This is the city: Los Angeles, California. Its environs are home to a couple million people, and more arrive every year. It creates its own mythology and image, and, as the capital of film and television production – often featuring stories based on or in the city – spreads that image to the world. (Although that’s on hold for the moment, and was already a topic for another post.) But, as reported in the LAist blog, it doesn’t seem like many people actually like the city very much.

I work in Los Angeles, and although I technically don’t live there, it’s close enough that if I were traveling elsewhere and someone asked where I lived, “L.A.” would probably be my answer. Technically, not that many people really do live in L.A., at least not in the city that has that name; but the County of Los Angeles is huge, and made up of many small cities and towns that seem more like oversized neighborhoods in one very big city.

A feature in the November issue of Travel + Leisure magazine, and also on its website, is a survey of 25 of “America’s Favorite Cities.” 60,000 respondents scored and ranked the cities on a range of criteria, and while I doubt it qualifies as anything scientifically valid, the comparisons are interesting. The cities were scored by both visitors and residents.

The only areas where Los Angeles scored high were those related to shopping, particularly for expensive luxury items. (Beverly Hills, we’re looking at you.) The overall “shopping rank” by visitors was 5th, but residents ranked it #2 of the 25 cities surveyed. The city wasn’t ranked #1 in anything.

Just to pick (pick on?) a few of the areas where L.A. didn’t rate so well:

• Affordability – Interestingly, the city ranks a little higher with residents (21) than visitors (24). But just looking at things like the price of gas, housing, and taxes, this wasn’t going to be a strong point. There are a few metro areas that are more expensive, but not many.
• Ease of getting around/public transportation – Ranked 25th by both visitors and residents. I’m an L.A. commuter – this is no surprise at all to me. And like the song says, “nobody walks in L.A.“
• Peace and quiet – #22 for residents, #23 for visitors. But hey, who comes to a big city for peace and quiet?
• Overall cityscape – #23 for residents, #25 for visitors. This is impacted by rankings between 20 and 25 in all subcategories except “notable neighborhoods,” which both response types ranked at #13. (Beverly Hills, we’re looking at you again – also Hollywood, Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Silver Lake, and too many others to mention.)
• People – Angelenos were ranked on various characteristics, and generally more highly-rated by residents than by visitors, which is probably to be expected. They scored well in the subcategories of “attractive,” “stylish,” and “diverse.” “Friendly” and “intelligent”? Not so much…ranked #21 in both by residents, and a sad #25 in both by visitors.

And that last area is what you end up with when you cultivate “image” over most other attributes, I think. Of course, when you get to know people on an individual level, you find many exceptions to these stereotypes and generalizations. But having said that, and speaking as someone from elsewhere (several “elsewheres,” actually, in the South and the Northeast), I’m sorry to note that I think the knock on “friendliness” is somewhat deserved. I think part of that goes along with the difficulties in getting around; this is where “car culture” was born, in part because cars are necessary here, but they do inhibit mingling. But I’m married to a SoCal native – a friendly, intelligent one, by the way – and he’ll tell you that the laid-back, relaxed California persona doesn’t really exist. Spending much time on the freeways will prove him correct. But aside from that, people do tend to keep to themselves, and extroverts show up more in the style of “look at me!” than “tell me about you.” Some of the friendliest people you’ll find here are from somewhere else. It’s traditionally difficult to make social inroads in small towns, and in some ways, there’s no bigger small town than Los Angeles.

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