Is it just los angeles?

[shadowstriker86]

So through a series of craptacular events, i ended up having to take public transport to get home from long beach to pasadena. Oh joy. so a bus ride later im ridin the train from long beach to l.a., and along the way, this is what i see: ghetto, ghetto, ghetto, wall, gate, ghetto, ghetto, ghetto, tunnel, end of the line. Then i hop off and am in the middle of downtown l.a. awaiting the next bus that will take me to pasadena. Now as im waiting (45 min. duration) i can pretty much look in all directions and see nothing but crap, cars, shops, restaurants and homeless people. I feel absolutely sorry for anyone that has to actually live in l.a. but then i start to wonder, is it just l.a. thats like that or is it all major cities including those across the pond? i dunno, i just feel like there should be more to a city than just shopping and eating.

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

Edit (misread post): Bigger cities cater to rich people because it's expensive as hell to live in cities. So the stores really only cater to said rich dudes.

 

[whattheblub]

It looks quite different over here in england. The train into london passes through a lot of rural areas which are okay to look at. For the city itself it's most likely similar to LA. There are a couple of chains you'll see everywhere in the world (like starbucks)But I reckon england got more big cities with an old part of town going back to medieval times or earlier which makes for some nice pedestrian zones

 

[ma55ter_fett]

It's the times we live in, either that our you happened to catch the route that traveled through all the crap parts of town.

 

[shadowstriker86]

It's the times we live in, either that our you happened to catch the route that traveled through all the crap parts of town.

it's funny cause i just finished watching gladiator not to long ago cause i was bored, and its funny, l.a. slums = rome's slums

 

[ReincarnatedFTP]

It's the times we live in, either that our you happened to catch the route that traveled through all the crap parts of town.

it's funny cause i just finished watching gladiator not to long ago cause i was bored, and its funny, l.a. slums = rome's slums

Well I saw an L.A. gangland piece today that was interesting. Basically it started out with tightly knit rival gangs with rules, then one gang decided they would work with whoever they want if they could profit off of drug money so there became gangs and cliques (who would do whatever it takes, including killing fellow gang members), then cliques started becoming prominent and there became the gang title which was meaningless except for colors and tats and "hybrids" of different gangsters that just roamed together and individuals killed people for things like disrespect or $3, today they've become almost entirely decentralized and they commit pointless nihilistic acts of violence against people. One activity was called "swarming" where they would text and call random clique members or individuals they knew, then they would go out and beat the shit out of somebody together or rob a random place. Even the older gang members were like "I just don't understand young gangsters today. Our colors and traditions meant something and formed boundaries, now it's just no rules and doing whatever".

 

[shadowstriker86]

It's the times we live in, either that our you happened to catch the route that traveled through all the crap parts of town.

it's funny cause i just finished watching gladiator not to long ago cause i was bored, and its funny, l.a. slums = rome's slums

Well I saw an L.A. gangland piece today that was interesting. Basically it started out with tightly knit rival gangs with rules, then one gang decided they would work with whoever they want if they could profit off of drug money so there became gangs and cliques (who would do whatever it takes, including killing fellow gang members), then cliques started becoming prominent and there became the gang title which was meaningless except for colors and tats and "hybrids" of different gangsters that just roamed together and individuals killed people for things like disrespect or $3, today they've become almost entirely decentralized and they commit pointless nihilistic acts of violence against people. One activity was called "swarming" where they would text and call random clique members or individuals they knew, then they would go out and beat the shit out of somebody together or rob a random place. Even the older gang members were like "I just don't understand young gangsters today. Our colors and traditions meant something and formed boundaries, now it's just no rules and doing whatever".

what happened to mafia's like the ones from the Godfather? People in suits with class. I guess those days are done eh?

 

[Souplex]

Matt Greoning's inspiration for the comic life in hell (What he did before the Simpsons) was the fact that he was living in L.A. L.A. is one of the worst places on earth.

 

[Avatar Roku]

When I went to LA, I noticed way more homeless people than I did in, say, New York, but besides that, they're pretty much the same.

