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Originally Posted by davenotdead
i just imagine the streets are littered with pornography, and wanna-be actresses work in all the restaurants. and david lynch is somewhere.
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those actually do liter the streets of Downtown, Hollywood and even South Central...
the thing with Los Angeles is its enormous and diverse.
On the South Bay you get some some blander, "American dream" upper middle class to rich folks living in stereotypical LA style houses, pure class, no mcmansions to speak of. as you go north you enter the west-side, first you pass through the Cosby districts of Inglewood and Westchester/South Santa Monica.. These folks followed the Northstar via the underground railroad to move it on up.. (creep a bit east from there and your in lynwood/athens/watts and well, that shit is pretty ghetto and segregated black neighborhood)
Stay northbound and you enter the westside, this is the stereotype from the mid-90s movies about LA.. fashionable, trendo, tacky, wealthy, sheltered, vegan, trophy ethnic enclaves, etc etc This is unfortunately what a lot of people across the country think of when they imagine los angeles, and these are a minority by far in this town..
Keep north further still and you enter the Valley, similar to the westside though not quite as cliche and bleh..
No cut a right and go east. Back through Hollyweird (perfect description) and Silverlake (a weird westside style area, its cool though, it has an San Francisco vibe) now you cross into territory more familiar to me.. the Eastside..
the Eastside is chicanos.. its hispanic immigrants from 30 countries.. its ghetto poor with some cool middle class, no body rich. This is what I think of as typical los angelese. Cruise south bound and you go through all the LA neighborhoods.. East LA, Commerce, Vernon, South Gate, Florence, etc etc.. Now you can go south to the beach in Long Beach (which is actually the cooler place in LA now, Long Beach is where its happening, music, art, culture, its great). These are the burbs here on the South/East side. But a lot of southsiders are bringing that mexican gang drama from the eastside to the burbs and its just as dramatic even in bland cities like Downey. In Norwalk, (norwhack)/Pico Riveria, Santa Fe Springs, etc etc, these are a mix of burbs and ghettos. LA is weird like that. One street can be upper middle class, a lovely neighorbood, and just walk up TWO streets and people are getting shot in the street... its crazy like that sometimes..