There are some nice things as you correctly point out.
Personally, I find amusing the story about how my son's car broke down beside the freeway and AAA couldn't get to it in time until the Freeway was closed. He then had a friend drive him out there but the CHP turned all the cars around on the freeway because a wildfire was racing toward them. He could see his car, but wasn't sure if it was going to get burned up. It didn't, but it gave him a lot to think about until the freeway was opened again.
When I go down to visit him, at Pepperdine, I usually fly down into LAX and depending on the route I take, I either go through incredibly expensive neighborhoods or real poverty. When I have pulled into gas stations or as I drive along the freeway, I find that I see lots of new Mercedes and BMW's and lots of really old clunkers. I seriously wonder about the middle class and where or if it exists.
I have a friend at Boeing in the military airplane group and he is looking at being transfered down to their S. Cal facilities and he is shocked at housing costs. He has told me that even though he has a very nice large home and lot with a spectacular view up here, that from what he has seen he will need to commute about an hour or so each way so he can go out far enough to afford a house.
Another friend of mine inherited some rental housing in LA, but sold it and has gotten into real estate up here. He told me some stories about what he had to go through to evict people who didn't pay rent from his apartments in LA.
I remember the last big earthquake and what it did to the DC Intertie inverter station. S. Cal was really hurting for electricity for quite a while after that until they got things fixed. Same goes for the freeway bridges that collapsed or were damaged.
Yes, L.A. has a lot of good points and some that aren't so good.
Personally, I find amusing the stories I've heard from friends in Chicago and my brother in Indiana about how their car slides off the road in the snow and they never make it to work because the tow trucks are too busy pulling others out. That NEVER happens in So Cal!
"When I go down to visit him, at Pepperdine, I usually fly down into LAX and depending on the route I take, I either go through incredibly expensive neighborhoods or real poverty. When I have pulled into gas stations or as I drive along the freeway, I find that I see lots of new Mercedes and BMW's and lots of really old clunkers. I seriously wonder about the middle class and where or if it exists."
Have you tried visiting Temple City, or Northridge, or Downey, or Mission Viejo, where I live? Of course a 1400 square foot house in those communities probably goes for the same amount as a five acre estate where you live, but what the heck?
"He has told me that even though he has a very nice large home and lot with a spectacular view up here, that from what he has seen he will need to commute about an hour or so each way so he can go out far enough to afford a house."
An hour you say? Oh, the horror!
"Another friend of mine inherited some rental housing in LA, but sold it and has gotten into real estate up here. He told me some stories about what he had to go through to evict people who didn't pay rent from his apartments in LA."
We all know that people only fail to pay rent in California, and that in every other state you can just go over there and shoot them if they're a day late.
"I remember the last big earthquake and what it did to the DC Intertie inverter station. S. Cal was really hurting for electricity for quite a while after that until they got things fixed. Same goes for the freeway bridges that collapsed or were damaged."
I remember reading about the last big hurricane, tornado, bridge collapse, volcano (insert natural disaster of choice here) that NEVER happens in California. Those do cause a tad bit of damage, don't they?
"Yes, L.A. has a lot of good points and some that aren't so good."
Geographic tip of the day- California is more than L.A.!!!!!!!