Dream-finding evalution of Southern California

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.