returned from my trip to Dubai to land in Los Angeles. Considering my love for urbanism, it's definitely not the first place I would have expected to end up. But I landed here and I'm out of money, I have family and friends here, the weather is lovely and there are more employment options in this region than most others in the country. So I might as well stay put until I come up with a plan. What I didn't count on is the new appreciation I have for Los Angeles as a polycentric city. That is, a city with many beautiful and individually vibrant urban cores. Some of the towns here have fantastic centers!
Yes, I studied LA at the 2006 CNU, but I've never had the opportunity to experience it as a resident. And certainly never as a car-less resident! That's right folks... LA, no car. Give it a shot sometime, it's not what you'd expect. In a strange way it reminds me of living in Bogen, Germany (Bavaria) [which I did for nearly a month at the tender young age of 15]. At the moment, I'm splitting time between the two respectably urban neighborhoods of Pasadena and West Hollywood. My daily needs can be met by foot or bicycle but what's remarkable is that the transit system here (while slow) actually can get you to most places you'd want to go. The problem is that it stops running long before the bars close, making it completely impractical to leave your neighborhood to work late or socialize unless you plan on driving. In Bogen, I had a similar experience. Despite my age and inability to drive at the time, I was able to take day trips by train to Straubing or Munich, but at night was limited to the social scene exclusively within walking or bicycling distance.
As a corollary concept, and I may be wrong about this, my impression is that people here are more isolated than they are in NYC, or on the east coast in general. It's hard to put my finger on exactly why I say that, but there seem to be several imperceptible social differences that scream "I'M ISOLATED!" My theory for at least one cause is this; people are trapped inside a relatively small neighborhood social scene, and their only means of escape, aside from becoming friends with the locals, is to sit alone in a car for 30-45 minutes each direction. It's sort of like living in Lincoln, NE but instead of being surrounded by cornfields you're surrounded by similarly sized cities. Each one has everything necessary for life, but individually they lack the depth of larger cities.
But the symptoms are what I can't quite figure out. Is the built environment affecting people's behavior? If so how? My buddy Demetre suggested that the Hollywood culture has something to do with it too. I can feel a certain distance in interactions here compared with the Northeast, but I haven't figured out how to identify or name the elements yet. Any helpful comments or suggestions?
2 comments:
Hi Andrew
John Chamberlain here, CNU Member and colleague of Eliza Harris who gave me your blog link.
I just moved to LA in October (Los Feliz) and I sense the same way about the people. I think there's also a 'look at me' factor which actually makes people isolated from each other. There's also a reticence to 'call a spade a spade' but more to skirt reality as I've also found in parts of the South. I admire you going car-less in LA and will look out for your follow-up postings. I looked for a local CNU Chapter here but heard it was currently not running. Please let me know if you hear of anything going on.
Regards,
John Chamberlain
gulfjc at hotmail dot com
663-3324
i followed john chamberlain to this site - does it make any sense to go in on owning one car with a few others for special occasions, needs - divvying up the days - for drives up the coast every once in a while, a late night out twice a month? or is that not purist and dedicated enough?
it would be a shame not to do SOME things that are off the transit grid or off-hours every once in a while?
LA is the American Diaspora city - splayed out - i didn't realize there are these town hubs, centers - i did see these roving farmer's markets that hit a different place each day - hancock park on sundays, WeHo plummer park on monday - rotisserie chicken good and cheap to eat from all week -
it IS a company town just as NYC always has a Wall Street undercurrent, DC governmental - even if you aren't associated with those industries, it's what those towns were built on and gave it its dynamism and identity -
Southern California might as well be a different state, of course, from Northern California - there is a crazy, lazy, hazy, dazed something here - the worst of the hippie, laid-back, "The Secret" take the easy way, indulgent, hedonistic, looks-focused strain here - AND you do see "celebrities" often enough to buzz you when you're out - everyone ELSE is so diverse, people standing right next to each other can have more degrees of separation than they have to someone on the other coast or another continent - it's too much, so i think people put blinders on and carve Their Streak out and everyone is streaking around -
it's not relaxed - not even in runyon canyon - it seems to me -
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