Faithhopecharity, I used to be like you. I was born far away from LA and very near Hearst Castle, and was raised in one of the most beautiful seaside small towns in California. Lived there until I was in my early 30s, and am still related to literally hundreds of people there. Think SLO County, where "everybody" wants to live and "everybody" asks me, how could you have ever moved away?
Where I grew up, hating L.A. was the most popular indoor sport. It still is. All the people who tell me how awful L.A. (more accurately, Southern California) is have ... never lived here, and the people in L.A. who hate it have never lived anywhere else, but they know how great it is elsewhere. It's amazing how much people know about places they've never actually lived!
I moved to Southern California (which to the rest of the world is "L.A.," as chrisinoc sort of points out!) almost 25 years ago. I've lived in Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino counties, always smack dab in the middle of some 10 million souls, and have only grown to LOVE my beautiful Los Angeles and So Cal more and more every year.
As for "stunning scenery" -- just last week, under the bright and beautiful warm sun, I swam in a 50-meter by 33-meter DEEP pool right next to the railroad tracks (I love trains) with gorgeous powerful locomotives roaring by on occasion, and the entire backdrop behind was a mountain range layered with snow. Truly beautiful, just breathtaking in more than one way.
Anybody who doesn't understand how much stunning scenery there actually is in So Cal ("Los Angeles") is either willfully blind with an attitude, or has never actually spent much time here.
I love L.A. (by that I mean Southern California, LA and Orange and San Bernardino and Riverside counties) and am grateful that the Lord's good path led me here!
deal for you....
you take LA/San Bernardino/Riverside and
I will take Cambria/Cayucos/MorroBay
:)
I grew up in San Diego and the Bay Area. We always thought LA was a pothole with a traffic jam in it. Then, I took a job there, in my late 20s. I have lived in LA county ever since.
Yes, there are some bad things. I order my errands and such so that I hit things at off-peak hours.
But the scenery can be spectacular. We had a clear view of snowy mountains from our second story window the other day. We went to mid-Wilshire the other day for an errand and passed through lovely neighborhoods of 1920s mission style homes and apartments. And my kids went to an elementary school that had a view of the ocean, and the entire LA basin, with a peek at the Hollywood sign.
Now, on a hot October afternoon, with cinders blowing through the air from wildfires, it is not so much fun. But winter in LA is lovely. Watch the Rose Parade— you’ll see.
Finny me too born and raised here you can be shirtless on a boat coming back from Catalina Island and see the snow capped mountains I get it