So I think I'm moving to LA.

In a few weeks. Advice?

Oh right -- but only for like 3 months.

Change your mind immediately.

Watch the entire LA Law series and then Escape From LA. You should be ready then.

I listen to QT3 podcasts. Isn't that enough? I don't intend to leave my house.

Watch the Wire.

Sorry, wrong city.

There's your problem.

Hollow point ammunition will be fine for seeing off the random waves of shambling dead however the rad scorpions won't even be slowed down. You're going to need something with at least a 20mm calibre however the problem there is that you are going to need to stay mobile because the mecha-dingoes can melt through armour plate and breeze blocks with their corrosive saliva. Maybe some kind of attack helicopter so you never have to set foot on the ground. Obviously you'll need some close-in AA defences to see off the ultravultures though.

Don't go. DON'T

My sisters live in L.A., and they're pretty happy there.

But I sincerely hope you own a sturdy car that gets good in-city gas mileage, and have ways of entertaining yourself while sitting in gridlock for an hour and a half twice a day.

ETA: Wait, never leaving the house? I...uh. Huh. Yeah, I guess that'd make it pretty livable. But really, there are lots of great neighborhoods in Los Angeles. The bus system is just kinda crappy, so you need a car to get anywhere, unless you're willing to walk for eternity.

I haven't been there in awhile - pretty sure its still...

You could also start Listening to Los Angeles...like, really listening, y'know?

Please to be more specific. Where exactly? City of Los Angeles proper is 469 square miles and the COUNTY of Los Angeles covers over 4,000 square miles. There's a big difference between living in Los Angeles in the valley, vs. the east side, vs. south central, vs. Santa Monica, etc.

I suggest trying to live along the coast. The breezes make the temperatures there bearable.

Is it true that Inglewood is always up to no good?

Parts of Inglewood are fine. Other parts are... not fine. Not fine at ALL.

a majority of my childhood was spent in inglewood.

it is, indeed, always up to no good.

I have a daughter in Sherman Oaks. She likes it well enough. She likes that LA has lots to do and see.

I can recommend against a moving company.

I live near Sherman Oaks currently.

it is also always up to no good.
i'm going to really enjoy crushing the positive things people have to say about la oh man

Shortly after I moved out here in '04, I posted on my LiveJournal (LiveJournal) something like, "What is there to do in LA on a Friday night?" A coworker replied with this:

He's not entirely wrong.

A few years ago in, I dunno, mid-June, I was dressed in a Three Musketeer's costume, standing on the corner of Santa Monica and Federal on the west side, waiting to cross the street to my friend's apartment. No one paused, because I was probably not even in the top 10 of strangest things they'd seen that day.

I love this city.

For some reason I thought fire was already in L.A.

As much as the weather there can be awesome in certain spots, the air quality prevents me from ever being able to live there.

I'd consider Carlsbad or San Diego though.

but baby i'm in la tho ;A;
Yeah, unfortunately LA is not that great a place. My mother explained to me a few days ago that the reason everyone else loves it so much is because there's nothing where they live, but I think I'd rather live in a place like that than in a place like this. :\

Don't listen to any of these people, South Patagonia is really nice.

L.A. is a ridiculous city, but not a bad place to live. It's all about where you are and how solid your social support network is. When I lived in Woodland Hills (indistinguishable suburban hell in the Valley), I hated it, but living in Los Angeles proper has been great.

Only when the Lakers win.

Looks like either Burbank, where a friend has an apartment (so I can live with her), or up near work, which will be in the Altadena / Pasadena area. I'm hoping to look at a couple places while I'm here, but it's nice to know there's always Burbank as a fallback.

Good thing, cause I have no stuff.

Pasadena is a lovely place. Burbank has some nice parts, but as you go west you're approaching North Hollywood and then you're in generic Valley. If you're working near Altadena / Pasadena I can also recommend Eagle Rock, well, parts of it at least.

I liked Santa Monica. There was some trashy parts, but the beach was close, the weather was nice, and lots of good bars and restaurants.

The smog sucks, but you don't actually feel it destroying your lungs. So there's that. And hey, it's better than the big cities in China.

Over by UCLA/Bel Air was also nice, lots of cheap food, but also good restaurants. The John Wooden gym is great, and you don't have to attend UCLA to get membership.

Pasadena is nice, but too hot during the summer.


Oh, and LA has a ton of great museums and stuff to go see. Also, it has some really straight, wide, long roads laid out in a grid like pattern, and named distinctively. Unlike Seattle, which has the opposite and likes to name things like 138th NE but also has NE 138th.

Funny, you just reminded me of something I haven't thought about in nearly twenty years, fleeing from a hooker in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. She might well have caught me if a couple of passing cowboys hadn't seemed more immediately interesting to her.

And while we're at it, baby, why don't you tell me one of your biggest fears?
I said, Losing my penis to a whore with disease
Just kidding, I said, Losing my life to a whore with disease

Bah, don't listen to the wastelanders. LA is a better place to live than most.

Every city has shitholes, but very few of them have the best of what LA has to offer. There's plenty of time to live nowhere when you get old and bitter (and can't afford to live anywhere.)

Lum, you're doing it wrong.

The main thing I wouldn't want to do is raise kids in LA. Other than that, it's a pretty cool place. It has a ton of koreans (I've heard it has the largest concentration of them outside of Seoul), which means, lots of good korean food is to be had. And it's all open at crazy hours, so you can pretty much find Bulgogi at like 3am, and find yourself sitting next to a family with small kids.

When are you going? We have to have a bourbon meetup!

How do you manage to be all over the state ready to have liquor meetups?

are you the liquor fairy oh my god i'm such a huge fan of your work

I move in a week.