A Tale of Two Cities. To me NYC and LA are not as different as everyone else claims. Both towns have extreme juxtapositions of lofty illusion and hard reality, and that very mix is what attracted me to NYC in the first place. Both cities are ground zero for flocks of people seeking stardom, and both have their metaphoric boulevards of broken dreams. Is it the urban blight that turns people off LA? There used to be plenty of that right here in Manhattan, though not so much anymore. Ditto for the armies of plastic surgery addicts -- here in the Big Apple we call it the Upper East Side. Both cities feature lifestyles that are insane and unnatural but addictive. Skyscrapers vs. palm trees ... are they really that unrelated?
Of course I've never lived there and I'm not sure I could. One feels much more connected to humanity on any given pedestrian-laden street here than one does there with all the car drivers. But I tend to think people who endlessly trash L.A. are taking it WAAAAAAAYY too seriously. The very absurdity and artificiality of it is part of its charm. Think of LA as Pamela Anderson Lee, and NY as .... Kembra.