Did I find the American Dream in Las Angeles? Well...I found the American dream of a lot of people, and, as has been noted, a lot of
palm trees. And
cars. There's an
ocean, too! That's pretty neat.
L.A. itself I found to have a lot of tall buildings, your usual half dozen Starbucks, and not a whole lot else. Most of the
rich-people suburbs my dear buddy Jake managed to get us lost in featured fantastic views of
mountains and suburban sprawl. L.A. receives props for the mountains and boos for the suburban sprawl. Did I mention how
expensive gas is?
Hollywood is boring. Santa Monica has a bunch of chain stores. Torrence features a cool coffee shop, Coffee Cartel. Recommended.
Orange County is the giant suburb between L.A. and San Diego. They also have beaches there, and a whole lot of
pools. Newport Beach has the advantage of non-chain stores over other places I visited. My host, Laina, showed me a number of
outdoor malls , which are like normal malls with the hallways outside.
I also spent a day in San Diego, but besides the more legit city-feeling I got from it I can't really say much.
Overall I would say that from a preliminary analysis Southern California represents a clear example of some of the
worst aspects of the American Experiment: rampant consumerism, lack of effective public transport, segregated suburban isolation, fake culture, etc. A few
caveats: it sure is
purty, and I know a lot of
cool people from Southern California, so it can't go entirely unrecommended.
I give Southern California a sunglasses/10.
