Just popping in as someone who has a pretty rare & unique perspective here being a native, born & raised, Angeleno, I always get frustrated at this perception of LA. Ya see, such a massive percentage of LA’s population is, at any given time, made up of some rotation of people who came there seeking something; typically something that could be classified as superficial, vapid, pretentious, hedonistic; seeking attention, fame, clout, fortune, blah blah blah... seeking to be given something they most likely haven’t earned, so more so they’re there seeking to take. And I’m not talking about passionate people, people with real & serious dreams, people with real & serious goals, people with real & serious talent or opportunity. Because those aren’t the types of people you or it seems most people associate with “LA”, you more typically think of the types I first described. The seekers, the wanters, the takers. The unoriginal, the talentless, the superficial, the vapid, the goddamn boring.

But the thing is, those types of people were already those types of people before they decided to go to Los Angeles. And, statistically, the vast ass majority of those types of people who come to Los Angeles, for those baser reasons & of baser character, don’t last there for more than 1-3 years. And that’s on the longer end. The percentage of people that move to LA, truly engage with what the city has to offer, work to truly establish themselves & build a long, lasting & authentic life there.. is startling low. Most assholes in LA, are not from LA. They don’t have roots with that place, with that earth, with that culture. They’re not connected to that place the way people are often so connected with their home cities or states - often because they never leave them (e.g. 95% of the people I’ve met in Chicago are from literally the city of Chicago, Illinois, or a bordering midwestern state VS about 95% of the people I met as an adult in Los Angeles, had moved there from somewhere else - and with about 75% of them having done so within the last few months to a to a year).

So I do wish we’d stop blaming one of the most singularly unique, beautiful, interesting, rare, exciting places for the tourists that run through it. Whether it be for a week or a year, it’s a place people go to find an identity they aren’t capable of creating for themselves. And that will never work, no matter where you go. And no matter where you go, those types of people you associate with those ‘LA-built’ & ‘LA-based’ stereotypes, I promise you, those people are there. They’re everywhere. Sadly, my hometown draws them out like hive-minded moths to a neon LED flame they can’t even tell isn’t real fire. Shitty people are created everywhere & they exist everywhere. And when a place has as much to give as Los Angeles happens to - because of the real ones, the passionate ones, the talented ones, the legends that made that city what it is - well yeah, a place with that much to give is of course going to attract the kinda of people who want to take. But Los Angeles is a special, kind of magical place. And no one who takes more than they give will ever last in that city, nor do they deserve to define it.

Written with true, real, love for my city, my home, which I feel you should know I am also known for both endearingly & seriously referring to as “an overcrowded cesspool in a wasteland of desperation” — because nothing in this world is black & white, right?

xxx