Fact finding mission. LA vs ATL

[IggyWH]

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I'm Chinese and not gangsta enough to C-walk. It'll b fairly easy to learn, I think. I don't dancce I just pull up my pants and do the rockaway. Westwood isn't really hood (UCLA is about 35~40% Asian).

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I can't speak for LA since I haven't been there and maybe SD is different because of all the transplants, but I expected people in SoCal to know how to dance.

I'm not saying I can tear up a dance floor, but I can hold a beat. So far, I haven't seen too many people in SD who can do the same.

[hanster]

Meh I'm a horrid dancer. The "i dont dance i just pull up my pants" is from a song and whenever someone asks me if i dance i just tell them that. Haven't you been to SD for like a month by now? You should make a drive up here soon to visit and just hang out. Aren't you bored by SD by now anyways? It's so chillaxing it's amazing. El D needs to start a LA thread soon! (I don't want to break the trend of ED starting those city threads)

[Aloysius]

Hanster - Is this you in teh vid?

-Al

[IggyWH]

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Meh I'm a horrid dancer. The "i dont dance i just pull up my pants" is from a song and whenever someone asks me if i dance i just tell them that. Haven't you been to SD for like a month by now? You should make a drive up here soon to visit and just hang out. Aren't you bored by SD by now anyways? It's so chillaxing it's amazing. El D needs to start a LA thread soon! (I don't want to break the trend of ED starting those city threads)

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That Fat Joe song comes to your mind while the Goodie Mob "They Don't Dance No Mo'" comes to my mind (and I hope mm knows that song being from ATL).

I definitely need to take a trip up to LA and I'll be hitting up 2p2ers when I do. "If" I get this job, they'll sned me to two weeks training in Azusa so I'm sure I'll visit then. I moved from Pittsburgh (335,000 people in city limits) to San Diego (1,225,000 people in city limits) so there's a hellova lot more to do here. I don't see myself getting bored anytime soon. Can you believe I haven't even been to the beach yet? How sad am I!

We definitely do need a SoCal thread though.

/hijack

[jfresh]

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Anyway, this thread isn't so much about that (however feel free to comment) as it is about trying to find out some stuff about LA. For one, we'd have to have housing close to UCLA secured in the next month to allow time to move and neither of us have much clue about where the good/affordable areas are.

Also, please include any interesting personal anecdotes about moving away from all of your family and friends, or regretting not doing something like that.

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South of Wilshire there is lots of housing. if you just google map it, it'd be like midvale/rochester area. There is a midvale north of wilshire too, but thats considered part of westwood village and rent there is getting way expensive. also a plus about living south of wilshire is there is a shuttle bus that comes pretty often that'll drop you off on campus and its free for students (i think. they are raising LA bus prices everywhere but i think the shuttle is still free)

Also, i moved from NJ to LA to go to UCLA and didn't regret it a bit.

Now that I have contributed relevant information, i was curious about Alyosius: Why is SF a distant #3? I love LA but traffic/parking itself is a rather big bummer. As someone said earlier, people don't tend to venture >5 miles outside of where they live. A 5-10 mile drive regularly takes 45 min - an hour. However pretty much everywhere there is enough stuff to do within a small radius that 'long' drives aren't necessary.

[CharlieDontSurf]

I live in LA and have lived in several other cities.
LA [censored] blows. It is easily the worst of all the cities I've been in.

The whole move away from where your lifelong friends live is really overrated in my view. If your just going to do it for a couple of years then it is no big deal...but if you think your going to try an establish a career life longterm 5 years+...choose a better city than LA.

If your sick and tired of Atl than yeah it makes sense...but if you like Atl...and have a ton of good friends there...why move?

[jumbojacks]

I thought c-walking died in the 90s. Get yo walk on...

[Aloysius]

CDS:

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If your just going to do it for a couple of years then it is no big deal...but if you think your going to try an establish a career life longterm 5 years+...choose a better city than LA.

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I have several friends who are doctors (which seems relevant to OP) who moved to LA for their residency or fellowship, and absolutely love it here, want to stay / raise families, etc.

As an aside, there are a ton of people in the greater LA area who don't work in the industry (i.e., Hollywood) and really enjoy it out here.

JFresh - haha I actually like SF, I just find myself taking potshots at the city cause there are so many "zomg SF is so awesome" people on these boards. And if you factor in the entire Bay Area (I really like Berkeley alot, for example), definitely a cool place to live.

SF itself, though, is fairly white-washed / homogenous to me and is not as vibrant, colorful, or cosmopolitan as LA. Also SF is tiny with way less options in general - so as far as cultural / restaurant / whatever offerings, it just can't compete with LA or NYC.

Also I live in Los Feliz, and I'm pretty sure traffic / parking is better on the East Side vs. living in Brentwood / BH / SM, so it's not such a negative for me. And if you think parking is a bitch in LA, try finding parking anywhere in SF... I have grown to enjoy the suburban / convenience factor of LA when it comes to day-to-day stuff like running errands, grocery shopping etc.

-Al

[El Diablo]

mmbt,

You can always move back home. It's much easier to move back someplace you have roots than to leave someplace once you get older and develop even more roots.

I've lived in Atlanta and like it a lot, but I also think it is a better city for younger people. Lots of young people and cool stuff to do. Living in bigger, more diverse city is something that's a great experience, especially as you get a little older. Plus, this time you get a lot of control over where to go. There's a good chance you'll have to move again for her residency, and then your options might not be as good. So take advantage of this opportunity.

And like I said, if you realize your heart is really in Atlanta, it's super easy to move back in a few years.

[mmbt0ne]

All in all, UCLA people pretty easy to get along with?

I think one her biggest hangups is the fact that getting in off a waitlist means no 2nd look weekend. Basically, that's where people who got accepted spend a weekend together touring the campus, getting acquainted with the city, and generally starting to meet all of the people they are going to spend the next four years with.

So it's a choice between suddenly moving to LA where we'd know nobody or staying in Atlanta where she's already met all of her future classmates.

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There's a good chance you'll have to move again for her residency

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That's the thing. When the plan was obviously Emory, we were almost positive we didn't want to stay in Atlanta in four years for a residency, but were probably going to move back after spending however long it took her to finish that and any kind of fellowship.

So we were planning ahead to do something like this down the line, but with a little more....structure behind the whole process I guess.