One year in Los Angeles

I decided to move to Los Angeles last summer for a few reasons. A friend of mine moved here and insisted that she thought I would like it. I was in San Francisco for the last 10 years and had heard plenty of criticism about LA from Bay Area residents. I got used to falling in and out of love with San Francisco over the years and expected that to continue. However, the last 2 years I was there I fell out of love with it and couldn't revive the romance. Don't get me wrong, San Francisco is an incredible city with great people, whom I adore.  The negative aspects were more magnified to me in the last couple of years.  The combination of some bad personal experiences, stepping over human feces on my walk to work, getting verbally accosted by crazy homeless people if I happened to make eye contact, progressively high rent prices, the cold weather, and the overall self-righteous arrogance and superiority complex towards people who don't fit into the far left mentality, tempted me to dream of sunshine, palm trees, and rollerblades. I've heard that there were good pockets in Los Angeles when you look for them. The more I thought about it, the more vivid my visions of rollerblading from beach to beach through palms trees with ice cream in my hand, the more I thought, why the heck not?? So I put my things in storage and had a good, nostalgic cry, promising myself that if LA was as bad as I had often heard, I can always come back to the beautiful Bay Area. I bought a one way ticket on Megabus to Los Angeles and dreamt of rest, relaxation and a good tan. The first few months was exciting, confusing, and liberating. I was excited for the potential for a new kind of fun. I love exploring new places so I approached it like a vacation. I immediately loved the big beaches that stretch from city to city. I became obsessed with riding my classic, girly, beach cruiser daily, on the beaches. The feel of the warm sun, ocean air blowing through my hair, and the almost effortless ease of getting myself back into great shape was enough to hook me. There is something wonderful about passing strangers who can't help but smile at you as everyone is collectively high on endorphins and vitamin D. It's this knowing that this really is the life!!! I remember one of my first days here I overheard someone asking a man how he was and his reply was that he was so happy it should be illegal. For the first time in years I felt like I had absolute freedom to Just. Be. Happy. For someone who had recently struggled through a miscarriage, mugging, and a hard break up from my fiancé, it was just the remedy I needed. The honeymoon usually ends at some point though and is usually inevitable. I had to choose to keep an open mind daily because I began to notice many of the things that Bay Areans would complain about. Mostly the culture. At first it was comical and somewhat creepy to me how physically narcissistic a lot of the guys were. As a hair stylist, I come into contact with very random people on a daily basis. Men like this would come in and I would have to tell myself not to laugh or to be nervous by their sheer physical majesty. I've never met so many men that were super shiny on the outside while projecting a vapid, shallow, self-important image. It was tempting for me to prick their overinflated, egotistical  bubble of reality.  Sometimes the general vibe from these people who would walk by seemed to communicate, "you're welcome" just for allowing me to walk by them!  Knowing that the entertainment industry here is a dominant influence on the cultural personality, I decided I needed to find a way not to take it so literally or seriously.  I had a hard time relating to people because of the guardedness and the way people, at times, would project their "act" on me.  I would try to talk to people like I did in San Francisco, in an open and intellectual fashion with a hint of wit and sarcasm.  Let me just say, sarcasm does not go over well here in LA. At times I would get a response from people as if I had just stepped on their baby's foot. I started to get frustrated and angry while remembering the things Bay Areans would say. "People are so shallow, vapid, fake, and live in private bubbles" due to the car and celebrity culture. I felt all of that and it was hard to digest. Every once in a while I would meet someone who would remind me that San Francisco and LA are like night and day, polar opposites. Many people would also tell me that they hated LA for the first year but then grew to love it. Well, it's been a year now for me and I don't plan on leaving any time soon. I chose to stick it out for a year to give it a fair shot and I like it so much that I might be ruined for anywhere else. The weather is phenomenal, year round. I live on the West side, near the ocean and I'm telling you, it feels like paradise everyday. Between the beautiful homes, endless shopping options, big, warm sunny beaches, relaxed smiles, smell of baked jasmine in the air at night, general optimistic attitude of the locals, and all of the creative opportunities for fun or a dream career, I almost feel guilty not twisting the arms of my Northern Californian family members and friends to relocate here! This city might not be for everyone but I honestly feel if they can get past the initial prejudices and basic cultural frustrations, it is a place anyone can fall in love with and quite possibly settle down and commit to.  Once I chose to respect and understand that the culture developed this way for legitimate reasons, I was able to appreciate it in a whole new way.  The guardedness developed, I believe, because it's so spread out and people are very comfortable with the people they are close to in their little pocket of LA.  Honestly, once I get to know people here, they are some of the kindest, warmest people I've ever met.  There is an overall incurable optimism here that I haven't experienced before. There is an understanding that everyone encourages others to go for their biggest dreams, enjoy life and have fun.  An airplane even wrote, "Dream Big" over the beach in the sky a week ago.  It is a place that feels almost otherworldly in it's uniqueness. Almost like a cross between New York and Hawaii with it's beautiful, warm, sunny beaches, world famous surf spots, endless rows of Palm trees combined with the glamour, opportunity and ambition of New York City, though without feeling packed in like sardines. The most beautiful people and the most hopeful, creative, passionately, driven dreamers come here from all over the world which continually add to the ever evolving landscape of artistic possibilities.  Although San Francisco will always have a special place in my heart, and sometimes I really miss it, the exceptional food and social dynamic, there is certainly room for this beautiful, talented, dreamers paradise that truly, at times, deserves it's identity, as the City of Angels.