 

[GrandAm]

I grew up in Orange County til I turned 23. I have been all over SoCal from San Diego to Valencia; inluding LA and LB. Every part of any city I've been in has a crappy part as well a nice part. Including Orange County. It is not like the TV show where nobody has a job but everyone has money leaving them time to live in soap opera drama. Plenty of non-blonde women live there too. And not just to demonstrate diversity

When it comes to LA, it's a stereotype put forth by TV and such that it's cool. The fact is LA is a relativly money poor community. Beverly Hills is considered rich and is often held as a part of LA city. It isn't. It's part of LA county. Two different things.

So when you ride the bus in bad looking neighborhoods or cities, those are money poor cities. It is not a representation of LA it is those on that bus route. Just like if you took a bus ride through a nice area.

I live in Tucson Az now. Some areas are realy nice, some are crappy. It's like this anywhere I have been in the USA.

 

[CouchCommando]

Things are different here in Australia, every mate I know who's seen LA didn't like it. We don't really have ghettos although there are rough areas, they all pale in comparison to American slums and ghettos.

 

[fix-the-spade]

or is it all major cities including those across the pond?

No it isn't.

Riding a bus through Paris, London, Barcelona, Athens and Madrid can be described as: Museum, restaurant, landmark, museum, restaurant, landmark, museum, restaurant, museum, landmark. I swear if a building doesn't have a shop in it for more than 3 days it either gets a museum built for it or someone sets up a trendy wine bar.

Of course there are poor areas and a few run down estates (what you would call ghettos), but even then they don't seem to last that long, except the ones around Paris, they're massive. On the outskirts it's more suburban sprawl than ghetto, it costs too much to live in European cities for really, really big ghettos to form.

Now... old mining towns, there you'll see some run down life.

what happened to mafia's like the ones from the Godfather? People in suits with class. I guess those days are done eh?

Those days only existed in the movies.

 

[Gardenclaw]

I recently went to america and did a road trip (i'm from the U.K.) and i had to get a bus from the airport to my hotel when i got there. I would say L.A. looked a lot worse than most of the places we would call a shithole in the U.K. I did spend some time there and didn't enjoy it that much, it's a bit like London in the respect that it's a massive city full of people with places to be and no time for each other.

 

[shadowstriker86]

or is it all major cities including those across the pond?

No it isn't.

Riding a bus through Paris, London, Barcelona, Athens and Madrid can be described as: Museum, restaurant, landmark, museum, restaurant, landmark, museum, restaurant, museum, landmark. I swear if a building doesn't have a shop in it for more than 3 days it either gets a museum built for it or someone sets up a trendy wine bar.

Of course there are poor areas and a few run down estates (what you would call ghettos), but even then they don't seem to last that long, except the ones around Paris, they're massive. On the outskirts it's more suburban sprawl than ghetto, it costs too much to live in European cities for really, really big ghettos to form.

Now... old mining towns, there you'll see some run down life.

what happened to mafia's like the ones from the Godfather? People in suits with class. I guess those days are done eh?

Those days only existed in the movies.

damn you cinema! damn you!

 

[Berethond]

All cities are like that. It's like all human existence, the nice things are just a facade for the broken, run-down oppressed things.

 

[BonsaiK]

In Australia it's not really like that. Some parts of inner cities are run down but we don't have the kind of social situations that contribute to genuine "ghettos" in the US sense of the word (which is why Australian rap is so ridiculous when they try and come across all "streetwise"). The scariest parts of Australia I've been to are some of the very small, isolated towns in QLD and northern NSW where the racial divide is really strong and there are bars on all the windows, rednecks everywhere and drunks roaming the streets. You definitely won't ever get shot in a million years because drunks can't aim and can't afford guns because they're too busy buying alcohol, but you might wind up with a bottle thrown at your face if you look at someone funny (only a minority of towns are like this though, most are actually really nice). However, even that's not as scary going for a swim near Darwin during wet season, or for a walk in the hills near my house without a water supply - the biggest dangers where I live are environmental and nature-related, and I live in a fairly large city.

 

[ElephantGuts]

No, LA just sucks.

Come to New York. We have...everything.

 

[FallenJellyDoughnut]

No, LA just sucks.

Come to New York. We have...everything.

Yeah, everything and more, it's overcrouded, expensive, sleasy and the streets are littered with homeless people... and litter.

 

[ElephantGuts]

No, LA just sucks.

Come to New York. We have...everything.

Yeah, everything and more, it's overcrouded, expensive, sleasy and the streets are littered with homeless people... and litter.

Exactly, what's there not to like?