Anybody... worked in LA?

thomasross20

I realise it's tough to get into the States, but I'm interested to hear what you thought about living and working in LA. Feel free to send a pm. 

Schoolboy dreams of going to rock clubs at night and seeing Steve Lukather and Slash getting up for jams springs to mind (lol!!) but I reckon work would be so intense there'd be even less time to play guitar than there is here!

bluechargeboy

I worked there...for three weeks!

1) It is huge and sprawling
2) No, REALLY huge
3) Polluted (the smog lifted after a few days there and I saw mountains that I hadn't known were there)
4) Traffic chaos/hell (the 405 is a demented traffic jam EVERY DAY)
5) Earthquakes

It's fun going down Sunset and going to the Viper Room, Whiskey-a-go-go etc.

I have been fortunate enough to see a lot of American cities, and LA would be my last choice.

thomasross20

Oh! Well I was in Boston a while back which I thought was great but never been to LA. I was thinking of going there on holiday next year - would you advise against?

TTony

Go for a holiday, enjoy it.

Go for a life, endure it.

EricTheWeary

I went there 20 years ago. My impression then was of sprawl. I met an ex pat family and you don't live in LA, you live in a district as it is a city without much centre. So, you need a more specific question - what's it like living in Encino or Watts or what have you.

Vibetronic

was there on one stop of our holiday last year, drove down from Monterey. Weird place, but some cool stuff to see (we went on a tour of Warner Bros. studios, which was ace). Couldn't live there though, and the traffic is dreadful; driving through the middle of Hollywood/Sunset to get to LAX at rush hour was not fun ! San Francisco on the other hand was lovely.

rocktron

thomasross20 said:

Oh! Well I was in Boston a while back which I thought was great but never been to LA. I was thinking of going there on holiday next year - would you advise against?

I would recommend you do a tour of the West Coast cities instead of just staying in LA. 

You can do San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas.

http://www.travelsphere.co.uk/destinations/north-america/northern-america/united-states/ultimate-western-explorer/

http://www.blueandgoldfleet.com/

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g60713-d1407912-Reviews-Blue_Gold_Fleet_PIER_39-San_Francisco_California.html

http://www.blueandgoldfleet.com/sightseeing-tours/land-sightseeing-tours/

Jalapeno

Lots of hi-tech jobs in San Francisco / San Jose (Silicon Valley ! )

Big Sur an hour away - that'd be my choice.

Moe_Zambeek

LA is a bit of a dive in the main from my brief experience. Many of the old clubs are closed or closing. I'd hate to live there...too many people, too much traffic. I much prefer the Bay Area but it's very expensive.

capo4th

Loads better places than LA Seattle Atlanta Chicago Austin New York spring to mind....

NervousJohn

Spent a month there with work in 1997 and had a work trip about 3 years ago. 1997 was in Camarillo, in the pleasant valley of the Monkees song fame. It really is that dull. Work trip more recently was to Redondo Beach. What shocked me was how much the resession had hit them. It looked poor. And I was still about an hour from Hollywood where all the music was.

Wouldn't want to live there.

thomasross20

Thanks, all... got a mate in San Fran so will get his input. Probably a no-go as I know they work all hours over there, but might be good for a holiday at least.